We got a jump start on the day today as it was the only day of the trip in which we tackled two National Parks. Located less than 5 minutes from our hotel, our first stop was Arches National Park.
After winding our way into the park we embarked on a number of small hikes to various landmark arches due to the extreme heat. We took in as many of the amazing features as we could before lunch so we would still have time to visit Canyonlands National Park in the afternoon.
We ventured back into Moab for lunch as neither Arches, nor Canyonlands, have food or other services available. Canyonlands National Park was fun to explore, even after already having experienced Grand Canyon National Park last week. This landscape was created by the Colorado River and the Green River as they merge to create the force that carved the Grand Canyon downstream.
Ryan's favorite hike of the trip was a hike to Upheaval Dome in Canyonlands. He didn't exactly love the landscape or scenery (we actually nicknamed it Barf Dome) but he was extremely pleased that it was the first hike where Laura was the one complaining instead of him. We explored a number of places including Mesa Arch (shouldn't this be in the other park?) and Grand View before heading back to Moab in front of the anticipated thunderstorms and flash flooding that was expected in the evening.
Stay tuned for DAY 19b and our most interesting adventure yet...