Day 8 - Salt Lake City, Utah to Moab, Utah
We began our travel to Moab, Utah on the morning of Day 8 with Chris telling the kids if they spoted a place called Cowboy Donuts on the way (without GPS) then we would do some more donut research. CJ was spot on! Or maybe she cheated... either way, we stopped and ordered a sampling. They were very similar in look to our hometown favorite but not quite a good - a little too dense for a traditional yeast glazed. Cowboy Donuts did have an orange cream glazed donut that was awesome though! And their shop was super cute!
We made our way to Moab, were able to check in a little early to our hotel, dropped our stuff and headed for Canyonlands National Park. We explored the Island in the Sky section of the park and oh my, the views were A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!
During our canyon views, Chris kept pointing out the White Rim Road to me and the kids - which is a road that descends from the top of the park and follows the rim of the lower canyon. Before we even came on this this trip I told him there was NO WAY my children and I would go on that road. Search it on YouTube and you will understand!
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| White Rim Road borders the fingers of the canyon in the photo on the left! |
So, we started with the Upheaval Dome viewpoint. It's basically a giant, giant hole (over 2 miles wide to be precise) with a huge mound in the center (the upheaval). The interesting bit about the area is that there are two theories of how it was formed. One is that a giant meteor hit it ages ago. Another is that there was once a large salt lake there and it evaporated and left huge mounds of salt that have basically petrified in the center. Who knows?
Also, in Canyonlands, we viewed Mesa Arch, Green River Overlook and Grandview Point. I just can't describe the magnitude and magnificent nature of the views. As Jac put it, it looks like a giant backdrop - like it's almost not real. It's just hard to believe the bigness of it!
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| Mesa Arch |
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| Green River Viewpoint - wide angle on top; zoomed in view on bottom. Green River formed the Canyon. |
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| Cute little Jack Rabbit the hopped by! |
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| Silly kids pretending to fall off the cliff. They know how sweaty my palms get when they are around cliffs with NO railings!! |
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| More beautiful plants! |
We left the park in time for a late dinner and tested out a local Mexican place. El Charro did not disappoint!
Audrey and I tried some late night star gazing in Canyonlands but between the almost full moon and a few clouds, we weren't that successful. Guess we will have to come back for another visit!
Tomorrow... Arches National Park!
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