The Southwest is effectively a cellular wasteland. We have not had consistent service for days, which is the reason for this flood of updates.

Arches National Park was a surreal as Yellowstone was beautiful. The second you drive through the gate you are hit with a flood of landscapes that literally take your breath away. The campsite was tucked in between huge sandstone fins in the middle of Devil’s Garden and was worth the trip just to be one of only 50 families that got to sleep under the stars inside the park. The trip here was short, but it was certainly a highlight for a variety of reasons.

For example, we learned where Kellan’s true breaking point is. If you want to push him to the limit, all it takes is equal parts of 100+ degree heat, a 10:45pm bedtime and a 6:30 wake up call to go on a hike to look at rocks! It was not yet 8:00am when he declared, “I AM GOING TO BUY MYSELF NEW MOMMIES AND DADDIES (plural for some reason…) THAT ARE NOT LIKE YOU GUYS!!!” I don’t remember exactly what we did to set him off but I think our transgression was asking him to put on his shoes for the 6^th time.

Thankfully there were some happy moments as well. The highlight for me was a late afternoon hike with Greta near our campsite. We explored, scrambled up massive rock formations and sat in the shade just to look out across the desert and be together. Here is a short video from that hike.