Arches National Park

Our first stop on our California road trip was Arches National Park located in Utah near the city of Moab. Arches is a park full of tall rock formations and naturally formed arch ways. After you enter the park you start driving up a windy hill. You end up so high you can see the highway off into the distance far below.

On your right side you look down below to the road where you started.
On your left you start to see rocks lining the road.
It was hot outside, 96 degrees

The dogs were not allowed on any of the trails so they had to stay in the car. We kept the car moving so that it stayed cooled. I didn't really understand why dogs weren't allowed on the trails because they were all paved concrete walking trails. Even people stay on the trail it's self and don't go near the arches and rocks. Sadly since we were just driving through I didn't get to see if there were any real hiking trails where you can actually go out into the formations. The park was busy and it was hard to take pictures on the trails without a million people in them. I don't like it when it is that way. I prefer being out in nature where it's peaceful and quiet. When you can get lost in your thoughts.

Almost right away you start seeing the arches and rock formations. It doesn't even look real....









My favorite photo I took...

My photos do not do the park justice. You have to be standing next to the formations to actually see how big they are. I would visit Arches National Park again in the future as long as there are actual trails somewhere. I really want to check out the Needles area in Utah. I've been told the good hiking is there. Utah is so beautiful.

View all our my posts about our California vacation HERE.

Driving to Calfornia

I'm finally getting around to sharing my first post about our vacation. We decided to take three days to drive out to California. We took our time so that we could stop and see some sites along the way. I love going out west because I think the scenery is gorgeous. Day one of the drive was 500 miles and it took about 8 hours to reach our final destination in Monticello Utah. Below are some of my favorite photos I took during the first day of driving. The first one is of the sunrise near Fort Collins Colorado on highway 25, taken around 5:30 in the morning.


The entire drive through Colorado you are surrounded by the Rocky Mountains. It's pretty amazing. Once we got off highway 25 and merged onto highway 70 we were pretty much in the mountains at that point. One of my favorite things about road trips is seeing the ever changing scenery from state to state.


The skies out west are always so blue!
We made a quick stop at a very cute town called Frisco. It had small town charm but you could tell it was a tourist hot spot. I had never even heard of the place. There were people riding bikes everywhere and we were surrounded by hiking trails. I think we are adding the city of Frisco to our travel to do list. :) This is another reason I like road trips, you find places to visit for future vacations. I like discovering hidden gems.


Back into the mountains we went...As you get closer to Utah you see more rocks...

I was so excited that we were able to stop and take some photos of the Colorado river. I think it's so neat how it is a orange/red color from the clay. I had never seen anything like it before.


Chloe and Muffins did a great job during the long ride...
We got to drive through some neat tunnels that were carved into the mountains.
Beautiful flowers at a Colorado visitor center.
Shortly after crossing into Utah we stopped at a rest area to stretch our legs. The stop was really nice because you could get out and take some photos. I feel like my favorite scenery from our drive to California was in Utah. In my opinion, driving through Utah is like looking at a painting the entire time. A lot of it is so wide open and you can just see nothing but mountains in the distance...

Muffins wondering how she ended up in Utah...


During our drive we also stopped at Arches National Park located near Moab Utah. I plan to share photos from that trip next. Below is a Google map of the route we drove in case you are interested. If you ever get a chance to drive it I highly recommend it. It is breathtaking. I use Google maps to plan all my road trips!


Learn more about the city of Frisco HERE / Arches National Park HERE.
Stay tuned for many more posts about my trip. :)