Family Road Trip to Utah!: Day 21: Sunday, April 26, 2015 Arches National Park, UT

Since it rained a lot yesterday and last night, no off-roading or biking on the trails today. Instead, we decided to go to Arches National Park, which is only about 5 minutes north of Moab.

We went after Lucas had his morning nap, so here's a picture of our sweet sleepyhead in his bunk with his blankie.

First we stopped at the visitor centre, and Lucas got acquainted with the metallic wildlife.

We did a driving tour of the park, going from viewpoint to viewpoint. This first one is called the "Courthouse Towers" and for once we had someone else take our picture!

At the next parking lot, Lucas happily had his head in the clouds thanks to his playful daddy.

This is "Balanced Rock," along with balanced Jen.

There are some beautiful flowers in the desert, especially the morning after a rainfall. After a bit of research, I found out that they are called the Desert Primrose (or Dune Evening Primrose, Oenothera deltoides.)

Diaper changes in the front seat of the Jeep are a part of our traveling life. I'm thankful to have a husband who changes Lucas as often as I do!

Here are a couple of the 2000 arches in this park, under an ominous cloudy sky. These ones are called the "Windows."

Well, since it was only cloudy and not raining, we did take one trail "off-road" towards "Tower Arch." Our guide book rated it as moderate, and it was supposed to finish only a few hundred feet from the arch, so we figured why not!

As it turned out, it was more than moderately challenging! There were some really rocky steps and ledges that left at least one good scrape on the skid plate under the Jeep!

There was also a nice sandy section that I enjoyed driving!

We had another picnic lunch when we reached the end of the trail. We just propped up the baby bucket seat to an easy feeding position for Lucas.

The hike to the arch was only about 10 minutes of zigging and zagging, over and through more beautiful red rocks.

We've seen many little Lizards while hiking in Utah. It looks like this poor guy had his tail chopped off somehow though.

Below is a view of "Tower Arch" from the inside. If you note the size of the other people standing in the arch, you will get a sense of it's actual grandeur. (PS: All of these people had to hike a few intense miles to get to the arch! Our 4x4 road reduced our hike greatly.)

Rob enjoyed taking pictures too, and Lucas really seemed to enjoy the view.

Lucas also enjoyed touching the smooth rocks, as well as the trees and leaves. One of his favourite things to do now is touch the leaves on trees, and he often gives a little giggle when he does so.