2009 summer vacation: day two
by HML
See more dinosaurs and red rocks in the Gimlet Gallery.
After a quick sleepover at the grandGimlets’ house, we were on the road again. The smog was especially bad along the Wasatch Front, and after lunch at one of our old favorites, Brick Oven, we were glad to get away from the more populated areas and drive through the canyons. (Little did we know that “brick oven” would be an apt description for our day’s destination.)
Our next rest stop was the town of Price, where we washed the car (much to Thing Two’s delight), then lingered to visit the dinosaur museum.
This little dinosaur museum has a nice collection of fossils and an adjacent exhibit hall features a huge mammoth and local Native American artifacts, making it a great place for a rest break. Unfortunately after the dinosaur museum Thing Two decided he was done with travel for the day and expressed his displeasure quite loudly until he fell asleep just past the town of Green River.
Three hours after leaving Price we arrived in Moab. Whether he wasn’t ready to wake up or whether it was the 103 degree heat, or perhaps both, Thing Two woke up as we were checking into our motel and resumed screaming, making it difficult to unpack and settle in.
Once he was somewhat calmed and cooled down, we retraced our steps a few short miles to visit Arches National Park.
Not only was the temperature cooling as we drove through the park but we were also able to watch the sunset, so even with a cranky Thing Two, it was an excellent time to go to Arches and we could enjoy some of the shorter walks and viewpoints. Thing One practiced his French eavesdropping on the many French tourists in the park; we were among the very few Americans at Arches that evening.
Eventually Thing Two recovered enough good spirits to take the walk around Balanced Rock, where we saw two lizards. (Note in the above photo that all of Team Gimlet can be seen, even the shadowy figure of Your Humble Photographer/Narrator in the bottom corner.)
The hike to Delicate Arch was going to be too much for our youngest (and crankiest) team member, however, so we chose a shorter hike to an overlook, where we could see the crowds of people gathered at the arch to watch the sunset. The viewpoint walk was a bit of a steep scramble for Thing Two, but he made it, and with fewer people at the viewpoint than the arch, it was a lovely place to sit and enjoy the view.
By the time we returned to the car it had cooled to a brisk 94, which was surprisingly refreshing. We took the advice to stay hydrated seriously; in the course of our drive through Arches we finished off half the case of bottled water we had bought.
We enjoyed our brief visit and would love to return some day, preferably at a more temperate time of year and when Thing Two is older, so we could explore the longer hikes in the park.
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Tags: national parks, utah
