MOAB!!!

(Click to enlarge...the more times you click, the bigger it gets.)

If you couldn't tell by the title, Lakin and I went to Moab over Memorial Day weekend, and it was awesome. We hit pretty much all of the arches on the first day including a sunset stroll to Delicate Arch (which should be renamed to either Arch-which-was-once-thought-delicate-but-which-has-now-proven-more-permanent or Arch-where-everyone-and-their-dog-goes). We just missed the sunset when we got there, but the clouds were just beginning to light up orange and pink, so it was still a good picture.

The first arch we went to was Tower Arch, which is off on a washboardy old sideroad, but definitely worth the drive because there are a lot less people there. We also visited Broken Arch and Sandune Arch.

On Sunday we went to church in Moab, and met one of the senior couples from Jordan's mission that had just returned home. Apparently, they served in Jordan's first area and knew him very well. When we told them who we were they immediately got this frown on their face that said something like, "We really have nothing good to say about Jordan." Just kidding! Actually, they got way excited and started going on and on about how great of a missionary he is.

After church we went on a drive around Canyonlands National Park. It's basically a miniature, less spectacular version of the Grand Canyon, at least the part we went to. After about 2 hours we got to the point of saying, "Wow, more pretty red canyons." The best part was the sunset, but other than that there's definitely not enough to consume a whole day. We only saw the Island in the Sky district, but there's also a Needles district and a Maze district. There are apparently more things to do in those parts, so we'll have to see that when we go back some time.

On Monday, we got permits to go into the Fiery Furnace in Arches. It's basically this small area of the park where there are no established trails, and they just let you wander around in and amongst the big sandstone fins and boulders. We had a lot of fun climbing all over the place, and the best part is that there are hardly any people. Definitely worth the $4 for the permit.

That about sums up our trip to Moab.