Green River and Goblin Valley and Moab/Arches Arnold Family Trip

April 1st-6th.

Day one: Monday, April 1st

The kids and I left home in the later morning/early afternoon. It took 4 hours to drive there, and once again it proved I am not made for long distance driving. I got tired an hour and half into the drive. But we got to the camp ground in Green River. The girls and I had stayed her once before when they were little. 

We got set up, and got the kids fed, before it was time to go to sleep.

Cell phone pics

I bought these orange hoodies just for this trip for the girls, because they didn't have any sweaters to bring camping. 

Day two: Tuesday, April 2nd:

We got up, had breakfast, and got packed with everything we needed for our trip to Goblin Valley National Park. On our way out of town, dad needed something for the car, and so we stopped for a bit while he did that. The kids pet some baby chicks, then we went to a thrift store and the kids got a couple new books.

It was a 40 minute drive to the entrance of Goblin Valley. The line of cars was really long. Apparently they only let in so many people at a time. So while we were in line, mom got out to make lunch for everyone. The funniest part is that when the line would move, instead of cleaning up, we just left things as they were and walked with the car as it pulled forward.

It took about 30 minutes to get into the park. While we were stopped in line, I went inside the gift shop and bought everyone goblin valley t-shirts to wear.

Here is everyone in their new shirts. Williams ended up being so big, that after this picture we put him back in his bright orange shirt.

We were probably on in the park for 2 or 3 hours total. Which seems like a short time, but it felt like a really long time.

My son had the best time, while I had the worst; because he loved running around and hiding so much that I couldn't keep track of him, and he wasn't listening to me. At one point we stopped to climb around, and I just assumed he was there because he was following me, but hiding. It was ridiculous. I am glad the kid didn't get lost, that would have been the icing on the cake of disaster. at one point near the end, William took off and I couldn't find him and was yelling his name, and a group of people were like we saw him over there, so I had to take off and try and find him. Luckily he was right where they said he was. And luckily we were leaving the park, because I was done chasing him around and constantly worried that I wouldn't be able to find him. I'm sure I looked like the most ridiculous parent unable to keep track of him, but when William runs it is hard for me to keep up, and when I would get close he would book it. 

Sydney had so much fun climbing around all the big rocks. She was totally in her element. 

Lizzy had fun, but then she got tired and hot, and sat out in the shade for a little while.

I traded out Williams Goblin Valley t-shirt at the gift shop for one that would fit him better. This was the final pick.

Cell phone pics

It was quite cold this morning, and so dad and me and the kids all went hunting for firewood. That way we wouldn't have to look when we got back later that evening. We just needed enough wood for today, because tomorrow morning we were pulling out and heading further south to Moab, UT.

On our way to Goblin Valley.

We headed out to put coins on the train track that ran right next to the camp site. 

I have really tried to stress lately, that we not put coins on the tracks, because being on the tracks is illegal. Its a big thing in the photographer community, and I have become more aware of the legal liabilities involved with being on the train tracks. So Lizzy was really nervous, and didn't want to go. I told her she didn't have to put any coins on the tracks, but I still wanted her to come with me, while I went to make sure my kiddos were safe.

Day three: Wednesday, April 3rd

We beat my parents to Moab, and since I didn't know where the trailer park was, we parked in town, and walked around for about 30 minutes. Once they got into town we headed out to the trailer park to meet them. It was about ten minutes outside of downtown Moab.  

I can't remember the exact reason that I took the kids into downtown Moab, I think it was to either kill their boredom and to kill time or because mom and I got in a disagreement. Either way, Moab has a tone of buildings and Walls painted, so we walked around and found a bunch and took pictures with them. After being gone for a couple hours, after stopping by the store and getting the kids ice cream to cool them off and to tide them over, we headed back to camp. 

about the time dinner was ready, Sarah and Brady showed up. Spencer wasn't far behind them, and he was late because he ended up missing the turn off to Moab and went all the way to the Colorado border. 

 a two hours before sunset we headed to Dead Horse Point. It was a 40 minute drive, and since we were a little bit ahead of my parents (I took Spenc and Shay with me) we stopped for some fun road pictures. I always wanted to do road pictures, I've seen some fun and gorgeous ones.  Anyway, once mom and dad caught up we got back on our journey. 

the view from Dead Horse Point was beautiful. I am so very glad we went there and we got to see it. The kids had fun running around too.

Cell phone pics

I was just coming out of the showers when I saw dad and William headed to the train track to retrieve any coins that were left. So I joined them. After we got back to camp, I took the kids to the bathroom to use the showers (which was actually a very nice facility for the little trailer park in Green River).

Syds pics: Sydney brought her camera with us, and I thought she captured some beautiful moments.

Day four: Thursday, April 4th

We ate breakfast, got packed for the day, and headed to Arches National Park. It was a only a 15 minute drive to the park itself, but it was more like a 20-25 minute drive to balanced rock, which is where we headed first.  it was super easy for the kids to climb.

From the official website:

Balanced Rock: 0.3 mi (0.5 km) Round Trip. 15-30 min. A loop trail around the base of a fragile, picturesque rock formation.

After the balanced rock we headed to the delicate arch. the hike to actually get to the arch was long, it was very hot, and steep in lots of places. It was good hour long hike. the kids did pretty good with the hike. William and Lizzy were getting tired, but they kept on going. I am so proud of all the kids for how well they did on this hike. the fact that all my kids have on a bright orange color (the girls with their sweaters, and William with his shorts, was totally a coincidence that I didn't realize til after I was editing the pictures. But it makes it easy to spot my kiddos in these pictures :) ).  It also was challenging for me, because I am not in the best shape, but my knees suck too. I am proud of myself for making it through this hike and not completely collapsing at the end. I even carried or piggy backed Lizzy or William for parts of the hike.

According to the official website for Arches National Park: Delicate Arch: 3 mi (4.8 km) round trip. 2-3 hrs round trip. From the Wolfe Ranch parking area. There is no shade. Open slickrock with some exposure to heights. The first half-mile is a wide, well-defined trail. Upon reaching the slickrock, follow the rock cairns. The trail climbs gradually and levels out toward the top of this rock face. Just before you get to Delicate Arch, the trail goes along a rock ledge for about 200 yards. Elevation change: 480 feet (146 meters)

going around the last corner, it was so windy. It was so bad that it was a little bit freaky walking along the ground towards the arch. and there is enough of a slant, that anything that could roll that was dropped, rolled right off the edge of the plateau we were on.

We climbed back down, and the hike down was easier, but not on my knees. But we did it!!!

Then we headed to Landscape rock and elephant rock which are right next to each other. 

we went to landscape rock first. 

From the official website:

Landscape Arch: 2 mi (3.2 km) round trip. 30-60 min. A relatively flat, gravel-surfaced trail leads to a spectacular ribbon of rock, whose span is more than a football field in length. Short side trips to Tunnel and Pine Tree Arches. 

After seeing landscape arch, we kind of hiked around the area. The kids had a lot of fun. There were so many hiding places. 

By the time we were done with landscape arch and surrounding area, the kids were all super tired. But Shay and I wanted to see the elephant arch, so Sarah and Brady came with us and gave us a ride back, while mom and dad took all the kids. The kids were all super tired after all the hiking and climbing they did today. 

Shay and I got to go at a slow pace and took a lot of pictures. it took Sarah and Brady a few minutes to catch up with us. We only stayed like 15 minutes, and then headed back to the trailer. 

From the official website:

Double Arch: 0.5 mi (0.8 km) round trip. 15-30 min. A relatively flat, sandy trail leads to the base of two giant arch spans which are joined at one end.

Cell phone pics

we rode with mom and dad in the suburban, and Sarah and Brady rode in their truck, and brought Spencer along.

Walking to the delicate arch

this picture was just to show i was carrying so many bags, they were getting tangled when i was trying to take them on and off. lol.

after a long day of hiking, the kids were excited to swim in the pool at the trailer park. before we went swimming, we ate spaghetti in Sarah and Bradys trailer.

Syds pics:

Day 5: Friday, April 5th

I got in a fight with my mom today, and just jumped in my van (leaving the kids with my parents) and drove off. I was so frustrated. When I came back, everybody was gone. They had headed for a place called "Hole in the Rock" which a museum, of some peoples house that they had made by carving rooms out of the rock.  I caught up with them in time for the tour. It was crazy how big the space was. it was even a restaurant at one point. The guy who lived there was also an amateur taxidermist, so there were several stuffed animals around as well.

The kids thought the rock house was cool. but William liked the old vehicles outside better. each kid got to pick a "souvenir" from there little gift shop. there wasn't a ton to pick from. They had good ice cream though.

Eventually we headed back to camp. to eat lunch, and then we went into town and headed to park to let the kids play for a while. It was a pretty cool park actually. the kids played on the zipline for a while, everyone taking turns. We even played a little catch with the kids, since William joined up with the T-ball team for spring. on our way back from the park, Shay and I split off from the pack to souvenir shop. I'm really sad to say, one of the mugs I brought home, couldn't be used anymore after only a couple weeks because the awesome print on it started to come off :(.

I packed up as much as I could, because we were heading for home in the morning.

cell phone pics

I did all our laundry before we headed out so that I wouldn't have hardly any dirty laundry to take home. It was really nice.

Ok so everything was super expensive. a bunch of the food trucks were even open. so we picked the pizza because we knew all the kids would eat it. but the kids ended up eating so little of it, it was disappointing for how much money it cost.

It got cold in the shade, so i ended up letting lizzy use my sweater.

Day 6: Saturday, April 6th

Since I had almost everything packed up in the van the previous night, it didn't take to much to get us packed up after breakfast. We took Shay with us because we were going to meet at the bridge that crosses over the Colorado River before we all left, so mom and dad were gonna meet us there after they got the trailer hooked up. Shay and I did a little bit more souvenir shopping before heading to the bridge. 

it was really cold today, so glad it wasn't like this with all the hiking we had done the last couple of days, because we busted out the coats and hats.  

I was so happy to be home, because I was exhausted after everything we had done during this trip. And it's always great to come back home to Jake after an emotionally exhausting trip with my family.

cell phone pics