Spring Break Trip - Day 4

Two national parks down, one to go!

Today we spent the day in Canyonlands National Park. Another beautiful place to visit. This park is actually split into 3 areas – the maze, the needles and island in the sky. The part closest to Moab is Island in the Sky, the other two are at least an hour away so we went to Island in the Sky which is a huge mesa “the island” surrounded by the Green River Canyon on one side and Colorado River Canyon on the other side. So if you looked out either side of the car you saw this:

or this!

Yep – pretty cool! We went to a ranger talk and learned all about how these canyons were formed and what each color of rock means. If you are bored some day we’ll tell you all about it!

We saw another arch, Mesa Arch, that was really cool.

You saw the whole canyon view from inside this arch and right after this arch is a huge drop off into the canyon. It was pretty spectacular. Unfortunately it was hazy most of the day so we didn’t get great pictures, but there was no cold wind today!

Tanner really liked this park because he could do a lot of rock climbing, he was like a little Bighorn Sheep!

We even let Brynn out of her pack so she could get a little of her own rock crawling in.

And of course she stopped to sample a few rocks – I’m pretty sure eating the rocks is not allowed in national parks!

We also had our big wildlife sighting – a lizard

Tanner was very excited! He went and told Don “I saw a lizard for real!” And Don jokingly replied “Are you sure it was real?” A few minutes later I caught Tanner trying to poke the lizard with a stick. I got mad at Tanner and told him a junior ranger would never hurt an animal and gave him the lecture on how you must only watch wildlife, etc. etc. Then Tanner (very upset) said he was just trying to make the lizard move to see if it was real, because Daddy had told him it was not real! Oh gullible five year olds!

And of course we ended with another junior ranger badge. If you ever go to a National Park (and have a child 5-12) do the Junior Ranger program, they are really good. I love it because the kids really have to work for their badges and they learn a lot in the process. Also the teacher in me really likes that the rangers don’t just hand them their badges. The rangers always looked through Tanner’s book and asked him questions about what he did and saw. It does take extra time though because to get the badges the kids have to take hikes, attend ranger talks and watch videos in the visitor center – but that’s what we are there for anyway!

So our vacation has come to an end. Tomorrow we are going to pack up early and head home. There is a storm coming so we want to get over the good ol’ Rocky Mountains before it gets too bad. Of course we weren’t able to do it all so here are a few things I want to remember to do next time.

Go on the ranger guided fiery furnace hike in Arches (kids must be 6) See double arch and the windows arches Stop in Potash a few miles outside of Moab and see the dinosaur footprints and petroglyphs Rent a jeep and take one of the 4 wheel drives through arches

Some day when the kids are all older I would love to do one of the overnight biking or hiking trails, especially the ones in Canyonlands that takes you to the huge wall of petroglyphs or the confluence hike that takes you right to where the Green and Colorado river join. The bike trails are around 40 plus miles and the hiking are 10-14 miles. Someday. . .

Again on trips I always wish I would write these things down because you think you are going to remember, but I don’t!

Our accommodations: Comfort Suites, $119.00 at night, but had a 10% off coupon. Bigger rooms with a fold out sofa and 2 queen rooms. Has fridge and microwave in room. Rooms getting a little worn and outdated (as in there is no way Brynn was going to crawl around on this floor!) but nice breakfast included and good indoor pool and hot tub.