Saturday, August 14, 2021 - Arches National Park and a Drive Along the Colorado River

Saturday, August 14, 2021 - Arches National Park  and a Drive Along the Colorado River

After our morning coffee and breakfast, Dean and I headed to Arches National Park for the day.  We weren't sure how much time we needed to allow so we packed a lunch to take with us.  Of course the park is at the far north end of Moab, but we enjoyed driving through the town seeing the various sites.  We stopped at the entrance to show our America the Beautiful pass and pick up a map of the park.  We made a quick stop at the Visitor's Center to use their facilities before beginning our drive through the park.  

Courthouse Towers I believe.

Balanced Rock - not a good picture but I included it to compare it to the one below from a different angle.

Doesn't Balanced Rock look like a dinosaur from this view?

Two arches - this may have been Double Arches

Not sure if this was named, but it was an interesting area.

I was trying to get Dean to laugh!

Raven - he was here when we arrived and in the same place when we left.

Fiery Furnace

Reminded me of a pyramid

We enjoyed our time here.  There was so much to see.

The rocks were so massive.  It was an amazing place.

We had a great time at Arches NP.  It was too hot for us to do any significant hiking.  We drove the entire park, and walked to a few areas to take pictures.  Mostly we stayed in the truck.  It was 102 outside.

It was shortly after one when we finished the drive.  We stopped to look through the Visitor Center Gift Shop.  I wanted to get a stamp for my National Park Pass Book.  Afterwards, we drove back to the campground to eat our packed lunch there.  

When we arrived our neighbors were outside and we visited with them a short while.  They told us about a drive along the Colorado River near the entrance to Arches NP, so after our lunch we decided to check it out.

We love the view from our campsite.

What a beautiful drive this was along the Colorado River.

We followed along the Colorado River - most of the time we could see the water.

These canyon walls were beautiful.  The slate colored rock looked like a deep dark blue with the sun hitting it.

We saw a number of people floating in boats, standing on paddle boards, or in large inner tubes.  At one point a few speed boats (with passengers) came roaring down the river, making quick spins.

It was a lovely ride through the area.  

One of the boats we saw on the water.

It was well after 5 before we finished the drive.  We made another stop at the grocery store, then returned to Bentley.  We set outside at the picnic table and visited with our neighbors for nearly an hour before going inside.  They are from New Jersey and camp host at Assateague Island, for a month each summer.  It's a place we've always wanted to visit.  I hope we can someday.  

We had our leftovers from Pasta Jay's for dinner.  It was almost as good as it was last night.  We enjoyed watching TV the rest of the evening.