Day 12. Still in Moab, UT today! We reserved our same room for an extra night and decided to stay here while the storm passes through southwestern Colorado (our route). This will make for a loooong travel day Saturday, but we would rather stay safe.
Jordan got up for sunrise again, and for the second day in a row, was the lone photographer at Mesa Arch. He usually sees at least a couple of other photographers when he is out at sunrise and sunset (even more at sunset). He saw a little break in the clouds but when the sun came out, the clouds covered. So, another bust this morning.
The kids and I saw our new friends at breakfast again. They asked what our plans were for the day. We discussed the original plan that we both had to travel to Colorado today. They are from Colorado and recommended that we not travel and shared that they were staying an extra night to avoid the storm. They also own a popcorn store in Colorado Springs and gave us two bags of popcorn. The wife is/was military and was stationed near where we live for a short time. I plan to mail them one of Jordan’s National Park calendars to their store address when we get home.
Since we now had an open day in the Moab area that was not originally planned, we ordered lunches to go from a cute sandwich shop in town and headed into Canyonlands NP. There are no restaurants in Canyonlands or Arches so this company has a great business offering lunches to go. They told me that in the summer time (when the parks are most crowded) they start making sandwiches to go first thing in the morning and make them all day long. It’s apparently really popular and it was really good, too!
We got to Canyonlands, stamped our passport and bought an ornament. We did the short hike to Mesa Arch and let Jackson walk this one. It was a half mile round trip. We got his leash backpack out this time and he loved walking. After Mesa Arch we headed back into Arches NP.
As we had some phone service between parks, we found out that our offer for the new house was accepted by the current owners. Throughout the rest of the day we signed paperwork via email/internet and got under contract on a house in Texas while we were in Utah. Crazy what can be done over the internet- and thankful for it!
Once in Arches NP, we decided to tackle another short hike and went to see Landscape Arch. Jackson also wanted to walk here so we did not take his carrier on the trail. This hike was 1.5 miles round trip. Jackson did mostly well but he did not like the feeling of the slippery packed snow on any incline. So, Jordan and I swapped off carrying him at times. When we would start up an incline Jackson would say, “No Momma, don’t like it. This. Don’t want it, hike.” Though he was definitely heavy, his communication was cute and clear enough!
As we were making our way back to the car on the Landscape Arch trail, the clouds really broke and the sun was shining! There was beautiful color in the sky and it was great to see the tail end of the storm passing from our area. We are hopeful for clear skies tomorrow morning and praying for safe travel to Colorado!
Travel Tip for today: be flexible! Thankfully we had not yet booked our hotel room for Durango so we did not have to worry about a cancellation for tonight. Also, our third night here in Moab tonight was super reasonable on price. It wasn’t our plan to stay here another day but it worked out just fine. And, we got another night in the awesome, spacious hotel room! 😁
Live Moore Fully 