Update: Christina and I are in California! I haven't had much wifi or been able to post while we've been here. I still want to share our trip, and we now have internet connection, so I will be sharing more. Stories from our drive aren't over yet!
August 13
The mountains of Colorado were everywhere as we drove to Utah, we were surrounded. They were completely green when we left Colorado and started to turn more red and desert like the closer we were to Utah. You never knew if you were going to drive around, over, or through them. 
Most of the drive was either up hill or downhill with a pretty steep incline. There was even a truck run off site incase they are going too fast down the mountain side. It's similar to how you would drive on an an exit except it's a lot of sand up a steep hill to slow the vehicle down. It may be common in some places, but I had never seen it before.
Anyway, eventually we arrived in Utah!
Utah is known as the beehive state, "The beehive became the official state emblem on March 4, 1959. Utahans relate the beehive symbol to industry and the pioneer virtues of thrift and perseverance." We headed to our first stop, Moab! My dad had gone here on a bike trip about a year ago. Him, his brother, his brother in-law, and a friend went on a 100 mile biking and camping excursion in the national parks. Specifically, the Arches national park and Canyonlands.
We arrived into Moab later than expected so no time to hike that night, instead we grabbed some dinner and walked around the town. 
Our hotel was on one side of the town which allowed us to easily walk through the stores and restaurants. Many gift shops, tourist centers, and Native American made goods. We stocked up on some souvenirs, post cards, and adventure brochures. There were some pretty exciting activities we could have participated in if we knew ahead of time. We were trying to plan an excursion for the next day such as rafting the colorado river, renting paddle boards, or a jet boat cruise. Unfortunately mostly everything was booked, but we wanted to hike anyway so it worked in our favor.
August 14
We set an alarm for 6:30 the next morning, wanting to get in as much of the day as possible before our 4 hour drive later that day. We got up, packed our bags and headed to the Arches National Park.
Talk about steep! We had to drive, again, along the mountain edge. The only thing that kept us going was knowing that there were some incredible hikes ahead. It takes about 20 minutes to drive through the park until you get to one of the major arches, the delicate arch. We wanted to hike this one specifically because it was one that our dad hiked. Also some other ones were closed for construction/ repairs. I will include a site map below so you can see the various trails in the park. 
After parking we walked to the trail entrance. There were tons of people around in the hot sun, good thing we put on some sunscreen. The trail takes you up close to the arch and is about 3 miles roundtrip. That may not seem too long but when you unexpectedly have to climb a giant slab of rock that itself is about 1/2 a mile in the sun…it gets rough. Christina and I grabbed our waters and started the hike, not knowing what this arch had in store for us.
The first 1/3 of the hike was pretty straight with a few ups and downs, there were people of all ages doing it so we thought we had it no problem. Another phrase going through our minds "we can turn back in a few minutes"…we never turned back. Ahead of us I noticed a giant slab of rock (yes the one I just mentioned). 
I honestly thought that was all it was…a slab of rock…with trees or bushes on it. Wait a minute. Why are those tiny trees moving. Oh. My. God. Do we have to walk up there?! We checked the map and realized this was one of the most strenuous hikes in the park. It was given that title because of the steep edges, steep incline, and no shade. It's fine, we thought, we will get to the base of the rock and turn around. Here's the thing, once you get that far you have completed 1/3 of the hike, so why not keep going. Okay, at the top of the rock we will look at the (amazing) view, then turn around. Sure, easy, no problem. Well climbing up that rock gave us a run for our money. There were no clouds around so the sun was blaring down on us. 
We had to stop several times to make it to the top. I am very proud to say we did it, we hiked to the top, and then decided to keep going. 
I mean the hardest part had to be over right?
The hike turned from super rocky to sand, which was pretty cool and much softer. We climbed, jumped, and ran over rocks finally getting to the arch! 
Wow, I mean it looked more like a cave in the mountain, but we still climbed up to it. We needed a little rest after hiking all this way. Plus it gave a little shade so we decided to sit. After taking some pictures we saw other people continuing the hike around the side of what we thought was the arch. Um…I guess we were wrong…so where's the arch?
We climbed down our impostor arch and peered at where everyone was going. There was a steep 5 foot wide ledge everyone was walking on, there and back. 
I am afraid of heights but really wanted to see this arch, in my mind I knew if I could just keep going I would make it. Hugging the inside of the canyon wall we crossed the next piece of the trail.
Eventually we made it to the Arch! 
And wow was it unique. Now it made sense that this was the arch, not the one we originally thought was it. There were tons of people taking pictures, relaxing, and sitting having lunch. We sat for a few minutes to catch our breath and drink some water.
That's when we heard thunder. Is a storm coming? The wind started blowing like crazy to the point you feel like it could knock you over. And when you are at the top of a steep mountain it makes you a bit uncomfortable. All I wanted was a picture under the arch to say I did it, I made it here and conquered my fears. The sand started shifting around us and blew into our faces. I had to decide it was now or never. I ran over to the arch, wow was it cool to stand underneath it! Then the wind started blowing harder. I planted my feet and stood with my arms out. There was only about three feet on each side of me before a steep drop. 
Once I knew Christina had taken plenty of pictures, I ran back and sat in front of her. I didn't realize how scared I was until that moment…but I did it!
Boom! Another clap of thunder sounded and sand was whipping us in the face, we had to get down the mountain. We quickly, but safely got out of the arch and started our trek. Running down the hill the sand was blowing all around us, we had to stop when the wind picked up so it wouldn't get in our eyes. 
When the wind died down for a a few seconds we would run. We just needed to get back onto the slab of rock. Finally, we made it to the slab. The sky was a little cloudier but still sunny, you could see the storm in the distance. There were still people climbing all around us, no one else seemed to be worried, so our nerves calmed a bit. We still wanted to get down the hike and back to the car. Which took a lot less time than climbing up. We finally made it to the car and decided we had some time for one more short hike, to the sand dune arch we went.
This was only about a twenty minute hike, round trip. This hike was all through sand, but since we had to drive a little further the wind had died down. No sand in our eyes this time. 
We found the arch pretty quickly but it was cool because we were enclosed in other canyons. Everything around us was that canyon red color. We took a bunch of pictures, headed back in the car, and started our way back through the park and into town. 
Goodbye Moab, thanks for helping me conquer some of my fears! Now on to discover another National Park!
Here To There 