Arches, arches and more arches!

 

Hello from Arches National Park!  We have absolutely loved having Michelle here with us (and no, not just because she cooked for us every night! 😁). Combined with Bryce Canyon we have hiked over 27 miles in the week since she has been with us! 

FYI, the brace on her knee was just her being proactive from when she tore her acl 2 years ago, no injuries happened during this trip!

We saw SO many arches! Here are the North & South windows, which we thought looked like 2 eyes and a big nose!

Good thing we've been hiking so much and were skinny enough to fit thru the canyon walls!

The most impressive arch (and hike!) was Delicate Arch...it was only 3 miles long but up, up, up 538 feet the side of this sandstone mountain. Incredible views from on top and a crazy ledge for the last 200 yards with a straight drop off on the side. Michelle faced her fears and made it up as I held the side of the mountain for her! 😉

We were very proud of ourselves for making the hike so we took lots of pictures, or maybe it was just so we could stop and rest a minute! 

 

Turret Arch with the sun behind the clouds and one of my favorite pics below from it.

That's the double arch and I thought it looked like a good place to take a little rest!

 

Michelle is SO Strong, she was holding this rock up with one hand! :) On the right is snow along the trail...burr!!!!

Even the trees were fascinating to look at and ponder how they got so twisted.

My handsome hiker husband. What a trooper he was putting up with two women all week bossing him around and making him hike, hike, hike!

Probably the second most interesting arch was Landscape Arch, measuring 306 feet from base to base, which is longer than a football field!

Just past that arch is the trail to the Double O, where you are scrambling on all fours climbing up in places. That's us in the middle, me on the left and Michelle on the right. We got over that section and it was straight down on both sides so we decided to call it safe and head back down to Dave...

 

 

...He was happy to see us again!

As if the views of the Arches weren't enough you'll see in many of the pictures the snow capped La-Sal Mountains making their appearance. Just breathtaking to come around the corner and see that backdrop!

It wouldn't be a desert without some cactus pictures, a preview of more to come once we get to Arizona I'm sure!

And a few more pictures of just what a cool place Arches National Park is...

This was called the Three Gossips but I thought it looked more like it should have been called the Three Wise Men.

 

This one made me think of a Pharaoh from Egypt and my favorite was the one below that I saw a Llama with a patch on his right eye! Okay, maybe the altitude was getting to me!

We had so much fun celebrating our victories as we made it up the rocks! It was really great to be able to share this amazing park with Michelle too. The kitties are already missing her...and her bed she let them share every night.

And just when you thought all was a happy ending, our water heater went out today and we had another opportunity to support the local RV repair companies. Thanks to Tayson at Canyon Country RV Repair and my handy husband we were back with hot water just in time for me to get all the laundry done yet tonight.

Note to our fellow RVers...it's a good idea to drain your water heater every 3 months and replace the heating element once a year. Looks like ours was a bit over due! 

Life is still good and God gave us a gorgeous sunset tonight to remind us of all of blessings!

Time to hit the road again tomorrow heading south to Canyonlands National Park. Pappy says she hopes it's warmer there!