Arches National Park Lizards

It was always a treat when we saw lizards on our trip. We don't have any lizards in Nebraska. In Arches National Park located in Southern Utah we saw a few lizards.

We were walking around here:

And saw a lizard. 

The problem is that lizards move quickly! Daddy caught this one on camera:

Detail:

Daddy took this video:

Call me odd, but I so wanted to catch a lizard to keep.

Do you have lizards where you live?

Arches National Park - 911?!

Daddy wanted to check out more of Arches National Park. I said, "Go ahead and go. I know the boy's want to go swimming, and we haven't had a chance to do that much. You go, and we'll swim. Our pass is for 7 days anyhow."

If you want to find hiking trails and get information on tours please visit this link: 10adventures.com.

After dinner he got some water, had his cell phone, and left to go on an adventure.

It was 8:30 and he still had not gotten back. I didn't want to worry the boys, so I kept leaving our hotel room to call him. Of course the reception is horrible in those parts and when you are roaming. He didn't answer at all.

I was questioning if I should call 911, or if I was over reacting. Then I decided that him leaving for Arches National Park by himself was a bad idea! I'm pretty sure that if we were playing a survival game we would have lost in what we chose to do.

I was thinking the worst: Either he was lost, killed by some animal, killed by some person, or hurt.

Of course there was that other side of my brain saying: He's just fine, he's just driving around and lost track of time, he'll be here any minute.

He had our vehicle. It's not like I could go driving around to find him. I'm not good with directions anyhow.

It turned out he was just fine. It really took him a long time to drive up Arches National Park. He decided to try and go on a trail to see a certain arch, and it was a difficult trial. When it got too hard he decided to turn around to go back. He didn't see any people around, and noticed it was getting later. He had no clue what kind of animals were in the area, so back to the vehicle he went.

I was so glad he decided to come back to the hotel. I felt much safer. No 911 call was needed.

Arches National Park - Sand

While we were in Arches National Park I was taking a needed rest with Isaak. Daddy was hiking with Mica. They both came out of the spot they were in and said, "You guys have to see this! It's like a mini paradise in there. So Isaak and I went to check out the paradise. Mica and Daddy went a different way to look at some additional arches.

After you get into this small space, there's soft sand, and rock. The sand isn't hot.

Isaak took off his shoes and ran in the sand.

There were all kinds of hidden spots - like this one:

There were also arches like this:

Isaak made a sand angel:

When we left our little paradise this is what we saw:

Arches National Park

Onward we went to Arches National Park in Southern Utah. I've always wanted to go to Utah. The pictures I've seen just look so amazing. We really only had time to hit a few key spots: Arches National Park and Dead Horse Point State Park. Arches will take up 4 posts.

Have you been to Utah?

On the way to our destination:

One car can get into the park for $10, for 7 days.


What I liked was the landscape of contrasting colors, landforms and textures unlike any other in the world.

Just look at the vast colors:

The park has over 2,000 natural stone arches, in addition to hundreds of soaring pinnacles, massive fins and giant balanced rocks. We didn't see all there is to see.

I had Mica pull a Grover, "Near" and "Far".

 

I have to say I have a tendency to get hung up in seeing one area of the park, wearing myself out, then loosing energy to do the rest. We were at Mesa Verde the day before, Chaco Culture before that, hiked in Santa Fe before that, The Great Sand Dunes National Park before that, and Garden of the Gods before that. All those places had hiking involved. Yes we got exercise, but we spent a lot of time in the car to. At this point I was way off my diet. My stomach was saying, "I hate you!" There's usually some point in time where trips put a toll on my tummy. I'm just not used to eating out so much. The breakfasts at the hotels are wonderful in their taste, but not good for you!

There was one point I opted to stay in the car, but Daddy yanked me out when he saw how pretty it was. 

Isaak to was wearing thin. He was like me, he did well in the beginning, then he was hot, the sun was in his eyes, and his feet hurt. There's only so much walking a 6 year old can do with their little legs. He had done so well up until that point.

Sitting down for a rest.

Isaak became my partner, and Mica became Daddy's partner. Hence the reason why I have more pictures of Isaak.

Mica is like Daddy, he could go and go.

Despite Isaak and I being oh so tired, we loved the scenery. I don't want to down play this park. It's super amazing!

This red rock wonderland will amaze you with its formations, refresh you with its trails, and inspire you with its sunsets.

The next spot we visited in the park looked phalic. I giggled a few giggles.

Have you been to Arches National Park?