Our Life in Alaska and Beyond

I really wanted the girls to see Delicate Arch before moving, so Chrissy and I planned a weekend camping trip to Arches and Canyonlands NPs. We spent the first day (Saturday) at Arches, camped in Moab that night, and then spent the next day at Canyonlands. We had beautiful weather and a great time! The girls loved tent camping, and they were pretty good little hikers, too. I think they really enjoyed recognizing the iconic Delicate Arch and seeing it in person. Also, Noelle and Robyn said their favorite part of the trip was having cup noodles for dinner. 😂 It was a fun trip and I'm so glad we could go with Aunt Chrissy! Enjoy these pics from Arches NP! 🧡

The Windows Section

Our family had plans to go to Fish Lake at the beginning of August and we decided to go a day early and spend some time at Capitol Reef NP! We did a similar trip the year before, and it was so fun! We did a few little hikes, admired some ancient petroglyphs, saw lots of deer, and camped in the Fruita campground for a night. It was also Robyn's 6th birthday so we sang to her and celebrated with s'mores around the campfire. So much fun!

It was a little windy and overcast when we first got there, but overall we had great weather! These first few photos are from exploring near Panorama Point and Sunset Point trail.

Before going to Fish Lake we decided to go a day early and spend some time at Capitol Reef National Park. I hadn't been here since I was a little kid, and it was the first time for everyone else. There was a little construction on the way into the park so we couldn't take a picture by the Capitol Reef sign, but we'll get one next time we visit!

We learned the Capitol Reef area is called "land of the sleeping rainbow" in Navajo* because of the beautiful and colorful layered canyon walls. We went on several hikes here and loved it. The rock really did remind us of a sleeping rainbow. 

*I think I read this in a guide book, but now I can't find a reliable source, so this info actually may not be correct. I still like the sleeping rainbow imagery, though. 

Our first stop in Capitol Reef was Fruita. It is an area where Mormon settlers farmed and planted orchards, and the orchards are still maintained by NPS staff today. When we were there a few apple trees were ripe, which you can pick yourself and then pay in the drop box on your way out. The girls loved picking the fruit, and we also loved seeing all the mule deer here. There were a ton in the orchard as I'm sure they love the fruit, too, haha. 

After picking some apples we drove to where you can see petroglyphs. It was so cool to see this ancient artwork carved into the rock surface. The petroglyphs were created by Fremont people who lived in the area from about 300-1300 CE. We loved looking at the different images and designs created, and thinking about these ancient people who lived here so long ago. 

Mule Deer in Fruita orchard in Capitol Reef National Park

Scott and I were able to go on a weekend getaway to Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park! It was so beautiful! Even though I grew up in Utah, I had somehow never been inside either park, so this was so fun! We camped in Moab and spent some time in each park. I'll put all the Arches pics in this post and Canyonlands in the next post. We didn't really think about how dark it gets camping here, so we forgot to bring any sort of flashlight or lantern, lol! (Camping in Alaska it doesn't get dark enough to need flashlights.) We survived though, just using the flashlight on our cell phones, haha. 

We were able to leave the girls with Grandma and Grandpa, which was so nice to just spend some time with Scott. We had a wonderful time hiking and camping and enjoying the beautiful scenery! It was technically still spring, but it was pretty hot (90s both days we were there), but still so much fun! We'll definitely have to make it back again, with the girls next time!

Delicate Arch was the first hike we did. So beautiful and so amazing! 😍We started in the late afternoon, stayed for sunset, then hiked back.