Arches and Canyonland

July 13 - July 17, 2015

Our next stop was Moab, UT. It's a scenic location, surrounded by red rocks and mountains. Best of all, it's centrally located for visits to both Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. We landed in the Portal RV Resort, a beautifully landscaped ownership RV park. It had a nice pool and hot tub which we enjoyed.

Many movies, TV shows, and commercials have been shot in the Moab area, some inside the two national parks. City Slickers, Rio Grande, Thelma and Louise, and Wagon Master are just a few of the many.

Our first stop was Arches National Park which is only 6 miles from Moab. It contains the largest collection of natural stone arches in the country (around 2000.) It's a bizarre yet beautiful setting that might as well have been Mars.  We spent a pleasant day touring the park and enjoyed several hikes. One longer hike was to the "Delicate Arch." That's Rick in blue at the base of the arch. You can enlarge this and any other pictures in this blog by clicking on them.

This shot and the next one show different parts of the way cool hike to the "delicate arch." It was a challenging yet rewarding hike which I don't think I could have done 2 years ago on our last big adventure. Thank you Kathi Marler! Thank you Sybil Yocum! Thank you Jenny Craig!

We took another shorter hike to the "Landscape Arch."

Below is an example of the red rocks that are everywhere in this park.

We spent another day in Canyonlands National Parks' Island in the Sky district. The Green and Colorado rivers are the primary architects of this area where flat layers of sedimentary rock have been cut into many canyons, mesas, arches, and spires. We took several shorter hikes and drove the main road in the "Island in the Sky" section. It  was a full day!

But it wasn't all about national parks in Moab. Rick has been playing golf in some really different golf courses. Here's a picture he took of the golf course at the Moab Country Club where he played.

I stayed back at the RV making cards for my upcoming visit to Salt Lake City and the Stampin' Up convention. Here's what my dinette table looked like when Rick got back.