Thanksgiving in Moab part 1 - Delicate Arch and Double Arch

My family spent Thanksgiving in Moab this year. It's been a long time since we last had the whole family together on vacation and it was great to spend some time hiking, eating, playing games, watching movies, laughing, and making memories. That's what family time is all about. Or, at least, it's always what we hope will happen, right. It was pretty ideal!

My dad found a three-bedroom condo just outside Arches National Park, and we all crammed in together. Wednesday night, we arrived a carpool at a time. Aaron and I were the last to arrive and managed to snag a few games of Scattergories. Aaron even brought a pumpkin pie from Costco so we could celebrate a low-key Pie Night. Lucky I thought to bring whipped cream.

When it was time for bed, guess who slept on the common room floor?

We single adults are flexible and fun-loving!

The morning of Thanksgiving, we were all up bright and early and took our time eating breakfast and putting on layers for our day of hiking.  It was time to introduce our kids to one of Utah's most famous landmarks: Delicate Arch!

Turns out it was a perfect day for hiking. High 50s and sunny. We took our jackets off during the walk up but needed them when we reached the windy top.

I'm really happy about how well I did. I have never enjoyed hiking, mostly because I've never been in great physical shape. I learned that all of my fitbit walking and yoga has done more good than I realized -- I flew up that mountain, and there are some steep places! I was slow and steady and had little problem keeping up with my hiking buddy, Breezy. We were the first to the top :) Maybe I don't hate hiking anymore.

Do you see me under the arch? It's huge!

Dave spent a few minutes sketching the formation

The walk down didn't take nearly as much time as the walk up. This is fortunate, because we were cold!

Next, we headed to Double Arch. It was a much easier hike -- less than a mile from the road, and no incline unless you wanted to hike inside the arch in the back. Of course I did.

The back is a fairly sheer face. No leaning back for us.

Well, okay. Dave found a place to lean back.

G-unit was happy to run around and toss the football to anyone who would toss it back

When we'd had our fill of the outdoors, we went home to wash up and change for Thanksgiving dinner.

To be continued...