Day 12 - Home Again, Home Again

 

Our Wild West Trip was the absolute best, better than I could have ever imagined as I planned it!  Thankful for the Mattox family instilling the love of family road trips in me when I was younger.  Thankful for a husband that supports my crazy and enjoys it all!  Thankful for this family of mine, my dream come true.

Day 11 - Delicate Arch and Happy 9th Birthday Maryn

 We woke and packed up for our final day of our Wild West Adventure tour.  Pryce had one last arch he wanted to hike to - Delicate Arch.  We knew our drive to Denver would be a bit longer than anticipated due to a washed out highway we were supposed to travel on so we decided a morning in the park would be a welcomed way to begin our day before hunkering down to drive via a detoured route to Denver.  **Note, what should have been a 3ish hour drive to Denver was actually more like an 7ish hour drive due to the washed out roadway - eek!**

But, first, Delicate Arch.

We thought this would be much like the hikes we had taken during our visit the day before - 30ish minutes to the arch and back, minimal inclines, a few shaded spots for cooling down a tad, and.....reality was quite different.  Maddox and I quickly fell behind - I am pretty sure she stayed with me out of pity and fear of leaving me to tread forward alone, lol.  Meanwhile, the other six trudged forward as if the 550 ft elevation gain was as easy as pie.  I am sure it is a hike that Maddox will remember for life....and it will be told with a bit of exaggeration over the years and get funnier as it is told....we had a lot of laughs together along the way!  We found the tiniest little bits of shade for breaks, we talked to all the people who passed us as they hiked forward and as they came back - they would encourage us to keep going by telling us that we were almost there, ha!  We would look ahead and truly believe we were almost there only to realize that we still had a ways to go.  It was fun, we had a great time together and at the end of it all, our six who had left us behind were so proud of us for not giving up!  We made it and the view was worth every breath I lost along the way!  

So thankful we took the time to do Delicate Arch.  It definitely was a highlight of the trip for all of us!

Following our Arch hike, we got into the Expedition and began our journey to Denver.  We celebrated Maryn turning 9 all day as we drove.....every hour on the hour she opened a gift!  This was as much fun for her as it was for everyone else - and it made the somewhat hard drive (due to foggy/rainy weather and tiny roads - like one lane and no rail on the side roads) so much more fun!

Day 10 - Arches National Park

 Our final touring destination spot - Arches National Park.  This trip was planned with Pryce's high school graduation celebration in mind so when asked what he definitely wanted to see out west, he said he would love to see Arches.  To make it a even a little more memorable for the three bigs, we booked an off-roading experience to tour Hell's Revenge...memories were made and many laughs were had as they shared their adventure with us after!

Following their morning journey, we spent our afternoon driving through and hiking different trails in Arches National Park.  We all had the best time exploring together, chatting about the landscape and just taking in the scenery.  **I will note here that I worried as I planned this trip that the children would be awfully bored and tired of riding in the car every other day.  To my surprise and to my delight, they LOVED every minute!  There was something for everyone to enjoy, from just walking and exploring, to taking on the challenge of a more strenuous hike, to scaring the crud out of me by climbing on the highest of points for the best photos** Arches National Park did not disappoint!

At the end of the day, we were full of memories....even looking at these pictures again, I am reminded of the fun we all had on this day!  Thankful we had the opportunity to travel together and see God's incredible creations....simply amazing.