AROUND MOAB--at last!

I spent most of the end of last year researching and writing about Moab for a little writing job I got.

My former neighbor who is from Moab decided to produce an Audio Tour of a popular scenic driving route around Moab. One you might not know about unless you were local. As he progressed in his project, he decided he needed some help with research and writing and since I had then, just released my Utah Temple Passport, he thought of me for the job.

I eagerly accepted and really enjoyed learning all about Moab, even taking a road trip there with Mitch and our family last October.

Mitch recently finished the production and the audio tour is now available for sale in and Around Moab. I have been eagerly awaiting its release and to celebrate its arrival, me and my extended family planned a trip to Moab over UEA. I have been counting down the hours to when we'd start climbing on red rocks, driving on dirt roads and as my personal highlight, taking the audio tour.

So we packed up and left after Kindergarten early-out day and Sunny’s dance lesson. We took a five hour drive to Utah’s beautifully famous south eastern corner. We made this trek last year which was horribly difficult thanks to a serious serious serious two-year-old attitude we had with us.

What a difference a year makes, because this year’s drive was down-right delightful. So easy and fast. It was a little eerie how easy it was.

We arrived in Moab and after settling in at the beautiful Super 8 Motel, we headed right over to the Courthouse Wash area (only 2 minutes from our motel) to find some neat Indian rock art or petroglyphs.

Alyssa was beyond anxious to get to climbing on the rocks. She has turned into some sort of super-freak about rocks and rock climbing.
Her wildest dreams came true and we climbed up, over and through the rocky terrain.

All the while admiring cute little lizards also climbing over the rocks at the Courthouse Wash.

We found our first arch of the trip.
Very exciting.


Here's another.

After ten minutes of intense climbing...
and Cactus finding...

we found these really neat panels of Indian art.
We had a great time looking at and taking pictures of the unique and ancient décor.

These are thought to be "aliens." Yes, seriously.

This one is a horse.
Probably from Earth. I mean, it looks like our horses.


We also climbed around on a bunch more rocks.


And took some really fun family photos.

Everybody is a comiedian.
Beautiful View.

Some desert resort on the Colorado River.

It started getting dark, so we headed back to the car and got back just as night fall came and it came very fast.
If we’d hung around the rocks at the top even 5 more minutes we would have been crawling over rocks (and lizards) in total darkness.

Next we headed into town. I was determined to find a miniature Delicate Arch for my classy collection of miniature world land marks. I searched high and low last time and never found one. I know I would find one this time. And...did.

We also found this shirt shop.
I just couldn't resist asking the clerk at the store if they had any reddish-brown T-Shirts. She looked at me straight and told me no, all she had were these ones. Really? Thanks.

As we got back to our room, the girls were so cute as they played together building forts and carrying on the way they do when they are having one of their “Big Day’s”. It was very fun to witness. It’s amazing how exciting a motel room can be to a child. This happens every time we go to a hotel. It may as well be Christmas Day.

The cousins arrived and we went into hair braiding frenzy getting everyone’s hair braided and out of the way for our rock adventures the next day. We planned to leave extra early to get parking spot in what we knew would be a crowded lot at the Delicate Arch Trailhead. (In case you didn't know, UEA stands for Utahn’s Entering Arches.) No time to do hair in the morning.

Just as we were settling in for the night we realized that Super 8 provided us with Shampoo, but not conditioner. Classy. I can’t live without conditioner. Not even for one shower, so Steve went to the store to grab some and some other things too.

After he was gone I noticed a scratching rustling sound in our backpack which was sitting by the TV. I KNEW it was just some packages of beef jerky and goldfish crackers settling into the backpack Steve had put together before he went to the store. Somewhere in the back of my mind I considered the possibility that it could be a one of the zillion lizards we saw at the Courthouse Wash area earlier that evening. I know lizards run rampant in Moab. I got up to investigate to put my mind at ease. The thought of sleeping in the same room as a lizard freaked me right out. I walked toward the pack and moved it a tiny bit. Just as I did, some fast little critter moved at lightning speed out of my pack and vanished. I was officially FREAKED OUT!!!

I tried not to alarm Alyssa who was still awake. She heard me gasp and was asking questions. I texted Steve to tell him there was a lizard in our room because I didn’t want Alyssa to hear me. He called me immediately. I told him in code what had happened since he’d been gone, but then…I saw it again only it wasn’t a lizard like I had thought…IT WAS A MOUSE!!!!

I saw him several more times before Steve arrived. I was totally paralyzed with fear. I couldn’t hide my fear any longer, Alyssa knew exactly what was going on after my frantic phone calling to Steve and the front desk. She, however thought it was awesome and cool and wanted to see a real live mouse. Not sure if she knows they aren’t like the pair we see at Disneyland.

The front desk apologized saying the weather had turned cold abruptly and all the critters are trying to get inside. They came and laid two mouse traps and gave me instructions to call them when we heard a snap.

Steve returned a few minutes later and I promptly left the room. With the help of my brother Randy, they moved all the furniture and said they flushed the room and it was officially mouse free. I knew they were lying. There was no mouse carcass to prove it. Liars

I returned to the room about an hour later after I was assured there was no more mouse in my room. Steve calmed my nerves and talked me into going to bed. We talked for a little while and finally did turn out the lights and turned off the TV.
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1….S-N-A-P!!!!!!! The mouse trap went off. I flipped the light back on and looked at the foot of my bed to see a twitching body of our roadside motel mouse. He was not dead, but he could not move any more. Steve grabbed a trash can and threw it over the top. I called the front desk and they came to retrieve the mouse.


I actually had the where-with-all to grab the camera so I could get a photo of this blessed event, so I could remember it forever.

I know I am NOT paying for this room tonight.