A First - Seeing Moab

It has been a while since we went to Moab but I haven't gotten around to blogging about our trip yet and wanted to make sure to! I even have pictures this time! Can you believe it? Yeah, I can hardly believe it myself.

I have lived in Utah my entire life and never been to Moab. When we decided we were in desperate need of a vacation I decided that that is where I wanted to go/see. We left on Friday, May 20th and drove down to Archview Resort. We got our camping site all set up and Abrielle was so excited about the tent and being outside.

We decided to eat in town of Friday and ate at Paradox Pizza. My dad recommended the place because they have such great specialty pizzas. We got the Hawaiian Italian pizza and it was really good. Their marinara sauce is slow cooked and very unique and tasty.

We went back to our site and attempted to go to sleep but our site was really close ot the freeway and it was pretty noisy all night. Plus, my hip and back did not handle the hard sleeping conditions well. Our day started at 6:30 am the next morning when the sun got bright - such is the life of campers!

We spent the next day at Arches National Park. We started early and saw some incredible balancing rocks and arches on the way into the park.

View from the front seat of our car!

The Moab Valley on the way into Arches

Balanced Rock

We came to the crossroads to either go to the Delicate Arch viewpoint or to the beginning of the hike trail and I decided that I really wanted to do the hike. I thought that the experience of seeing the Arch that in so many ways defines our states geography (it is all over our license plates after all) for the first time would be best if I got the whole package. So we started out!

Abrielle determined from the beginning that she was going to make the hike all by herself. Every time we offered to carry her or hold her hand she would say, "I do this." We had to go pretty slow to accommodate her small steps and several people passed us on the way but all of them encouraged her and gave us a point for her to follow.

We got to a point on the trail where it is just completely rock. Abrielle's little feet were having a hard time balancing and we convinced her to let us help her by saying that we needed help. We'd say, "Abrielle help mommy so she doesn't fall!" That is the only way we could get her to hold our hands so we could scale the rock surface!

This is my favorite picture from the entire trip!

Daddy points the way. Can you see my shadow? Lol!

Abrielle made it the entire 1.5 miles up the mountain to see the Arch. When we got to the VERY end there was a walk way that drops off pretty severely. I was not okay with watching my 2 year old daughter try to balance and not fall off the cliff so Jake carried her kicking and screaming up the last 200 ft or so.

The Arch was incredible. It made the entire hike completely worth it. You are walking and walking and walking and you finally turn a corner and BOOM! There it is. I was amazed with how big it is! I never imagined anything so grand and majestic.

There are 2 people standing to the left of the Arch. If you can see them it will give you a good idea of how big the Arch actually is.

Resting after the long hike and having some snacks!

It felt really awesome that I did the whole hike. I was feeling so invigorated and AMAZING when we were finished. Tired, yes. But definitely amazing! People were so impressed and I had a lot of people ask how far along in my pregnancy I am. One lady even told me that such great exercise meant that I would have an easy delivery. I tell you what - if you want a self-esteem booster hike to Delicate Arch while 7 months pregnant!

I felt like doing the hike was a really awesome accomplishment for our entire family. After being the 2 year old champion of the year and hiking the entire way up, Abrielle was perfectly content to let daddy carry her down. Jake carried her allt he way back down the mountain. I was so proud of my little family for their strength, perserverance, and determination.

We were all pretty wiped out after the hike and spent the rest of our vacation taking things slow and easy.

I loved Moab. I thought it was an incredibly beautiful place and I would love to go back! Hopefully next year we will be able to go and maybe even bike a bit around Dead Horse Point.

Love, Shayla