Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Day 8: Utah or Space?

Here we are at Arches National Park. Strange trees...

That's a new vocabulary word: cairns, small piles of rocks, that later became helpful in following the trail.


It's like looking at clouds and finding figures: this one looks like a family to me.

An embracing couple and Egyptian sphinx.

My simplified understanding is that rock formed as an ocean evaporated, and the weight of this compressed rock broke the salt bed below, creating layers from surfaces that trusted upwards and salt that fell in.

Balanced Rock looks much more impressive from this angle above.

... Gorgeous nonetheless.







Tunnel arch.

Girl at pine tree arch.

Raul under landscape arch...


Wolfe Ranch, built in the late 1800s by a Civil War veteran from Ohio with respiratory issues. It seems arid desert climate served him well (can't speak for his cattle though). 

See those specks up there? They're people climbing up to see Delicate Arch. Just a little daunting.


Cool.

They're cairns!

For mama.

Cutie. 

Made it.

Delicate Arch is seen on Utah's car plates.


Kids we're running around, climbing and making me very nervous for their parents.



Pretty decent Mexican food in Moab.


Between the sun and hours on the road, we needed an impromptu pit stop, so here we are in Salina, Utah.



Modest yet comfy digs at Ranch Motel.

Quaint store fronts in town (most places were closed).



The girl at the diner said we had just missed a hot air balloon festival last week (but that nothing else would be going on for a while).


My first corn dog! Delish.



Hasta maƱana.

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