October 20, 2024: Lots of Space in Flagstaff!

We were staying at Meteor Crater RV Park, just before you get to the world’s best preserved meteor crater. We were able to have a slow morning, with a delicious “brunch” of bacon, eggs, and pancakes. Arizona does not do daylight savings so it was, as the clock goes, an hour earlier than Moab and New Mexico. However, we decided to just stay on Mountain Time. 

We did some more (muddy!) laundry and found some new books to read at the site rec center. John zoomed around on his bike. 

After some school time and a quick lunch, we headed to the Meteor Crater.

John: faster than a speeding meteor!

The crater is almost a mile diameter and 2.5 miles around.

John even snuck down to the bottom! ;)

We took a picture with the oldest thing we’ve ever seen - a piece of the meteor which may be as old as 4.6 billion years ago!

We watch a short video and then helped save the Earth by blowing up a meteor heading for Earth in a fun 3-D adventure. We had to pass a security clearance and Elizabeth almost didn’t make it! (Don’t worry, she was cleared later!)

We “hung” around the observation decks for a little… 






Before heading into Flagstaff for an early dinner and the Lowell Observatory.

We found a fantastic Italian restaurant called FatOlives, and ordered too much amazing food. They gave the kids pizza dough to play with and even cooked their creations for them!

At the Lowell Observatory, we got to look through telescope and see some stats and even Saturn! We learned all about the 24 year old who discovered Pluto and how he did it. We finished up the night with a cool interactive lesson on spectronomy!

This is the telescope that discovered Pluto!

It was have our longest drive of the trip so far in the morning, so early to bed and early to rose!

 

October 19, 2024: Goodbye Arches / Heading South

Since we didn’t quite get enough of Arches NP and the kids needed to turn in their junior ranger packets, we woke up at 6am to head into the park for sunrise!

We were definitely not the only ones, and we could see why. We decided to go to the Windows where there are four main arches: North Window Arch, South Window Arch, Turret Arch, and Double Arch (which is actually a two-for-one arch deal!)

We did the first three as the sun came up behind the clouds; the boys scrambled up some formations for a better view. 

So many arxhes! We had to have a little fun in front of Turret Arxh as well…

These two are best buddies on this trip… most of the time!

Then a quick stop at Double Arch

Can you find John?!

John drew a dinosaur on the path with his walking sticks since dinosaurs used to live here.

Next was a quick stop at the visitor center for the kids to get their Arches Junior Ranger badges!

Okay.. one last arch picture!

Then it was a quick pack up and on the road again towards Meteor Crater outside of Flagstaff, AZ!

It was a little less then 6 hours but rainy drive before it was time to make a delicious dinner and call it a night!

October 18, 2024: Canyons, Canyons, and more Canyons!

The wind howled and rain fell on and off throughout the night, but we woke up determined to see more that the Moab area had to offer! Our fellow rafters and gaudier has spoken highly off Canyonlands (or Candyland according to Elizabeth!) National Park, so we loaded up after breakfast and headed on the road. Canyonlands NP is a vast park with four distinct sections, much of which is only accessible via 4WD. We went to the closest district, Island in the Sky. We first stopped at the Visitor Center to get John’s Junior Ranger badge then went to see what we could see despite the cold, rain, and clouds. 

It was decidedly NOT hot (in the 40*s), but we did a fun little hike up Upheaval Dome. The view was nice, but the hike itself was the highlight. John even found some hail on the side of the trail. 

We drove around some more but due to such low clouds we skipped Mesa Arch. We saw a beautiful view of the canyons down at the big outlook and then watched them disappear as the fog rolled in. 

Soon we had to hustle out to make it to the next adventure: Jeep Tour!

Back at Mild to Wild Tour, we met our guide, Ben, and another family with 3 kids. As we started out, Trey and Laura weren’t sure this was the best idea… it was cold and rainy and the Jeep had some coverage but the 5 or 6 people in the back were pelted. Luckily the little ones, one from each family were car seated inside so they stayed a little warmer. 

But we persisted…we saw a waterfall formed just because of the current rain…

A few nice vistas…

Then the rain stopped and we hit the “fast part”… and the crowd went wild! The fast, bumpy, why-we-needed-a-jeep part ended at these cool caves. 

Then it was back through the fast part, “best day ever” declared by Elizabeth as we bounced along, for a scenic drive out as the sun was beginning to set. 

We were pretty cold after that so we headed to Canyon Pizza Co for a quick dinner before showers and bed. 

We are headed to a new destination tomorrow… but still have a little more to see before we leave! 

October 17, 2024: Rafting Castle Valley

After a long drive and a late night, we slept in this morning and did our schoolwork before Laura and the kids made a quick trip to town for the grocery store and the Moab Visitors Center. We picked up their Junior Ranger packets and some souvenirs before going back to the RV for lunch. Then it was adventure time!

We pulled up to Mild to Wild Tours, were outfitted with life jackets, and boarded the yellow school bus. We had a beautiful 45 minute drive through Castle Valley before it was time to board the raft! This was Elizabeth first rafting experience. The trip was scheduled for Saturday morning, but an unexpected cold front had us switch it to today. It was in the 70s but a little drizzly. 

If you ask Elizabeth, she will tell you it was awesome except one bad part. That bad part, of course, was John’s favorite: a water gun fight with another raft!

Overall, I think more family rafting trips are in the cards!

Elizabeth loves finding special rocks everywhere we go! 

Back at the RV site, Trey cooked up a great meal of steak and green beans on his new stovetop while the kids made friends with others in the campsite. We had a dad and his son over for some s’mores before calling it a night at the rain started. 

October 16: From New Mexico to Utah

It was travel day today! With about a 6 hour drive ahead of us, we slept in a little, packed up the rug, and headed back on the road a little after 9am. No one but Mom knew where we were going until it went in the map this morning - we were off to Moab! We headed north and west up New Mexico. As we traveled we watched the flat landscape begin to be dotted with rock formations and far away mesas. We decided to do a scenic lunch instead of the usual lunch on the run. We stopped off the road near Ship Rock, a giant rock formation that used to be the inner column of a volcano.

As we kept moving north, sneaking through the corner of Colorful Colorado over to Utah, the landscape continued to evolve. We could see rain clouds in the distance and were lucky enough to catch a rainbow along with a beautiful rock formation. 

We made it to our campsite in Moab a little after 4pm and unhooked as quickly as possible to try and make it to the Delicate Arch (or as the locals call it: License Plate Arch!). We got into Arches National Park

and to the trailhead for the 1.6 miles uphill hike in about an hour before sunset. Both kids were awesome and made it all the way to the top without even asking to be carried! We got there about 10 minutes before sunset and marveled at what nature had created.

We are also making sure we get our Christmas card photos on this trip!

We were fortunate enough to see a moonrise as well, almost full. We stay a little past sunset and then began the hike back down in the moonlight. John spotted a deer and we had fun with moon shadows and moon photos.

Then it was off to bed before more surprises tomorrow!