This entire area was once filled with Jello.

Here begins Utah.  Arches I'm sure is usually wonderful but our experience was just lacking.  We did a short hike but it was windy and cold and the sand was just pelting.  I suppose you don't get arches without it but I have to say this was not my favorite place we had been.  You have to have reservations to camp at the national park which we didn't know of course.  And by the time we found out all the BLM sites and even the other nearby national park were full.  We drove 117 miles around Moab trying to find anywhere to stay and finally ended up in a VERY CLASSY establishment called The Virginian, where the hotel manager gave us a physical key in the same hand that was holding her lit cigarette and the bathroom sinks are in the kitchenette instead of the bathroom.  It just wasn't a great experience all around, and while I recommend making an effort, in general I would say Moab isn't as awesome as we expected.  In its defense, we found out later that there was an ATV convention and that was the cause of the busyness.  Even still, maybe later in the summer the wind isn't as damning and longer hikes reveal more untarnished and less crowded country.  Odd how what I used to consider a lot of people has decreased from a few hundred to about 30 haha.  We have passed through some cities lately that are on the map but in the end turn out to just be a gas station.  So in the end I had more fun climbing around and saying random things in front of strangers such as: "It is my understanding that this entire canyon was once filled with Jello."  Reactions are wonderful things.  Later I gave it a back story and it was filled with Jello in order to commemorate the Massacre of Saint Patrick.  I can't decide if St. Patrick committed or received the massacring but rest assured the event was worthy of the title.

Here is the start of Utah.

The Colorado cuts through the canyons on the way into Moab.  These don't do it justice and I think I enjoyed the drive more than the Arches.

Arches.  For scale, the tiny dot in the bottom right of the open arch is a person.

Same arch from closer up, you can see the people more clearly for scale.

Even in the desert, always life.

Double Arch.  This was my favorite and the wind was managed by the cliffs through here so even the weather was cooperative.

Landscape arch.  It's very thin, the front arch.  We hiked in about a mile and a half for this one.

Just thought it was awesome that we did Garden of the Gods and Devil's Garden in the same week.

The mountains still have snow in the background.

Mostly just a big empty in Utah.

But there are some definite gems.  Especially in the next post when we get to Bryce and Zion.