Moab, Utah

 We got to Moab, UT about 3pm and headed for the visitor center for some info. We were excited to see Arches National Park.

 We figured that finding a camp spot would be easy. Until we learned that it was Jeep Safari week!!  Anyone and everyone who owns a jeep was in Moab, it was ridiculous!! We spent hours looking for a camp spot and when we did, it was out of Moab, down a canyon and next to the Colorado river. It was perfect for this Alaskan girl. The canyon was shaded and there were nice trees. We went to bed and were excited for the next day! We were excited about Arches National Park!

 Sites we saw:

Hee!hee! Me holding the rock

The Balancing Rock
The Delicate Arch
The Fiery Furnace
The Devil's Garden
And the Arches campground, we were not able to get a spot
because all spots must be reserved 4 days in advanced.
We were not overly thrilled with the rules. We were, however
blessed because everything was free this week. Not sure
why though.

 We notice a couple caterpillars before heading to bed, the first night, but nothing much. But in the morning we were shocked to find hundreds of caterpillars all over the tent and ground. They were everywhere! We loaded in the van and headed out for the day. Not thinking much of the nasty little critters.

 We were unaware of the "no dog" policy in Arches. It was too hot to leave her in the car so Dave and I took turns taking the boys out on short hikes. It was a bummer, but for this reason we decided to cut our Arches outing short and find some hiking where Sammy was allowed.

We found a fun trail that took us back to Morning Glory a natural bridge. Sammy was allowed to join us on this hike and during the hike we saw 3 other border collies. That was kind of cool. The trail was 2 1/4 miles in. Benn hiked in and out (4 1/2 miles), JJ rode on Daddy's back in and walked out (2 1/4 miles) and Caleb rode in and out (0 Miles) We took about 4 hours to do the whole thing. But we had a wonderful time!

After the hike we were hungry and headed to Zax for dinner! It was no "Mooses Tooth" but it was good. They had locally brewed beers and great pizza with a wonderful salad bar. It was delicious and after a hot hike, PERFECT!!

 After dinner we headed back to the tent. I was not excited about meeting the caterpillars again! We made a mad dash for the tent and snuggled in for the night. In the morning what we awoke to was disgusting! Hundreds turned into MILLIONS! Pictures just do not begin to tell you how many there really were, but they were everywhere!!!!! On the ground, trees, Van, tent! everywhere!! You could not walk with out squishing them.

These creepy crawlers were every where!!

Josiah made a friend and later we found him in the van!

Millions of them!

Look closely at the tent. every speck you see is a caterpillar!

Dave got to go Mountain biking on Slick Rock. From what I understand this is a famous ride and he was thrilled to get to ride the trail. While he was riding I took the boys to a park to play and then to the visitor center to pick out a souvenir from Moab. We chose to stay in shady cool place. We found that us Alaskan's are not acclimatized to the hot weather yet!
Besides the infestation of caterpillars and Jeeps Moab was wonderful! We defiantly want to go back to enjoy more hiking when the kids are a little older.