Day 31 – Moab, Rafting on the Colorado River, and Arches National Park

Day 31 (7/29) Moab, Rafting on the Colorado River, and Arches National Park. (Eden)

(This is posted late because we stayed at a hotel where there was no wifi. More on that later.)

This morning, we said goodbye to Monument Valley, which made Dad sad. He likes big rocks.

We stopped just outside the park to take the iconic Forrest Gump shot. I saw the movie for the first time last night so I understood what we were doing but my siblings weren’t entirely sure. Eventually after a lot of re-dos, we got the picture. Run, Fishers, run!

After a quick two and a half hour drive , we arrived in Moab, Utah. Dad had arranged a river rafting excursion through a local adventure company. We drove upstream along the Colorado River, put on our breath-restricting life vests, and hopped in a raft with five or so other people. Our guide paddled us downstream to a little beach, where we stopped for lunch. We plopped down and watched as the guides lay out stuff for sandwiches. It was kind of weird, just watching them as they assembled tables and cut up fruits and veggies. We ate and got back on the rafts. Mom and Harrison took a turn on the inflatable kayak.

We continued down the river, through a couple of faster rapids, and stopped to swim and jump off the rafts. At one point, Elliot was sitting on the edge of the raft when I cannon-balled off it, knocking him off with the force of my jump! It was really funny and even he came up laughing. We all had fun jumping.

Through the slower parts of the river, our guide, Jonah (perfect name for his job, right?), entertained us with stories of his extreme hiking trips. He’s a pretty serious hiker and it was really peaceful listening to him as we floated down the Colorado.

When the ride was over, we changed into dry clothes, and instantly realized how hot it was. 105 F. Ugh. We stopped for dinner at a fun local joint called Milt’s, founded in ’54, which made it the oldest restaurant in town. It had yummy burgers and decent shakes, but not as good as In-N-Out!

Next was Arches National Park. It was really pretty, despite some clouds and rapidly approaching sunset. We marveled at the landscape but were disappointed to see only a couple arches.

We hiked (although it was more of a walk) up to a giant arch—a double arch, actually—and scrambled around on the big rocks below it. We had a nice view of the setting sun. We sat around on the rocks and took pictures. (Or, Dad took pictures. And more pictures, and more pictures, and more pictures….)

Unfortunately, it got dark pretty soon after that so we headed to Moab Under Canvas, the best hotel (in my opinion) that we’ve stayed in this whole trip!! It’s essentially glamping; there’s canvas tents with a rug, a king size bed, a dresser, and a wood stove. And the kids got our own separate teepee to sleep in with four cots!! (Dad wasn’t too keen on the non-Native appropriation of teepees, but it was still fun.) We definitely didn’t need the stove because even though the sun had gone down, it was still HOT. The whole thing was awesome and adorable.

(And it was practically in the middle of nowhere, hence the lack of wifi. There was no electricity at all in the tents/teepee.)

We ate a couple s’mores at the community fire, took quick showers in the bathroom trailer, and gazed up at the stars. There were SO many and they were SO bright! As more stars appeared, it became harder to pick out. It was stunning.

And then, we crawled into our beds and cots, and went to sleep. Under Canvas.

(Click on the pictures to enlarge them or start a slideshow.)