Arches National Park
The Arches trip didn’t go as planned, and although we didn’t get to explore the Delicate Arch, we all had a blast at the dinosaur safari, taking pictures at Balance Rock and making a stop at Sheep Rock with scout!
Our Arches trip didn’t start out on the best foot, but it was still a blast! Apparently, during the busy season, you have to register a time to enter the park. Someone informed me the night before on Instagram, but I was so tired that I forgot to finalize the reservation. Oops! Anyway, we woke up early and got dressed. Ember and I had green matching dresses because you know, we of course need to get those Pinterest-worthy Delicate Arch photos. Thankfully I was able to convince her to even wear the dress. :) Full of hope we figured we would try entering the park just to see what they would say. Since we hit the road full time we try to make it a habit to get pictures in front of the National Park signs. I want to look back at this season of travel and remember all the places we were able to go together. I think the kids are pretty used to posing for pictures now! They know the drill. We take pictures, then we have fun! It works for us :)
Unfortunately, the park rangers did not let us enter so we decided to head to a dinosaur safari <add website link> we saw down the street called Moab Giants. It ended up being so fun. The kids were able to play, and learn new facts about dinosaurs like what they ate, where they lived, and how big they were. Heck, I even learned a few things, haha! And of course, we got fun photos along the way. If you are in or around Arches and you have like young kids Paleo Safari is definitely a must. It was a little more than I would normally spend for a few hours of adventure with the kids, but we want to make sure that on this trip we do things they enjoy and not just things for Dan and me. Because let’s be honest, as a 4yr old driving around a National Park isn’t the most fun thing imaginable.
After we wrapped up the Safari, we finally were able to enter the park at our registered entry time. Our first stop was Delicate Arch. We knew it would be packed and I wanted to get it out of the way from the beginning. It was pretty much the main reason why I wanted to visit Arches. Again, that iconic photo with the arch is what I was after. Sadly, we pulled up to the lower parking lot and there were ranger cars and people everywhere. Because of the bad rain storm a few nights prior, there was flash flooding. It was so bad it took out the road up to the upper parking lot and people were basically stuck for hours. It was crazy! Head to my YouTube episode to see it. We decided against hiking the trail all the way up to the arch because it was pretty hot, we knew the kids wouldn’t make it that long, and we had little Scout in the car because he wasn’t allowed on the trail.
Before heading out we stopped at Sheep Rock! We let Scout run around and stretch his legs before packing up. We got so many cute pictures as a family, and made some good memories! So even with a few changes of plans we still had a blast in the Arches and started to make our way to the salt flats. Stick around to see how that went. Another major thing on my bucket list. Check out our other adventures here! Until next time always seize adventure.
XOXO Sam
Although I was super bummed that we couldn’t get that picture, I reminded myself that our day could be worse and we could be one of those people stuck on the side of the road. We decided to put Delicate Arch behind us and see a few other rock formations before we needed to head north. Balance Rock ended up being so cool to see and learn about and it also made for really cool pictures! And don’t worry, yet again we finished the national park with the kids getting their junior ranger badges. Another one to add to their collection!
