Not my Arch Enemy

I know I'm not a hiker. YOU know I'm not a hiker- so the fact that I was excited to go to Moab and hike around Arches National Park comes as a wee bit of a surprise.

I don't even know if these can count as real hikes- they weren't very far, weren't very hard, didn't take very long and the car was almost never completely out of our view but I count it! For someone who has sat on her fanny all summer, I'm going to count it as hiking arches!

What post is complete without the gratuitous selfie?  This was our only hike on the first day- to the Windows and Turret Arches.

We got there as the sun was setting so we got some really nice sunset pics

(I think this is a good place to note that I am NOT a photographer- nor do I pretend to be. I wish I was and that's a whole different thing. I don't really know how to utilize the camera that I have so these are just point and click. If any of these are any good- it's because I was lucky- not talented)

These are the penguins- aptly named but not well photographed (I'm hoping Desiree with her ginormous fancy camera and several lenses got much better pictures than me).

While taking pictures, I noticed that they weren't turning out as colorful in the picture as I was seeing them in real life.

Then I realized it was because I was wearing sunglasses and my glasses were giving a better tint to the rocks. So being the freaking genius that I am- I put my sunglasses over the lens of the camera to get the color I wanted. It also made the sky more interesting, don't you think?

The second day was our real day in the park. We all packed water bottles and wore good shoes.

I probably shouldn't have sat like that. Not at all flattering- but oh well. It was a nice German family who took the photo for us- then we took theirs for them. All over the park there were accents. There were more foreigners than there were American citizens... and it seemed that anyone we did meet that was American, was from Southern California.

These are the Gossips. I think it's funny that they had a "call it like you see it" philosophy when naming some of these formations. I didn't take a picture of Ham Rock. I probably should have- because it totally looked like a slab of ham.

Our first- and biggest- hike of the day was to the Delicate Arch viewpoint. It's not right up to the arch. Far from it, actually- but it was good enough for pictures.

Look- I'm a giant!!! Nice little arch...

Ahem... anyway... I was pretty proud of myself for making it up that hill.

I would further like to point out that I'd just had my hair cut and I was still trying to figure out how to do it. I look like a freaking bush woolie!!!

There are like 2,300 or something arches in the park. We didn't see anywhere near that many- but it was still pretty neat. I like the whole geology thing so I find it all rather fascinating.

Do you know what a fun game is though? Think of really simple questions to ask the "rangers" at the visitors center and then watch them flounder as they try to answer it. The little 12 year old working there tried to tell me that fissures and fins are the same thing. Ummm... sorry sweetheart, back to freshman geology for you.

At one point my camera actually died so I took a few pictures with my phone. It's funny because the coloring turned out much more what I planned on- without the use of the sunglasses.

It was a perfectly beautiful day. I drank about three gallons of water over two days. It was so HOT but it was nice to be outside and doing some kind of physical activity. I mean- I'm all for movie marathons and book reading on the deck- but sometimes it actually is nice to get your heart rate up- especially if the view at the end is so fantastic that it brings you to tears.

We didn't get to see everything there is to see. I need to go back when it's not so freaking hot- and when I have more time and do some of the bigger hikes. It's ok- it gives me a reason to go again, right?