We dubbed this formation the Black Pearl because we thought it looked like a pirate ship.
Mom and Dad at Balanced Rock. It was definitely Dad's favorite; he couldn't stop talking about it!
This Indian guy insisted on taking our picture at Double Arch, and he was going all crazy and lying down on the ground to take our picture. I like the wacky angle of this one though, and it's one of the few pictures of all three of us together.
The famous one! Delicate Arch was my favorite, despite the long, 7 AM hike we took to get there. It was so worth it! It was seriously one of the COOLEST things I have ever seen. And a lot bigger than I imagined, too. If you look really close, you can see a couple of tiny people under it if you want to get a sense of scale.
Mom and Dad pretending to be ol' homesteaders at the cabin of one of the original settlers of the area. They're the best. :)
A spectacular view of the canyons created by the convergence of the Green and Colorado rivers. SO awesome! It was really almost as good as the Grand Canyon.
Anyone know what kind of flower this is? It was so pretty, and probably about eight feet tall! I was standing right under it when I took this.
My delicious gnocchi! We had dinner one night at a fantastic little Italian place in Moab, and I was so hungry after hiking around all day, that I ate this ENTIRE thing!
Mom insisted on ice cream or milkshakes every night, and this little tiny shack thing is apparently the place to go for milkshakes in Moab. They were quite delicious.
I was in love with all the funky trees in the area. They seriously grow in the weirdest places and into such unusual shapes. Mom and Dad kept laughing at me for taking pictures of trees instead of rock formations. :)
Dad being a Native American(?) at Delicate Arch. I really liked the hike to this one because it was easy and there was an abundance of really cool things to look at.
For the life of me, I can't remember what this formation is called. I think it's one of the Windows, but I'm not sure. Anyway, it was cool because it was one of the few that you can actually go right up under.
I believe this one is Turret Arch, but you can't really see the part that looks like a turret in this picture. This always reminds me of something funny. We were walking back from this one, and this guy behind us was like, "Look! Red sand!" and literally ran off the path (which is forbidden in that place), freaking out about the red sand. Now, you have to understand that ALL of Arches is red sand. Literally. That's all there is. You can understand why we didn't stop laughing at that guy for a couple days. :)This trip was a little different because it was just me and the parents, and we kept saying how we need to bring Neil and the grandkids to see it, but it was really quite nice to have a chance to hang out with just my parents. We had a lot of fun!
