We started our adventures July 24th. We drove down to our hotel in Green River, then headed down to Moab to check out the sights and grab a bite to eat since the only eatery in Green Valley looked pretty ghetto. We drove up into Arches. It was Beautiful! So cool and crazy at the same time. Again, Pictures don't do justice for the real beauty!
The little hike up to the viewing point to see Delicate arch.
This would have probably have been a lot impressive if we would have hiked all the way over to the arch, but it looked a little risky with kids... Maybe it's not, but it looked that way from the viewing area (where we are).
Really? That's it!?!?
After getting a good nights sleep and a full breakfast at a hotel, we headed down to Goblin Valley. This is the last spot we had our camera, so if any tourist has found a Nikon cool pix (fairly old) with pictures of these two days, I'd like my memory back!)
We got here probably about 10 am and were told to take lots of water with us as we explored. I have to say, even with the nice cool breeze in the shadows of the gollins, it sure can dry you out quick!
Josh was determined to walk across the "valley" and over to the other wall you see in this picture. (above) Granted, it wasn't THAT far, but with little explorers and the heat, it wasn't a pleasant journey.
And after going ALL the way across, we got a great Family Picture! Red faced and all!
After the longer drive to get to Williams AZ where we camped with fellow Apache people, We learned about monsoon season. I'd say if the group would have known about this season, we would not have gone when we did! Crazy flash floods! The days were pretty nice, but once dinner time rolled around, so did the water!
We ventured downtown Willams which was really a cool little town. Not only was it along Route 66, it was were we would get on the train to the Grand Canyon.
Bridget's Birday was that Saturday. So we had to squeeze that in. Yep, even camping lots of miles away, she was still spoiled.
We went to the Grand Canyon on Sunday. We got hail this day. Good thing we were on a tour bus!
The train ride was just over two hours each way. It was a VERY long ride for the girls.
Once we got to the Canyon, we got on a tour bus to take us up and around. This was our very first view of the amazing grand canyon. Needless to say, we sat in the bus for a good 5-10 min. for a break in the rain/hail.
View of the Green River that runs though the canyon. Looks pretty brown to me!
At the next stop the sun tried to peek out a little. Added a little more color to the trip.
I was over nervous with the girls at the very edge of this. It was straight down... not that far, but definitely a good fall.
After the site seeing the bus took us back to a resturante where we all ate together. Then back to the train. While we waited the 20 minutes for the train to leave, we wandered the gift shops to keep out of the sprinkling. When it was time to load the train again, it was BUCKETS of water being dumped on us. That made for a nice soaked ride back!
These telephone poles are the original polls that they used to have to fix while standing on a horse... That's why they are only 8ft tall. I thought it was interesting.
While on the train we had a few people play some songs, and a lady did trivia. When we started the ride.
Before we got on the train there was this "play" with cowboys and robbers. while on the way to the canyon, the robbers got on the train and robbed everyone! Bridget and Kaitlyn were a little nervous to give the robber their change! (tips)
After a long soggy day, I think we went back into town for dinner, cause we were not in the mood to cook. After walking the main street about 4 times we decided to go back out to Jack in the Crack (box). BUT Josh did cook a few dutch oven dinners for us. I think this picture is actually Bridget's Birthday cake that we took to share at the pot luck with the rest of the apache-ites.
On our way home we took a tour at the Hoover Dam It was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. After the tour we headed on up north and stayed the night in St. George in a super nice Holiday Inn Express. (Josh's new fav. chain since his trip to NY) We all got to swim under the stars and the warm air! There was NO rain. It was a beautiful night, and end to a great vacation.
And every trip we go on, we happen to see a blue mustang convertible like this one. This was in between AZ and NV, and we saw another one at the dam. Is it a sign? If so, what does it mean!?!
Happy Trails to you! From the Smith's
