Arches National Park was fun, but we decided on day two to take our 'car-house' full of family to a more dog-friendly part of town. We were halfway to the Corona Arch trail before we recognized the irony of hiking to the Corona arch during the Corona pandemic. Ha.
For most of us, this hike was the favorite!
The trail was interesting and diverse with sand here and rock there and even a set of chains and ladders to scale some more intense areas. And hiking with Maisy really did make it even more fun.
It was her first hike (of course), and she's still learning vocal commands, so there were some moments of frustration as she wanted to explore every. single. little. thing along side the trail. But she was just so cute and little it wasn't a problem to pick her up or coax her along.
And by the end of the two solid hiking days she got to be pretty good at it!
We traveled through some desert areas.
And some weather-y areas.
And some rocky areas.
And eventually found ourselves nearing the end.
I love that Miles's hair blends right into the rock. He's such a happy kid these days.
This was the toilet bowl. Not sure if we saw the name somewhere or if we just made it up, but it really did look like a giant toilet bowl.
And here is the Corona Arch:
The sun felt amazing up there, and Brian and Eliza went to bask in the warmth under the arch for a while.
We unpacked our lunches and ate in style, watching the rain in the distance move through the mountains.
This McKenzie. How I love hanging out with her. She is funny and confident and smart, and she's always up for an awkward selfie.
We stayed at the base of the arch for a long time, but eventually it was time to go back.
Can you spy Timothy on the rock?
I got lots of comments going up and down about hiking in a boot. People seemed to be impressed but, honestly, I'd been so immobile for so long that hiking at all felt absolutely amazing. I think people looked at me and saw the limitations that the boot put on me, but it my head the boot was giving me freedom. I think there's a lesson in that somewhere...
I did need help sometimes, though. Like, whenever an ankle would be necessary. Going up and down steep grades (or even low grades) was difficult because my ankle couldn't twist or bend to accommodate the terrain. But thankfully I had a strong helper by my side.
This girl. Every time I see a picture of her I smile.
She was an amazing hiker.
After the hike we found another picnic spot and some beautiful light. And, since it happened to be my birthday (did I mention it was my birthday?), the kids didn't even squak when I asked if I could take some pictures of them.
Can we pause for a moment and note this handsome kid? He's growing so incredibly fast these days.
That night as I was snuggling the littles before bed, they both wanted to take a selfie because it's your birthday, Mom! So, here we go. And Eliza made triple sure that her braid was highly visible in the final product because, braids are amazing.
Perfect birthday!
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