Last September we went to Arches National Park with Rob’s parents and his sister and her family. We had a really wonderful time! Give my kids the choice between Disneyland and camping in a national park and they’d have to think about it.

(Side note: As I went through our pictures I realized we don’t have any of Rob on our first day. We need to be more mindful of taking turns with the camera.)

We drove down to Moab and met for lunch before heading into the park. After learning all about the park’s geology at the visitor’s center and on the way to the campground we had a couple of stops.

The first was Wall Street. So awesome. We played in the area for a while.

Rob’s parents bought the kids water bottles that also spray. They were a huge hit the whole weekend.

Next stop was Balancing Rock.

There were lots of cairns built all around (for display not use) and we added to the bunch.

We got to our campsite, Devil’s Garden group site, which is easily the best campsite in the park (or central Utah). It was huge and private and beautiful. On two sides are huge red rock outcroppings and behind us was open land.

After it got dark we took a night walk and explored with our flashlights.

The next morning kids climbed and climbed and climbed.

It’s hard to tell but where the kids are walking is high above our campground. Note the tops of the trees at the bottom of the picture.

I also climbed up and did some yoga in the morning sunshine.

After this we were off to do some hiking and river rafting. To be continued…