Arches & Grand Canyon

For our anniversary, we went on a road trip to Arches and Grand Canyon National Parks. The scenery and rock formations are mesmerizing, massive, and majestic.  I enjoyed Sunshine's tips and details about Orlando, so here are a few about these parks. 

The best arches in the park were Delicate and Sand Dunes Arches.  Delicate Arch was the most spectacular and had an amazing view.  Sand Dunes Arch was small and fun.  The sandy path made it feel like a beach, and it had some good rocks to scramble on. 

We camped at Upper Big Bend near Arches for two nights.  We were excited to find a vacant camping spot, only to find out that it wasn't vacant after all.  Some college students had claimed the campground but forgotten to mark it.  They were gracious to let us share it with them, and it was fun talking to them over campfire. They were residents of Utah, and we got a little culture surprise when one of them asked, "Where's our pot?" and another one replied, "It's in the car."  My husband and I both expected them to bring out some weed, but they brought out a cooking pot to put their canned beans in.  So, their "pot" ended up being, well, a pot.  That definitely never happens on a camping trip in Colorado!  Thought that was an amusing story that you might enjoy.

Another thing that was surprising was that there were no climbers anywhere, it seemed.  I very eagerly brought my shoes thinking I'd get good use out of them, and find someone else climbing who I could get some tips from on good spots.  But I didn't see anyone.  Living in Boulder, I always feel very out-of-shape, because everyone is running, biking, or climbing everywhere and every day.  But, in the park, I didn't see anyone.  After hiking in Boulder, the Arches hikes also felt very easy - they weren't steep or long, and the low altitude made it easy to breathe.  But, it was hot and dry!  In Boulder, we never bring water on hikes and are fine.  But here, we were unbearably thirsty after twenty minutes of walking.  So, in the end, the hikes in Utah ended up being harder, simply because we felt so dehydrated. 


We drove to Flagstaff and stayed a few days with my husband's sister and her boyfriend.  They were very kind hosts and showed us around the town.  We also got to see one of my husband's best friend from college.  It was cool to meet him after hearing all the stories about him.  It was nice to be in a super-urban place like Phoenix after driving through so many small towns.  I definitely prefer urban places.


In Grand Canyon, we walked around the rim mainly. The Desert View area had the most breathtaking view and is a nice place to watch the sunset. It also has a tower with some nice artwork inside.

These areas had some nice wildlife - wild turkeys, eagles, crows, turkey vultures, and many little lizards.  It also had many bugs, which unfortunately I was more scared than appreciate of.  There were big ants crawling around when we set up our tent and small biting sand flies in Arches - I spent so much time waving these latter ones off when hiking that I think my arms got more exercise than my legs.  I must have provided some entertainment to the other hikers (including my husband) by acting like such a lunatic. In Grand Canyon, there were these huge, hovering black bugs. 

The saddest part of the trip was driving. We almost hit a bird that came really close to our car, but very fortunately didn't.  We also hit a bunch of bugs that we felt really bad about, but it is extremely hard not to do so when driving. Poor guys.

Overall, it was a fantastic trip with lots of amazing scenery and lots of driving.  I enjoyed spending the time with my husband, and definitely loved camping and seeing friends and family.  Ciao.