Southern Utah Exposure

This weekend brought our much anticipated road trip to Southern Utah with my family. We have been planning this for a couple of months and I couldn't wait. Mike took the day off Friday so we left for Price on Thursday night and spent the night there. On Friday we got up early and I took Grandma Nette to breakfast for her Birthday then it was time to hit the road. We left first before the group since we had planned on hitting the Arches along the way and they didn't. We got to Moab around lunch time then headed into town and grabbed some lunch then went on into the Arches. The weather was chilly with the wind blowing so we only managed to go on one little hike as a family. We went on the one that included The Windows (North and South) and Touret Arch. This is a picture of me with Zaric on my back when I hiked down to the base of the South Arch.

And here's the North Arch from a distance

And the Boyz, Mike Caleb and Zaden (on Mikes back) inside of Touret Arch

Mike and Caleb also hiked over to Double Arch but since it was too chilly for the boyz I stayed with them in the car. The rest of the shots we got from the car. Then we headed out to the rendezvous point in Blanding where we were staying in a Hotel for the night. Tracey and her family had beat us there and then we showed up. Papa, Grandma and Ryan and his kids showed up a few hours behind us then we headed to dinner in a little restaurant called Old Tymer. It was pretty good. After a good night's rest we headed out in the morning. We decided on a whim to stop by Natural Bridges National Monument since it was on the way. These are sort of like the Arches except they connect over a canyon creating bridges. There was also some Native American cliff dwelling ruins to look at. It was while hiking to this part of it that I fell and hurt my foot. I hobbled along for the rest of the trip but I didn't let it stop me from having fun.

After that was the rest of the long drive to the side of Lake Powell we were hoping to visit. The scenery down there is just beautiful so I kept taking pictures from the car as we drove. I found out later that the other 2 cars had been doing the same. Here's just a couple.

The side of the Lake we wanted to visit was called Hite. We finally made it there to find out that the water levels were too low to do any fishing that some of the guys wanted to do or really much of anything so we were pretty bummed out. We drove over to the Hite overlook and snapped a ton of pictures. and let the kids run around for a little bit. Then we headed down the road a little ways to a place called Hog Springs that had picnic tables and such and had a picnic lunch.

Next we just started heading toward home. We debated on going to Goblin Valley but decided to save that for another trip and we went to the Crystal Geyser near Green River instead. We got there just as it went off and snapped a few pics (see slide show) and then we took off our shoes and walked through the water and played on the rock formations that the sulfur creates from the geyser. It was really fun there. And since it was right along the Green River a couple of the guys got out their fishing gear and threw in a few casts. They didn't catch anything but still had a good time. And the kids got to play in the sand with their toys we had packed for the lake too so they were thrilled. Here's a few pics of us playing in the geyser water and in the sand.

After that it was time to head back to Papa's for the night. We were all pooped and went to bed early. After breakfast this morning we headed back to Salt Lake and Mike sent me to the Insta Care since my foot was pretty swollen and bruised. They say it's not broken but that I tore my ATL ligament. They put it in an aircast and sent me on my way. Said it was pretty painful but that the good news was that they heal fast so I should be up and running in a week or two. There were way too many pics to post them all so enjoy the slide show and if you want copies of any of them, let me know.