Thursday, April 19, 2012

dear moab, I love you

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After the race, we packed up and headed to Arches National Park right outside of Moab, Utah.

Wow.

Why haven't we traveled down this way before? We have lived here for 6 years now, what's wrong with us?!! It's only a 4 hour drive ( I realize to some this may seem excruciating, but since most of our roadtrips are 8+ hours a 4 hour drive is a breeze!), and it's like no other place on earth. It's absolutely incredible, and we are already planning on heading back soon--there are more rocks to be climbed, more desert to explore, and more red dust to stain our skin. We have fallen in love.

The wind was so gusty I swear it was trying to take my children away from me, so we stuck to short walks down paths to see some sights (Park Avenue, Balanced Rock, Double Arch), and our only real hike for the day was out to Delicate Arch. The hike was only a little over 3 miles, and the boy and girl had so much fun exploring the smooth desert rocks on the way up. I am so glad we hiked up to this arch--we almost passed it up when the wind was yelling nasty things at us, but decided to go for it and hang on tight. As we came around the large boulders that hid the arch for most of the hike, it didn't matter how windy it was......because THIS, my friends, is a sight to see. I have seen it a thousand times in pictures, postcards, and it's even on Utah license plates--but to stand underneath it with the world dropping off behind you....it's quite a feeling.

We are anxious to get back and head deeper into the park, as well as Canyonlands and put some more footprints in the red earth.
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On our drive home from Moab we took a detour and headed out to explore Goblin Valley. If you ever find yourself anywhere near this crazy place--GO! You will feel like you are on another planet (are you?) and there are more rocks than your Littles (and yourself, who are we kidding) could even dream of climbing. It's a giant rock playground for running, jumping, hiding and seeking, topped with piles of puffy white clouds.
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the end.

20 comments:

Kaitlyn Luce said...

Oh my word! Incredible. This looks like so much fun!

Lauriann said...

If you make it back to Goblin Valley, you must hit Little Wild Horse Canyon, the sign leading to it is right where you pay to get into Goblin. It is AMAZING, and a hike kids can do. It's like The Narrows, but no water.
And at Canyonlands, you must hit Island in the Sky near sunset. It does not disappoint.

Moab and that area of Utah is amazing. So glad you discovered it too.

Urban Nester said...

Wow. So incredible.

My husband and I are going out there this summer, and these pictures made me even more excited to go and see them!

Thanks for sharing!

molly
http://alwaysamrsforeverakidd.blogspot.com

Laura said...

Our family is considering a tour of this area soon too...this gives us even more motivation!! LOVE where you went and what you found. And thanks Lauriann for the comment about Little Wild Horse Canyon. Great recommendation. We are totally looking for things our littles can do and enjoy. So Goblin Valley looks perfect. Man, who am I kidding, I like to climb and jump on rocks too!!! We gotta go here. :)

Lisset said...

One of our top five favorite places in the whole world. Whenever we need to escape we always go to Moab. Nothing like redrock to lift your spirits.

Darcy said...

Isn't Moab the most awesome place on earth?! My husband and I are sort of Moab junkies and have been at least a dozen times...we just can't get enough. Goblin Valley is definitely next on our list and we've been dying to make a trip out there this spring (that area is at least a 10 hour drive for us and I'm 7+ months prego so we'll see if it happens or not).

So glad your family made it out there and had such a fantastic trip. I hope you can return soon....some of the best camping we've ever done has been in Moab.

The Rowley's said...

We would love to go again... and weve never seen goblin valley. We need to get out there for our camping trip one year.

Nora Kathleen said...

These pictures are absolutely stunning! Can I ask, what kind of lens do you use?

All Things Neville said...

Moab and Goblin Valley! The two best places ever :) I love the pictures you captured of Moab.

Bridget said...

unreal. great pictures, great place.

kate said...

I left a long (ridiculous) comment on your trail run post but now I don't see it? Hmn. Well the jist of it was that your amazing, that run looks amazing and I might have cried reading about it. It just brought back some really good memories from my 1/2 marathon trail run, okay?

Also, we were in Moab just a few days before you. The weather was PERFECT while we were there so I'm bummed you got crappy wind. It was perfect. It was amazing. It's our place. I can't wait to go back.

Rebecca said...

All these pictures are making me homesick! I grew up taking weekend (or even day) trips to Moab and Goblin Valley. In fact, I remember as a young teenager I was exploring a cave in Goblin Valley with my Dad and sisters and my younger sister slipped down a hole. My Dad caught her hand and she was just dangling there until we could pull her back up - it was like a scene straight out of a movie!

Unknown said...

seriously looks amazing. so so so fun. cant wait to take my girls one day when we are in ut.

Tanae Nelson said...

I think the wind must always be there. The last two times we went it was blowing very strongly as well- my hair looks crazy in all the photos.
We are so lucky to live in the west, I feel like there are so many amazing places to explore all within a days drive!

Nicole said...

I LOVE Moab! Oh my goodness, I love it. Awesome pictures!!

Unknown said...

Gorgeous. What a perfect place for children to run around.

jenniferhoiyin said...

Isn't it incredible? We went for our first time last year and we can't get enough. Our new favorite place.
Way to go on your race!

Catherine Sang said...

Hi Sheena

Just happen to stumble on your blog while blog-hopping. Nice photos & sweet writings! I will definitely drop by more often. I wanted to drop a comment to tell you that the wall art on the 9th photo cheered up my day !

Michelle said...

We've driven from Oregon to Moab just about every year for the past fifteen years or so. Make sure you check out Goblin Valley State Park on one of your trips -- it's just as amazing, but totally different from anything in Arches. We passed it tons of times without realizing what we were missing.

CeCe said...

Great pics! My husband and his friends went on a bike trip there. He said what a small town it is and they laughed about a spot called tater salad hill. He didn't take hardly any pics of course nor is he gonna sit there and say how pretty it was so had no idea just how beautiful the place is.