Huge hot arches for a 6 year old

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Elise’s 6th birthday. Elise practically jumped out of bed this morning. She was so excited that it was her birthday. She got to open a few small presents and was happy as a clam all day.

Today, the high was 104 degrees (by our car thermometer). We went to Arches National Park and tried to get there early. We stopped by the Visitors Center to get the kids registered for the Junior Ranger Program. It was 88 degrees at 9:30 am……whoohoooo, it was going to be a hot one!

The drive into the park is up a series of switchbacks that takes you to the top of the park. The switchbacks are through red rock, limestone, granite and sandstone. The arches are made mostly of Estrada sandstone, that was exposed over millions of years of erosion, pressure and water. It is so difficult to describe Arches because it is so vast and the rock formations are so huge. It is really awe inspiring. We’ve discovered that every national park is created to protect something extremely beautiful, so you can’t go wrong.

We drove through the park and decided to keep our hikes to a minimum because of the heat. We saw the 3 gossips, balanced rock, courtyard, delicate arch, sandstone arch and skyline arch. We hiked over a half mile each way to get a good view of delicate arch, and it was mighty sunny and hot. Our favorite today was the sandstone arch, because it was shaded, cooler and we could climb all over the rocks. We did not go to the Windows Section (which made me sad) but the hike to see the rock was over a mile and it was too hot....Joe struggled with what might be some heat stroke today and with the kids, we needed to take it easier. We finally got to see a bighorn sheep, although it was a female so the horns weren’t so big.

At the end of our time in the park, we stopped at the Visitors center to complete Ethan and Elise’s Junior Ranger booklets. We watched a movie on the development of the stone formation in Arches. The kids are now Junior Rangers of 4 National Parks. Ethan was so proud he wore all his medals to dinner.

After Arches, we returned to the campground for a swim. Today, we met a retired couple from Boston who were doing the National Park circuit for 2 months. In addition, we met a family from New Jersey who live 2 towns away from Teaneck. So yesterday we meet someone from San Diego, today New Jersey. Weird.

We went out to dinner at the Moab Brewery for Elise’s birthday. We finally had great food. The staff sang to Elise when they brought her her desert and a candle. She was beaming. We then went minature golfing at one of the strangest places I’ve ever been. This “Family Fun Stop" included minature golf, go cart racing, water bumper cars and a amusementpark swing. None of it looked very safe or up to snuff. When we got there, there was only one other family who were on the go carts, which looked extremely rickety and dangerous. The minature golf was not updated and was difficult for the kids. We finally stopped trying to make a game of it and just let them putt. Simone would just walk her ball to 2 inches from the hole and hit it in. I overheard Ethan and Elise talking about how fun it was, which felt good. As a parent, I always want to make birthdays special.

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Comments

[Pflum family]

What an adventure!
Dearest Boutelles, Happy Birthday, Elise! It is so fun reading about all of your adventures, sights, experiences and travels. You are truly on a trip of a lifetime. Continue to enjoy every moment of your traveling time together. We are with you in spirit! Love you all. The Pflums