We checked out by 9:30 and headed to Arches National Park, the "dessert" of our sightseeing adventures. After taking our customary picture at the entrance sign (the kids were almost too cool in their shades to be photographed with us), we toured the Visitor Center, learning about how arches are formed. We watched the movie and had our passport stamped. Then it was on to drive some of the trails. We saw:
The Three Gossips
Balanced Rock
Sheep Rock
...And Several Arches!
We knew that we couldn't stay long, but it was great to get a taste of this place and see enough to get excited about a return visit...some day.
By 11:00, we were leaving the park and heading for Grand Junction, Colorado, for lunch. We ate at an IHOP (one of the lesser impressive meals on our trip) where the kids admitted that they were getting "sick" of fast food and just wanted to eat at home for awhile. It took almost two weeks, but it finally happened!
With that, we resumed our eastward journey into the Rocky Mountains. As we drove along I-70, we traveled alongside the Colorado River, the hidden "star" of the Grand Canyon. We also drove through several tunnels and up winding mountain roads. It was probably not a good idea to put Bethany in the back seat of the van, as she began to get car sick with all the twisty driving. (It was the road's fault - honest!) We stopped to get re-settled, and the kids took advantage of the detour to get their feet wet in the Colorado River.
In the middle of the afternoon, we drove into a whale of a storm somewhere west of Vail. There was lightning, torrential downpours, and a temperature drop of 23 degrees. Fortunately, we passed through it fairly quickly and kept going.
The only other snag we experienced was hitting the worst mess of construction we had seen on our trip. Just after passing through the Eisenhower/Johnson Tunnel area west of Denver, traffic came to a standstill, and then crawled for about 15 miles leading into Idaho Springs where tunnel work was being done. It cost us over an hour in time.
When we finally reached Denver, we stopped at a Chipotle for supper, making Daniel happy that we had visited two of his favorite restaurants today. (Katie was unhappy with this selection, however, so we stopped at a McDonald's for her in Longmont while we gassed up the van.)
We reached the Lee's home around 7:30 and were able to visit with Patti, Addison and Megan before turning in for the night. Patti made us delicious chocolate chip cookies, and also offered us some frozen vanilla yogurt to make ice cream sandwiches out of them. YUM!
It was nice to be back in a familiar setting, east of the Rockies, with just the Mississippi standing in our way. (That, and about 1400 miles.)
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