Moab, Part 1

Life in the Palomino

What choo you lookin' at sucka?

Big Bend Bouldering

Park Avenue, Arches Park

Cool buttes, crazy kids

Madeline in Arches Park

Sunday morning found us jetting out of town before the roosters were up, burning rubber south to the outdoor playground of Moab, Utah. It is Ethan's spring break and our plan is to spend the week in the land of Edward Abbey – desert slickrock, lizards, sand and rednecks. Yup, you read it right, rednecks,

We had planned this trip for quite some time and as the trip got closer, we found out that the Jeep Safari Week was right when we were planning our trip to Moab. "Screw it", we said. We figured we wouldn't be out where all the rock crawlers were anyway (nothing against them, mind you). And so far our plan has worked out great.

On this camping trip we were trying something new – a tent trailer on loan from Britt's parents. The "Palamino" is it's name and chilaxin' is it's game. Pretty swank for the Westside TeNgaio's. It has come in handy for the wind that has picked up since yesterday.

Anyway, we made in on Sunday to great sunny weather. Monday we hit Arches Park and checked out Park Avenue and the Windows arches. The kids went ape-shit. We had planned on hiking up to Delicate Arch but little Madi was worked, so we are going to do that one on Friday, the day before we leave Moab.

After Arches we took a drive up the Colorado River to the Big Bend area to "just check out" the bouldering area. It just happened that I had our climbing shoes and crash pad in the back of the truck and the weather was perfect so… We had a blast. I have no idea what I problems I did/tried but they were pretty fun. Nothing like Stonewalls though, lol. Ethan and Madeline loved scrambling around on the small blocs and chasing lizards. Plus, we drove past several sweet camping spots that we are keeping in mind for the next visit Moab.

Yesterday (Tuesday) we headed out to Goblin Valley and Little Wildhorse Canyon. Goblin valley is home to funky hobbit-like, mushroom shaped eroded sandstone features that makes a great playground for kids. Trust me, if you haven't been there it is worth the minimal effort to go see it. After Goblin Valley came a mellow hike up a slot canyon name Little Wildhorse. Popular with kids as the hiking is very easy and there are spots in the canyon that are truly "slot" specific – areas along the hike where you have to turn your torso 90˙ to get through spots. That and the features of the sandstone make for an awesome family hike, hell, even Izzy dog came along and loved it.

Today (Wednesday) is a chill day. I'm trying to upload a video of our trip so far but the wi-fi here at the campground (yeah, we're really roughing it, eh?) is horrible. The weather is still windy and now overcast. Tomorrow is supposed to be the same but rainy and then Friday it's forecasted to improve so we are hoping to hike Delicate Arch then.

(edit) So the video upload thing ain't gonna work. I'll have to wait until we get back to I.F. when we have a decent connection.