Now THAT'S a Canyon!

Day Three of hiking vacation started out with a refill of every water-holding device we own! We went to my now favorite place in Moab, Gear Heads (I dig the name too!) The store is an awesome collection of everything outdoors and some of the nicest, coolest people I've met work there. As an added bonus, they offer free water refills----SWEET! Our trek brought us to Dead Horse Point. Its one of three National Parks in the area. It didn't disappoint! We spent the better part of our day there, ate under an awning and watched little "chick-munks" (BS's word for them) scurry about.

We also picked up Jr. Ranger books so the kids worked diligently to complete the activities to earn their badges. We love the program because instead of just glancing at the surroundings, they are required to study, observe and report to the Ranger what they learned! Cool! (Even more nifty is the fact they are still working on activities as we wait for our pizza!)

The next location was a visit to Canyonlands. This is a very different landscape than Arches. If you want to see HUGE expansive canyons, this is the place. We oooo'd and awwwww'd all afternoon. Mind you, we live on the edge of a canyon and we all agreed.....ours is little!

We did a couple of short trails, Mesa Arch and Grandview Point, which is what is pictured above. We hiked the two mile trail along the rim. We hiked over seven miles today. BS fell asleep as Dad carried her on his back to the truck. She was one pooped little hiker!

She was asleep when we reported to the Visitor's Station to claim the second badge. We had an awesome Ranger that took her time with the boys. We laughed at some of their answers! I think she may remember the "wild Nebraska tourists!"

We've become very fond of discovering treasures off the beaten path! Tonight we explored Mill Canyon, which had several displays of fossilized dinosaurs embedded in the canyon walls. Oh, how FUN! The kids loved this and we had the place all to ourselves! We hiked up the river bed in search of petroglyphs but found none. (If you ask the kids, they'll surely tell you they found scrapers, petrified dino bones and teeth---do not believe them! The river stones are just that cool out here!)

Pizza just arrived. Time to eat, shower and head to bed. Tomorrow is Firey Furnace Hile and it is what we came for!!!!

More soon!