Arches National Park

While Jesse & Diana were still here in Utah, we took a day trip to Arches National Park. It had been a busy week for us and it was a long trip there and back, but the destination was SO worth it! The sights to see there are incredible and it was an amazing day with puffy clouds filling the skies to make for the greatest pictures I think I have ever captured. I wish we could have spent more time there, but I'm sure we will go back there some day and do some more exploring.

The Fox 7 family came as well, even after facing a couple car issues earlier that morning. The kids were troopers throughout the day's excitement (and being in the car forever).

Balancing Rock

Then it was time to begin the hike. The hike to see "Delicate Arch." It was thought to be a shorter hike and not too difficult, but it was a little harder than we all expected.

Did we mention it was over 100 degrees in the hot desert sun. Jon & Jesse began the hike shirtless...

Some of the views up the mountain...breathtaking!

The hike seemed to go on and on, turn after turn, scaling rocky mountain sides climbing higher and higher, I almost thought we wouldn't make it. But finally...we caught a glimpse of what we had been waiting to see...

...the Delicate Arch

I was thankful to sneak in a couple group shots of all us "hard-core hikers." Jon generously carried the tripod all the way up the mountain so we can remember that moment. The facial skin coloring says it all :).

All around us the rocks are covered in a blackish colored layers that as it turns out is living algae. The algae grows on the rocks and actually protects them from crumbling.

We enjoyed the view for a while as we caught our breath, and then rolling thunder and lightning could be seen & heard all around us...

Then the rain began to fall, and we knew we should try to make it down before the rocks became too slippery to walk on...not to mention this territory is known and recognized for it's sudden onset of flash floods.

It was time to head out and start the drive out of the park. We saw some amazing things from the car as well and tried to get as many pictures as we could. The rain clouds kind of had an impact on that, but we still caught a few.

After making it out of the park and knowing that we had a long drive home with Sunday church services awaiting us early the next day, we suddenly ran into a line of cars at a dead stop. Come to see that a large semi truck filled with food had caught fire and was incinerated. We had to wait for about 45 minutes until we could continue on our journey home. While we waited, out my window this is what I saw. I just love when sun shines through the clouds. It always reminds me of how God constantly shines his blessing on us and he did this day as well. As a kid, I would have informed my parents that that was where heaven was when I saw a sight like that.

We are so grateful that we went, and spent the day with such wonderful people. We feel so lucky to already see so much of our new home state of Utah after being here for such a short time. Can't wait for many more adventures to come exploring our new home.