Underneath the Arches....

Lori lookin' super fly in our Mean Black Mutha machine...

Salt Lake City to Arches NP

Slept well last night, after the folks in the room next to us finally finished having noisy, enthusiastic sex, so woke almost refreshed and raring to go for our first full day’s adventure!  As predicted the Howard Johnson free breakfast was a carnival of carbs and sugary cereals but – as its my day off from my protein-tastic body building meal plan – I wrestled a bagel into submission without the least trace of guilt.

Today’s itinerary was to drive out of Salt Lake City, heading south and then east to Arches National Park, the first stop on our Southwestern adventure.  Here’s a map of today's route:

Day 1: 295 miles and 4 hours 

That's a whole lotta balls

Before leaving SLC, we stopped at Wal-Mart to stock up on snacks and plenty of water (no dying out in the desert due to dehydration for this gal, thanks very much).  The Wal-Mart was enormous and full of entertaining people-watching opportunities but was strangely completely devoid of oranges.  Not a single citrusy globe anywhere to be seen.  Are oranges illegal in Utah?  There were, however, plenty of cheddar cheese balls - i guess if you screwed up your eyes hard enough, they could be mini-oranges, right?

After wandering around Walmart for a half hour or so, we finally set off - styrofoam bucket full of ice, water and snacks at around 10.45am for our 4hr drive to Moab.  AS IT WAS MY DAY OFF MY MEAL PLAN (Ashley!!), it wasn't even 11am and we’d already chomped our way through ice-cream and salt and vinegar crisps.  Yey for vacation snackage!  The drive was pretty straightforward, all highway, and wound us through mountains and valleys of an impressive scale.  At times, we really were in the middle of absolutely nowhere - not a sign of human habitation in sight (other than the road, obviously!).  

About an hour or so into the drive, we came upon a series of hand-painted signs by the road advertising FRESH JERKY!  REAL TASTY!  GET SOME!  ELK!  BUFFALO!  JUST AROUND THE CORNER!  ALMOST THERE!!  JERKY HERE!!   It was very exciting.  How could we pass that up?  So we duly stopped, enticed by the advertising, and had ourselves an impromptu Jerky Tasting Menu, happily doled out by Don the Jerky man and his Happy Meat Shears.  I hadn't tried proper Jerky before, so I thought 'what the hell?" whereas Lori is a Jerky Aficionado she knew what was what!

Jerky Don and his spicy meat treats

First up was the Sweet Peppered Beef Jerky, followed by its equivalent in buffalo then elk.  It was actually pretty tasty and was, by far, the best one - I didn't care much for the teriyaki or hot sauce.  A bit too weird for my liking.  Also, the Elk (in case you are wondering what Elk jerky tastes like) had a slightly sweet, gamey flavor to it, so again not my favorite but was fun to try.  Just don't think too deeply about where Don's scissors have been and never, ever, ever read the ingredients list on a pack of  Jerky.   Some things cannot be unlearned.  *shudder*

Anyway, back on the road and, after another hour or so, we arrived at a town called Price where we decided to stop for lunch.  And, where else to go than to a place called "Groggs"?  It had pretty good reviews on Urbanspoon, so Groggs it was - and I proceeded to demolish an ENORMOUS bacon cheeseburger.  Ahhh... the glory of my Meal Plan day off!!  It was yummy but, as I found when we got back on the road, calorie-coma inducing!  The monotony of the landscape didn't help so, to stay awake, I periodically wound the window down and stuck my arm outside, to feel the 104 degree heat and get some wind (other than my own) moving through the car.  

After another 2hrs on the road, we finally arrived in Moab.

It felt like we had landed on Mars.

You'll see in the pictures better than I can explain, but the sheer redness of it all, the weird rock formations, the mountains and vast shifting dunes of red sand were just incredible.  So alien-looking.  I wouldn't even have been surprised to see the Mars Curiosity Rover on the dusty red plains and for its trip to Mars to have been one big hoax, while it hangs out here in Moab!

By this stage, it was about 4pm, so time to check into the Ramada.  I was feeling very smug, as the Ramada was directly opposite the Moab Adventure Center, where we'd booked our tours from, so no driving needed for our Fiery Furnace hike tomorrow morning at 7.15am.  Maximum snoozage time.  

Except we weren't.  

As the poor guy on the front desk searched in vain for my reservation and I waited (very patiently, I might add) for him to spell my name correctly and find it, I dug out my paper copy of my confirmation - to find I'd actually booked us into the Super 8 for this evening, not the Ramada!  The Ramada was for tomorrow night!  Oops!  Feeling rather sheepish, we hopped back into the car and headed over to the Super 8 were we (finally) checked in.   Again, it was fine - the room was basic but it was very spacious and clean, so nothing to complain about. 

Finally!  Huzzah!

We were both still in the grips of lunch coma, plus the added snooze factor of the afternoon heat, so consensus was that it was time for a quick Power nap, before heading out to watch sunset.  An hour later, I woke up in a pool of my own dribble (which was nice) but feeling somewhat refreshed and ready for our first trip proper into the park.  We were following a lead from one of the guys from the Moab Adventure centre to head to a place called The Windows to watch the sunset.   The drive would take about an hour, more or less, and we needed to be there by around 8.15pm, so just after 7pm we clambered back into the car and headed out.  

 Here's a map of Arches NP so you can see (if you have extremely good eyesight, I suppose)
where we were and the location of all the various viewpoints and landmarks:

We started off at the base of the park and then drove up through the Courthouse Towers, through the Petrified Dunes and Rock Pinnacles before turning right at Balanced Rock and heading east towards the Windows Section.  The guy's advice was spot on.  This place is seriously beautiful.   Though there were a few people about, catching the sunset like we were, it wasn't too crowded and there were moments when you could stop, perch on a warm red rock and hear... nothing.  Silence.  Just perfect.

Balanced Rock

Park Avenue

Here are a few of my favorite pics from our first excursion into the park - they don't really do it justice, but I hope they give you some idea of the magnitude and grandeur and sheer scale of these imperious rocks.  I'll load all of my pictures into an online Google Web album so you can see more if you would like.  Just stunning.

North Window Arch

North and South Window Arch

Wheeeeeee!!

Look, Ma - I'm on top of the worrrlllllld!!

Exploring.  And not falling off.

Double Arch, blazing red with the setting sun

Beautiful sunset

The drive back didn't seem to take as long (isn't that always the way?) and it was about 9.30pm by the time we got back in town.  Fending off the severe temptation just to roll in and call it a night, we decided not to be completely lazy arses (plus it was my Meal Plan Day off, so I had to get my full value in!!), so we finished the day by unwinding in a very cool restaurant and bar called Eddie McStiff’s (it had to be done, with a name like that).   There was a great band playing, we were well taken care of by a lovely waitress called Molly and we finished off the day with a kick-ass apple pie.  Along with the best blueberry mojito I’ve ever tasted, I think I did my off-meal plan day proud.

Anyway, now its time to finally head back to the hotel to rest up before our 5.45am (eek) alarm call for our 7.15am Fiery Furnace hike tomorrow.  Am just a little nervous about it - fingers crossed we make it out alive!!