On Day 5 of our 16 day road trip we drove from Salt Lake City to Moab, Utah just in time to get checked in to our hotel and head over to Arches National Park for sunset. Blue Eyes and I had done this before, five years ago, so we knew how beautiful it could be.

We headed to the Delicate Arch Viewpoint where The Peacemaker and I did some rock climbing to try and achieve a better view. The sunset turned out to be a bit meh, but the scenery in Arches is gorgeous no matter the weather.

On Wednesday, October 28 (Day 6) we headed up the road to the Island in the Sky area of Canyonlands National Park. It is so true that the state of Utah has some pretty wonderful National Parks and we could have literally spent weeks exploring each and every one, but alas, our road trip was only slightly longer than two weeks in total. It did seem every day that The Peacemaker lamented the fact that we didn’t have more time in each and every location, but in the end admitted we had been gone a long time and that he wouldn’t have wanted to miss any of the places we visited. I had asked him and his father for help in planning the trip, but none of my boys like to plan ahead. I only feel comfortable planning ahead, so that is what I did. Blue Eyes doesn’t “camp” so we stayed in hotels, most modest, one splurge (using travel points), and one airbnb.

Regarding Covid, something our son was extremely concerned about, we purposely planned a road trip in hopes that the areas we chose wouldn’t be too crowded, we limited our in-restaurant dining, we diligently wore our masks and social distanced whenever possible, and we chose hotels with strict Covid guidelines. It all worked out fairly well although there are still a lot of people that don’t wear masks, and don’t respect social distancing. I know there are those who think Covid is over-blown or some kind of hoax. I am not one of those people. We did the best we could under the circumstances. As soon as we returned home, we went in for Covid tests and received word today that we are all Covid negative. After watching my father die earlier this year, in an ICU, on a ventilator, I am not taking this pandemic lightly.

Canyonlands is lovely and The Peacemaker was so enamored with each and every stop, walk, hike, we did. He had never been to the Grand Canyon (don’t ask me why since we live on the west coast, Blue Eyes and I both lived in Arizona, have been to Las Vegas many times during our boys’ childhoods) and I kept wondering what he would think of THAT canyon, being really the most magnificent of them all. In the end though, all the parks are beautiful in their own special ways.

After our time in Canyonlands, we grabbed lunch in Moab, dropped Blue Eyes back at the hotel for a couple business calls, and then The Peacemaker and I headed back into Arches for some exploring in the Windows area of the park, and a hike in Devil’s Garden before sunset.

And then, just like that, it was time to leave Moab for New Mexico, by way of Colorado…