My wife claimed altitude sickness too right there. My daughter and I let her melt and saw it. lol.

Tops Bryce? Wow! We're going in May and I can't wait to see for myself. Nice report!

Oh and I agree, red rocks do rock!

spiro, lucky you! if It had been a 2:1 vote for the hike I would have been happy but DH has knee issues he didn't want to exacerbate with the steep hike. It was also a trade off as I persuaded them to stop off at Rifle Falls on the way to the airport at the end of the trip.

claire, Bryce is so other worldly and I loved the hoodoos especially at sunset. Isn't hoodoo a great word?!

Next Monument Valley..

Did you get lost in Monument Valley?

oops I should finish this..

We were booked into the View Hotel in Monument Valley. This was a great place to spend a night overlooking the Mittens.
We checked into a room on the 2nd floor, beautiful view and a comfortable room (prepaid online $166).. plus $5 per person to enter the Navajo property.
We wanted do the drive through the monuments before sunset so we immediately headed back to the car and set off down the dirt track loop road.

It's dusty so keep your windows closed!
Photographers were already lining up with tripods at various look out points and we missed the opportunity to sit on a horse and/or shop along the way as everyone was packing up for the day.

Elephant Butte was my favourite and we had fun picking out names for several unnamed rocks along the route. Four horses galloped by a one point and it did feel like the wild west.
It was getting late and the benefits of being on the road late meant it was uncrowded but we had to head back for that all important sunset shot.

Half way back we were stopped by 2 Irish guys on motorbikes and they were having difficulty due to the gravel and dust plus they'd lost their map. After a brief chat we pointed them in the right direction.

We took the requisite photos of the glowing Mittens and returned to our room for showers, checked out the hotel store (pricy) and restaurant but nothing appealed. I think the burrito abomination was sitting heavy in our stomachs.

So we sat on our balcony, played cards until it was totally dark out and then read until bedtime.

I was the only one to get up at dawn to photograph the Mittens from our balcony. It was a beautiful view and very peaceful.

We set off early, before breakfast as we wanted to fit in at least one more hike at Arches.
Bluff was our first stop and a great breakfast at Comb Ridge Coffee. Lattes were very good!

Next stop was Newspaper rock and then the Needles District of Canyonlands NP. I was underwhelmed after Arches but I did enjoy the dessert flowers in bloom (I guess it has to be RED rocks for me).

Arrived in Moab and our last night was at the Best Western Canyonlands in Moab. Great location, right on Main St. so ask for a room towards the back for peace and quiet.

I will finish this up soon..

sassy cat,
My husband and I are taking our 3 kids the first two weeks in July over to Santa Fe, Durango, and Moab. My question is do you think the hikes in the Arches would be ok for a 4.5 year old? Did you notice any little ones hiking while you were visiting? Thanks!

sillybilly,
one of the last hikes we did was to Sand Dune Arch. It's perfect for your 4.5 yr old! Take a bucket and spade and spend an hour or two in the cool shade!

http://www.hikinginutah.com/sand-dune-arch.htm

OOps missed out the bit before we rolled into town we stopped at Wilson Arch. So cool to pull over and see this beautiful arch. I decided to climb to the top while the others wait in the car. No one else around and I sat under the arch for a few minutes admiring the view.

Ok, so we arrived in Moab in time for a late lunch.. we were starving but undecided on where to eat but Pasta Jays is right next to the hotel so DH & DD decide this is it for them.
I want something lighter so arrange to meet them in an hour and I walk a block to Moonflower Market where I pick up some mango kombucha and a quinoa/feta salad which is perfect.

We return to Arches soon after our late lunch around 4pm and head for Sand Dune Arch. Wonderful short hike through a sandy 'slot canyon'.
Near by is another short hike to Broken Arch so we walked along the trail and up through the arch... more photos and then we drove back through the park one last time stopping at all the look out points we'd skipped or revisiting ones we wanted to see one more time.
It's close to sunset and the snow capped La Sal Mountains are picture perfect yet again.

DH and DD decide to climb the sand bank just outside the park entrance but DD reconsiders half way up and slides down again exhausted and we wait while DH plows on to the top.

The sun is setting as he descend and we decide on the Moab Diner for dinner which is a great end to a perfect day. Food is wonderful but we're ravenous so maybe a little biased. The margaritas are the best yet :)

We sleep well in our huge room with 2 double beds and a sleep sofa. Breakfast is included and is nice we like the look of the sunny outdoor seating area but we don't have time to linger with a 7 hour drive to the airport ahead of us.

By lunchtime we're in Grand Junction where we stretch our legs, buy some piano music ?, yeah right.. DD suddenly needed some for school the next day and lo and behold there's a fantastic shop right where we need it!
We eat lunch at Nepal. It's a buffet and we all enjoy it, salad, chicken curry, bread and veggies.

Back on the road .. one more stop before Denver airport at Rifle Falls. A crazy detour that adds almost an hour to our journey but the falls are very very pretty and I'm a sucker for waterfalls!

We arrive at DEN almost 2 hours before our overnight flight but the dinner options are lousy. Most places have just closed so we share a poor apology for a pizza.

Uneventful flight and we arrive in Boston @5.30am, home by 6.15 and DD is in school by 7am.
She took a nap in computer class but otherwise coped well with yet another red eye to school day.. she's a trouper! I napped at home until 11am :)
DH didn't even fly home but straight to MIA for work.

It was worth it to squeeze an extra day OUT WEST.

Thanks sassy cat! I will absolutely check it out!

Sassycat,

So glad you had a great trip! Thanks much for the very helpful trip report. Great info for first timers to digest.

Happy travels,
Dayle

Thanks Sassycat. Great trip report! We had a wonderful time on our trip too. It's pretty amazing how we have been to many red rock parks now, yet they are all very different. All beautiful though.

sassycat, thanks for the TR, it was like taking the trip again myself. I admire your DD for getting to school the day after the red eye, but I'm sure she was still on a red rock high and had wonderful stories for her friends.

Are you going to post pictures so we can pretend we're there ourselves?

Thanks for reading.
We all enjoyed the trip and DD has grown to love hiking. She took about 200 of her own photos, mostly of animals but plenty of scenery too. A 14 yr old noticing the scenery is a surprise to me; I'm very proud!.

Yes I'll post photos soon. I'm editing out all the silly grins! After a 1400 miles trip I had 1500 photos.

I'll post 100 or so on my Fliker account soon.

Here's the link to my Flickr photos. They're in the order I took them over the trip
http://flic.kr/s/aHsjzCsQZP

I did notice that we ate at the Moab Brewery on our last night not the Moab Diner... It was a great place to eat and I wish we'd saved room for gelato!

Thanks for sharing your photos sassy_cat. Very nice!

Oh man!!!! I think I have to plan another trip to the SW.

Great photos!! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks claire, and Myer.. I think I have to plan another SW trip too! ;)

Actually, I was in Banff last year. Maybe Banff, Jasper and one other with a friend for about a week or so.

Taking my daughter to Glacier NP in Montana this August.