Ockey Family Adventures: Moab Trip: Day 3

That's a great family photo!

Seth woke everyone up bright and early today, so we were out on our first adventure at 7:30. We went to a wildlife preserve that is just a few miles west of Moab's main street. We didn't see a lot of wildlife, but we had fun wandering around and exploring nature. We did see deer, spotted towhees, robins, doves, and fish in the river. We heard a pheasant, but never saw one. Seth loves to carry his own binoculars and use them whenever we look at things. We find it simply adorable.

Seth is trying to see the spotted towhee.

There is a small blind for looking at birds.

Seth is a great hiker.

Mom is always happy when they love each other.

We loved watching the fish in the river.
We guessed they were eating bugs on the water.

The next adventure was to search out different petroglyphs and some dinosaur tracks in the Moab area. We spent the next few hours driving to different sites and looking at the drawings of these ancient people. There is a famous one called the birthing scene that we stopped to view, as well as one where the people are hunting a bear. We saw tons and tons of different panels of petroglyphs. The last stop had allosaurus tracks which you could see from the car, or hike up to. Seth started screaming as we hiked toward the tracks, so we stayed back while Mark, Dax, and Dad scrambled up the rocks to see them up close. They said they were very clear, best they had seen yet. I think that is partially due to the fact you have to climb up rocks to see them.

There were lots of amazing petroglyphs around here.

That is a branch of the Colorado River

Mom by the petroglyphs.
Dad insists she be in at least one picture every adventure now.

Our favorite petroglyph...the bear!

These are Allosaurus dinosaur tracks.
They are the clearest tracks we saw on this trip.

Seth needed a nap, so we went to rest at the hotel. In fact, while Seth sleeps in the playpen next to me, I have been writing this blog post, as well as a few before. The boys are hanging out in the lobby until lunchtime.

After lunch, we went back into Arches. We definitely wore the boys out today...we did a lot of hiking. First we hiked to the Delicate Arch viewpoint to show them where we are headed tomorrow. Then we went over to Sand Dune Arch---this was voted the favorite for the day by all three boys. We spent awhile just letting the boys dig in the sand. Seth was in heaven, and Mark and Dax had a lot of fun too.

The boys liked Balanced Rock. This was our first trip where Seth was "One of the boys," and not "The Baby."

I probably shouldn't point out that he is looking through them backwards!

Mom has trained them to pose well. How did she exist before digital cameras?

Sand Dune Arch is their new favorite place in the world.

Dad always has to do something crazy.That's him up top and Mark below.

There's Dad coming down Sand Dune Arch with Mark wishing he were taller.

Dax would run headlong until he face-planted in the soft sand.
Then he'd spit, get up, and do it again!

Someone dug a tunnel under a rock that Seth decided to explore.

Next we hiked out to Skyline Arch. We hadn't planned on walking all the way to the arch, but Mark and Dax kept going. At the bottom of this arch we found some rocks to scramble over and play on. Seth thinks he is big enough to climb the rocks, too. So we played here for a bit before walking back to the van.

Mark is getting big. In fact, we think that he thinks he's a man now.

This narrow cleft in the rocks below Skyline Arch was nice and cool.

Seth posed on this tree. When he poses, he refuses to move until you at least pretend to take a picture.

Dax wanted a glamor shot in the tree....

....so Seth had to have one, too.

We ended the day with the long hike, which was probably a mistake. We took the trail in Devils Garden that leads to Landscape arch. On the way out we took the side trail down to Pine Tree Arch and Tunnel Arch. We love Pine Tree Arch because no one really goes down here and it is nice an shady in the afternoon. After visiting these two arches, we continued out to Landscape Arch. We really wanted the boys to see this huge arch, but it pushed them a little much after all the other walking we had done. Seth started crying, Dax was dragging, and only Mark kept a cheerful smile. But we let Seth out of the backpack to walk again and he seemed much better. The only problem was that since we sat and played at Sand Dune Arch, he assumed that is what we do at every arch. So he screamed when we made him get out of the sand. Dax listened to Dad tell all of Hercules's adventures, as well of the rest of Odysseus's that we started yesterday and he made the entire hike. I was proud of him. I hope we can pull off Delicate Arch tomorrow.

We ended the night with some more time in the pool. It was much warmer so we stayed a little longer. Mark and Dax prefer the pool while Seth prefers the hot tub. He likes the warm bubbles.