Rocky Mountains and Arches National Parks

Update: In Estes Park I bought a toaster that sits on the gas burner of the stovetop. We now have perfect toast every time

Traveling from the Rockies of Colorado to the high desert and sandstone rock formations of Moab, Utah was epic! It's hard to capture everything into words, so I think I'm going to share a lot more photos and write less text in an effort to keep this current. You'll understand once you see the photos. Also, we're keeping busy and having so much fun that I'm finding myself with less and less time to update the blog between locations. I'm taking lots of photos, and I think you'll enjoy looking at those more than reading about it.

We had a lot to see and a long distance to cover on this day. We needed to leave by 8:00 a.m., but by the time we finished breakfast, prepared Monty for departure, stopped by the post office, grocery store and refueled, it was 10:00 am. However, we didn't really care because as soon as we started to experience the Rocky Mountain National Park we forgot about everything that wasn't right in front of us—so much beauty it was almost unbearable to behold.

The Rocky Mountain National Park was incredible. We followed the Trail Ridge Road (Highway 34) through meadows, groves of aspen, sub-alpine forests, and tundra. We saw a lot of wildlife—the largest being elk and big horn sheep. Smaller animals included golden eagles, stellar jays, marmots, picas, chipmunks, and trout. Walking around at an altitude of more than 12,000 feet does indeed deprive one of oxygen. It makes you drowsy and a breath of air takes effort. It also made my head feel really big. There was road construction which created some delay, but I couldn't imagine a better place to be stuck in traffic. It wasn't until leaving the Rockies that we finally sobered enough to realize that we wouldn't pull into Moab until 9:30 p.m. By the time we arrived I was cross-eyed-delirious from the day's journey.

The next morning we rented a Chevy Tahoe and set off to explore Arches National Park. The landscape here is an incredible contrast from the tundra we saw less than 24 hours ago. By now our heads were spinning like Linda Blaire's. Reds, oranges, grays, greens, browns, tans, and rock formations that defy explanation. Samuel and I hiked a mile through a wide trough between two towering red cliffs to a pinnacle named The Three Gossips where the rest of the group picked us up. We continued driving through the park, making stops at Balanced Rock and a group of arches called North Window, South Window and Turret Arch. We had lunch in the park and dinner at the Moab Brewery. Sidney loved the brewery so much that she wishes there was one in Roanoke.