Arches National Park in Utah

Once we got moving, we packed up our bags and child carriers and lunches for the day and drove into Arches National Park in Moab, Utah. We stopped at La Sal Mountains Viewpoint and Courthouse Towers Viewpoint first.

We pulled over for a quick picture of Balanced Rock.

Then we grabbed a parking spot near Wolfe Ranch and the Delicate Arch Trailhead. We parked next to a van of monks and I nursed Holden with an audience out the passenger side window. They were just waiting for fellow monks to finish the hike, and they were very excited to see our baby boy and his big brother. Then we started up to Delicate Arch at 4,829 feet...much lower than the altitude we had been staying in. However, the hike was a little demanding at one point. You gain 480 feet as you walk the mile and a half up.

The tan part in this picture is the part that was the hardest. It was a gradual incline up flat rock.

We stopped along the way to take pictures of the scenery, of course!

This was the final walkway around some rock that took you to The Delicate Arch.

It was well worth the climb! All along the way, people were caught off-guard that we had children strapped to us. They also stopped to ask how old Holden was and wanted to see him. Some monks stopped us as well and one was very quick to snap a picture of him in the carrier on me. Once we were at the top, we had people take our picture.

Jesse took pictures of Holden and I in the arch.

Then we got a couple family shots again.

Then I took pictures of Jesse and Fletcher under the arch. After that, we went the mile and half back down. We were really glad that we came at this time of year because although it was warm, it wasn't as hot as it could be. Also, it wasn't summer vacation yet, so there weren't that many people there. Many of the tourists we did see were from Europe or Japan.

On the way back down, Fletcher wanted down, so he walked part of the way before resting in the stone chair on the side of the trail.

After eating lunch, we walked 1.6 miles round trip to the Landscape Arch. The path was quite sandy at the end, so I just went ahead while Jesse stayed back with Fletcher, who was asleep in the stroller. Even our BOB Stroller wouldn't make it through that sand.

Then we enjoyed the view at a couple different places before heading over to Turret Arch and North and South Windows.

Before we started that short walk, Jesse took Fletcher over to the Cove of Caves and Double Arch while I nursed Holden in the car.

When they came back, we went on this one mile round trip walk, which had a lot of stairs...I didn't like that part, but I was glad we had started with the longest hike earlier in the morning and kept the short ones for later in the day.

Here are Anna and Holden in front of North Window.

There's Turret Arch.

Here's Jesse and Fletcher with South Window in the background.

Here they are with North and South Windows.

After that, we stopped at Park Avenue Trailhead so I could take a couple pictures.

Once we left Arches, we went to Moab Brewery, where we shared a flight to test and a pint each with dinner. Dinner was spent walking Fletcher around and trying to console Holden, so it wasn't too relaxing at the end of the long day.

The next morning I got a picture of Holden in the "I Love Daddy" onesie with Jesse before we went to Denny's for breakfast. After that, we loaded up the car and headed back into Colorado. In an attempt to entertain Holden so Fletcher could sleep and we could have a quiet car, I got in the back a bit, so there are some pictures of that too! (We decided not to go to Canyonlands even though we were so close because it meant we'd have the kids in the car even longer...so we'll save that for the next time we're in the area.)