Exploring Arches National Park | Traveling with Kids (part 3)
As we set out on our 'best road trip ever,' we had a list of about 5 national parks in Utah alone that we wanted to see. Well despite excited boys and chipper moods, that was a bit more than we had time for. Today was my my son's birthday so we decided the Birthday Boy would get to choose today's park, and he chose Arches National Park. Let me just say, it did not disappoint.
But the thing is, we were surprising our birthday boy with a party at his cousins house, ALL the way in Colorado Springs, CO that night. They were going to be waiting with pizza and cake at 6:00pm, sowe had a schedule to keep. Big mistake. This place deserves your full attention.
We wound around the grand entrance and, if we thought the sights were amazing before, this place was absolutely stunning. The windows got rolled down despite the air being cool and crisp mid-February. The scenery was calling for us to get closer. I gotta tell ya, there was quite a bit of oooh-ing and ahhh-ing coming from our big red suburban.
Well, you know our time was limited, so we had to choose one trail. We chose the Delicate Arch trailhead. What a fantastic hike! The red color of the rock against that blue sky, the layers visible from high to low, the smooth texture, and shapely formations just had us grinning from ear to ear. One really needs to take time to just sit and look around. Smell the air. Listen to the pure quietness. Soak it all in. I'm sad to say we left far too little time to give this place its' proper attention.
The day was beautiful, the surroundings amazing. But we left bummed. We seriously ran through this gorgeous playground. A couple kids were stressed and near tears because they just wanted to play and climb. We ended up spoiling the birthday surprise just so the kids would have more of an understanding as to why Dad was rushing us through. We didn't even have time to fill out our Junior Ranger Packets. Lesson learned.We have all since agreed, Arches National Park is definitely on our list to revisit, except next time we're gonna plan for a longer stay ;)