Three weeks before Theo celebrated his 4th year on Earth, I asked him what he wanted to do to mark the special occasion. His emphatic response was: adopt 32 Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaurs (apparently they would live happily in our backyard and he assured me he would be in charge of water and food distribution) or see "81 hundred million billion stars” (he’s really into the cosmos). I explained that there’s this pesky little thing called extinction and he was about 65 million years too late for his first wish, but I did know just the place where he could see all those stars. I told Theo about a little desert town in Utah called Moab and he was elated.
On a warm summer evening, we piled into the car, crossed our fingers and hoped for a smooth ride, free of tantrums and backseat fighting. This was the first family road trip we had taken the boys on that exceeded the 4-hour mark, but they did really, really well. After movie and a quick roadside dinner, Theo and Otis both fell asleep…
The next morning, armed with our annual National Parks pass (one of the best things that money can buy), we headed out in search of area’s two main local attractions- Canyonlands and Arches.
Believe
me when I tell you that two places are extraordinary. The giant canyon, which
has been shaped over millions of years, is how I imagine the surface of Mars
might look. Arches is equally spectacular. The formation of arches rarely occur in nature,
but the national park, which features the largest collection of arches found
anywhere in the world, boasts over 2,000 natural stone arches…along with enormous
fin rocks, pinnacles and boulders. If you love geology, this is the place for
you.
Now it’s really hot this time of year so we planned our hikes accordingly. We did one in the morning after breakfast and one after dinner, just as the sun was setting and the stars were becoming omnipresent in the summer sky...
