Confession: I’m not a planner.
It’s true.
But I was given a book titled, 100 Places that can Change your Child’s Life, and remembered to toss it in the RV after packing. I started flipping though the book while we were on the road to see if there was anything interesting on our route. Well, the whole book is interesting! And, sure enough Arches National Park wasn’t too far off the freeway, and about halfway to our evening destination. Arches has over 2,000 sandstone arch formations, lots of trails and a 36-mile road that takes you around the park, just in case you don’t feel like getting out of your car!
We decided to go.
We stopped at Devil’s Canyon to stretch our legs. And the children built mini arches in honor of the giant ones we were about to see at Arches National Park.
Learning is fun.
And we got a pretty sweet picture of us at the edge of a cliff. We had to hike a bit to get there but it was worth it for the view. AND for the fellow hiker who made my kids say “whiskey” instead of cheese for the picture.
We arrived at Arches National Park at noon-ish and only expected to spend an hour or so exploring. We ended up staying for 3.5 hours and only left because we wanted to get to Colorado Springs by 1am.
(Why do I never tire of lining my kids up in age order for photos?… now if I can only talk Brad into a 5th to add to the lineup!)
Arches is massive and beautiful and there are plenty of EASY hiking trails for kids – we even brought our double stroller! The greatest part, was climbing around on the rock formations.
The kids were super into it because everything was so hands on. Arches National Park is so different than anywhere they had ever been and you could just see their imaginations going wild as they looked at the unique rocks. We liked to imagine shapes in the formations… kinda like cloud watching, except with rocks.
Many of the trails were .5 miles or less and you can see multiple arches and other pretty rock formations along the way.
I recommend packing a lunch, snacks, sunscreen, getting there early, to hike the day away. At least that’s what we’ll do next time!
We tore ourselves away and got back on the road. I drove this time, while everyone else slept.
I did wake up the big kids to hop inside a teepee on the side of the road!
Because we did whatever the heck we wanted on this trip!
(I searched to to avail, for this teepee location so I could give you an exact location. Ug. I believe it’s on the road just leaving Arches.)
We made it to Colorado Springs late that evening and were greeted with cozy beds at our friend’s home.
But that’s a story for another blog post!
Day two’s route across the beautiful stat of Utah and into much of Colorado…
Day 2 – traveled 752 miles
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Ashley@ It's Fitting says
I’m SO jealous. This is on my bucket list, to hop in an RV and drive around visiting National Parks! I might want to wait until the littles are a little bit bigger though. Might be nice if the Peanut actually remembers it ;-).
Can’t wait to see more about your trip!!
Amanda says
I MUST get that book! Looks like you all had a fun time too.
Sharon Garofalow says
This sounds like such an awesome place! And while I don’t generally enjoy being outdoors, I bet even I would like hiking around there. 🙂