June 24th – 26th

Alyssa, Alan, and I arose early to head to the trailhead. We got to the Delicate Arch trailhead parking lot at 6:30am and the lot was full. Fortunately we had a handicap hangtag and got a spot closest to the trail. The hike up the giant rock and around the corner took us about 35 minutes and we were at the famous Utah arch. We sat in line to take the famous picture and watched many people come and go. There was an asian family that had two young kids that were making everyone very startled. They were running around and jumping under and around the arch, the arch sits on the edge of a cliff and they didn't seem to have a care in the world about that detail. After 5 minutes of panic attacks they finally left the area and everyone was relieved. Once it became mine and Alyssa's turn I was able to see that it was on a cliff but there were a few ledges before the big drop. You could just about walk around the arch and I was tempted to try it but I played it safe instead. We then headed back and it took us about 30 minutes to walk back to the car. We then went back to the Airbnb and saved Tammy from the kids, fortunately they were good kids and didn't create any problems. We then got ready for the day and headed back into Arches with everyone and explored the Twin Bridge Arches, famous for Indiana Jones, along with the Two Windows and we also tried to go see Delicate Arch but from the lower viewing area. It rained on us just as we were finishing up at the Two Windows and making our way to Delicate Arch. It wasn't exciting to see Delicate Arch from the lower viewing and you definitely would have a better viewing from the upper view but we didn't have time to make the hike and we didn't want to get soaked being out in the rain. We then went to the grocery store and got some hotdogs and beans to eat for dinner and enjoyed our night in.

We had a five and a half hour drive to St. George. There were many ups and downs, in and around the mountains. There were many stops along the way to take in the beauty. We stopped once because we thought Clark was stinky but he wasn't and then we also stopped at another rest to meet up with Alan and Tammy. We drove for another 35 minutes and had some lunch in Richfield at a place off the road called R & R Frontier Village. The food was alright but not very good. After lunch we continued on to St. George but we had to stop at Kolob Canyon. That was the highlight of the day. We had no idea that such a cool place existed right off the I-15 highway. We drove up the main road to the top viewing area and walked around and talked to the Ranger at the top. It was quite a beautiful place with large rock mountains. We were glad we stopped by. We then drove down and out of the park and went to St. George for our Airbnb, Alan took us the wrong way because he had the wrong address but they followed us and we found the place not too far down the road. We unpacked and had dinner and then put the kids down to bed. We all lounged around the rest of night except Alyssa and I went to go meet up with her friend from EFY, Laura. We met at Yogurtland but not before going to the grocery store where we wondered around and pick up some munchies for the rest of the trip home. We sat and ate some fro-yo and enjoyed chatting it up til late and it definitely wasn't enough time to catch up but we will make some time later to talk more. It was a fun day for doing not too much.

It was a race against time and the heat. We woke up and packed the car and got on the road before Alan and Tammy. We drove through the gorge and down the valley to Las Vegas where we stopped to get some gas at a Costco that didn't have a food court surprisingly. It took longer than expected because there was quite a large line at the fill up station. We hit the road and didn't have the traffic we had the last time we were in Vegas. We drove without stopping until we made the turn off at Eddie World. We were hungry and the kids wanted to run around so we spent some time waiting for our food and running around the store. We had a Salmon Salad and a Pepperoni Pizza to eat. We also had some vegan ice cream that was pretty good. Then we drove the rest of the way home without stopping and made it home by 3pm. The car was filthy and needed a wash inside and out. We unloaded everything and the next day I washed the car and pretty much detailed it instead.