Well my oh my....isn't your arch delicate?

The plan was to drive straight home to Logan after our time in Mesa Verde....but at the last minute we decided to stay in Moab and hit Arches the next morning. SUCH a good choice. We hit the trail early and hiked to Delicate Arch which was fantastic. As we arrived at Delicate Arch I felt a little like I did the first time I saw the Statue of Liberty having for years seen something so iconic in pictures and then finally seeing it in person. Fantastic. Afterward we hit Windows and Double Arch before continuing on.....absolutely beautiful.

Living in the Cliffs...

I am falling SERIOUSLY behind on our adventures.....so I'll try to make this quick.
After our time in Santa Fe we headed for Colorado to see Mesa Verde National Park. I was slightly embarrassed to admit that I honestly didn't remember ever knowing about the Native American cliff dwellers....but perhaps my ignorance made the experience all the more interesting! We thoroughly enjoyed exploring the ruins.....the high ladders, tight spaces and even a flat tire couldn't slow us down! And in case you were wondering....we all decided we'd choose a cliff dwelling over a teepee any day. Those Anasazi knew what they were doing.

Santa Fe.....are you there? Do you swear you won't forget me?

After White Sands we headed to Santa Fe for an afternoon filled with history, art and good food. The weather was perfect and the culture was rich. I was super impressed with the way Santa Fe has preserved so much of their history and culture through art, food and architecture.
We all agreed that had time permitted we would have loved to have spent more time in Santa Fe.

Stop Two: White Sands

While I loved every part of our road trip our stop at the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico definitely stands out as a highlight. I couldn't get over the beauty...and how strange it seemed to have miles of white sand dunes just appear in New Mexico.
We took advantage and rented some sleds and entertained ourselves for quite some time.....sledding, skiing and eventually - once the wind picked up - trying to fly. Maybe someday you'll luck out and I'll post some of our videos.....SO MUCH FUN.
As the sun set we just enjoyed the beauty and walked around exploring as much as we could until it was too dark to continue.

Road trip 2010- First stop: Carlsbad Caverns

After our Texas adventure Ty and Connie jumped in the Bullet with us and we started our trek home to Utah. Not wanting to miss a single opportunity we took five days and saw as much as we could along the way. After a quick and hilarious stop at Bryan's Poco Taco in a little town in West Texas we made it to Carlsbad, New Mexico. The town of Carlsbad left much to be desired, but the cave completely made up for it. Honestly, once we got past the bat smell it was pretty unreal to be 750 feet underground. It was awesome and other-worldly. Definitely worth the stop.