4 Wheels 4 Girls

April 22nd, we went to Arches National Park.

When we got there we watched a movie about how the arches were formed and got our junior ranger packet. The arches were formed when thin layers of sediment and rock were forced up through the ground many years ago. These thin layers are called fins. We also saw in the movie when a large, 70 foot long, piece of Landscape Arch fell and learned that now the thinnest part is only 6 feet thick.

Sandstone fins rise up into the sky

After the movie, we started a hike to the Landscape Arch. We saw lots of deer prints and think we saw mountain lion prints. Me and Stella also fooled my mom by making fake footprints. We could see lots of fins. They were lots of different sizes, from very tall to very small. They were skinny and lots of different colors, reds, yellows, whites and some were even purple. When we got to the Landscape Arch we could see where the chunk of rock fell.

Us at Landscape Arch

On the trail to Landscape Arch we hiked up one of the fins. At the top we could see another arch, called Partition Arch.

Hiking up one on the fins on the Devil's Garden Trail

On the way back, we had to climb down between two fins. It was hard and in one part you had to walk sideways because it was so skinny.

Climbing down between two fins

After that we went to Pine Tree Arch. I think they call it Pine Tree Arch is because it has a pine tree under it. After that we turned around and started our hike back.

Pine Tree Arch

Yeah, the singers were great! But Greta took my milkshake…

On April 21st, we went to Milt’s Eat and Go for dinner. We had a great time. I know I did, but I’m not sure if the rest of us did… I’ll ask them. [Guys, did you have fun at Milt’s?] Yup. They did. All of them. We ordered our food at a window and ate outside at a picnic table.

(Ellie wants me to tell you that she ordered a plain hamburger with just lettuce and tomatoes. She got it ordered correctly but it wasn’t enough for her. So she ordered another one. Lettuce and tomato were the “plain” ingredients on the normal hamburger, so again she ordered a burger. But she didn’t realize that when the orderer guy asked, “All?” and she said, “Yes, all, please.” , that “all” meant cheese, too. Whoops, that was a mistake. She really didn’t like the cheeseburger. I’m like, what the heck, she ordered a hamburger, not a cheeseburger! But whatever, she was hungry, so she ate it anyway.)

Well anyway, the first things we got were the milkshakes. I ordered chocolate, because I LOVE chocolate. So when I picked up my milkshake, (by the way, it was all heavy and cold and perfect…), I took a sip and realized it wasn’t my milkshake at all! I was so mad–and I mean, SOOO MAD–when I told Greta I had her milkshake, (reeses, by the way) and when she handed me back a stinky, dinky, light, warm, and very imperfect “barely-a-milkshake” milkshake that had WAY less than the reeses one that was actually good. UUGGHHH! I really was extremely mad. Right now, just WRITING about this makes me mad. I felt like stealing that milkshake back. Ohhh, it was so annoying…

I reluctantly (actually kind of gladly, because I hardly ever get milkshakes and it was still a tiny bit good) drank my milkshake but still pretended to hesitate before picking it up to drink, just to show I was still mad about it. It worked. And sometimes I even looked at it like it was disgusting and didn’t even touch it. I know I was kind of overreacting, but it was still kind of… fun. I guess.

It was kinda cold that night. But our milkshakes were really good anyway.

Milt's inspired this drawing

So anyway, we were eating our dinner and suddenly, three kids, a girl about 14, another girl about 12, and a boy about 10 or 11 appeared from the back of the building. I could tell they were all siblings and when they stood next to each other, held a tambourine, and put out a tip jar, I could also tell we were about to have a show. I watched them set up, which they barely did because all they had was a tambourine, and once they were ready, the oldest girl announced that they were going to sing for us. We weren’t the only ones at Milt’s, but there weren’t many others. The three kids still sang great, and I’m not joking. They seemed to love to sing as much as me, maybe even more. They all were really good, but the boy especially, he sang out so deep but so loud, I thought he was going to explode! He really was awesome though; you should’ve heard him sing!

We had an awesome time at Milt’s. If you ever go to Moab, Utah, definitely look out for Milt’s Eat and Go!

After the neat campground on the outskirts of Moab, we drove into town and parked in front of a sweet library.

Don't know why this panther is blue, but it was cool

You might think I’m a huge nerd, but I just love libraries, especially because they’re comfy and they have great wifi. (usually) We all found great places to hang out and started our schoolwork. On the first day I did a bunch then got to go on my email. Then the next day we worked all day, only stopping once. I got about 3 hours of email, which is really good because I got to catch up on all the emails that had piled up. It was great because I feel like I never have enough time to connect with my friends.

Now this is a cozy library

Anyway, the library was awesome. There was everything everyone needed- comfy seats, lots of space, a kid’s room for my sisters with a play kitchen area for Ana, and so many other great things that we need and want.

What a great kids' section in this library

This library even won an award- best small library in the country! I loved it, and to my fond surprise we worked there for 3 days. It was great! Read Stella’s post to find out what we did next! 😀

After Canyonlands, we headed to a very nice campground in Moab with lots of things we like-mini golf, a game room, good wifi, two playgrounds, nice showers, (that’s mostly what I like 😉 ) a general store, and lotsa other sweet stuff. We got a nice spot, right next to the showers. I took a nice hot one this morning.

Ellie and Ana are at the playground right now enjoying themselves, playing and watching some horses run. (another plus to this campground)

Here are some photos Ellie and Ana took of their favorite spots:

A good climbing tree

A playground with a view

That’s about it for this post folks. There’ll be more coming!

On Monday, April 19th, we visited Canyonlands National Monument, a really cool place. It’s a canyon, but that’s about the only thing it has in common with the Grand Canyon. It’s a massive hole, but the colors and the width and height and features of Canyonlands are so different. They’re just as cool, but not anything alike. We went to the Needles District of Canyonlands, which is the section southeast of the Colorado river.

So it was super early the morning we got there, (WAY too early for me, being someone who sleeps in in the morning) and Dad, Ellie, and Ana went in to the visitor center to check out the trails and learn about the park. A ranger inside taught them about cryptobiotic soil crust, a kind of dirt that lives in the park and that is very alive. It takes hundreds of years to grow back, so the ranger told them to be very careful not to step on the cryptobiotic crust. When they got back to the RV, the two girls were chanting “DON”T BUST THE CRUST!” and they had badges saying exactly that. We ate breakfast and then tackled the trail- we would be going on a “short” 2 1/2 mile hike through the canyon. At the beginning Stella took a whole bunch of pictures of crazy little things like flowers, rocks, and cacti. The hike was beautiful and the weather was perfect for a hike. We checked out four great lookouts and got to climb up lots of rocks. Here is Stella on one of the lookouts:

That is actually one of the smaller canyons behind Stella

It wasn’t until Lookout #4 that we were even halfway done with this so-called short hike. By then we were almost out of water and my sisters were getting pretty tired. But me.. I was leading the hike with strength, and had quite a bit of energy left. Here I am standing on a faraway rock: ;D

Walking along the Slickrock Trail in Canyonlands

It was a nice hike, one that I actually enjoyed. I’m not sure about everyone else, but I thought it was sweet. I was SOOO thirsty afterward!

Then we went back to the visitor center, filled up our water bottles, and ate lunch.Then we headed down the road to Moab, the city we would be staying in! 😀

Yes, the cows were creepy! But, before that…

Sunday April 17th, we drove from Natural Bridges National Monument to Canyonlands National Park. It was dark, and signs kept appearing that showed a cow and said “open range.” And as we kept driving there were lots of pairs of bright yellow signs with diagonal black lines that signaled there was a cattle gate in between them. Jean drove fast, but carefully around each turn of the road through the canyon, but I kept worrying about the cows. The first cow we saw was about a foot from the road. It was pretty scary. The cow looked peaceful though, and kept munching on grass. The cows kept coming, and I kept worrying. Jean had to honk at one and she and Dad were amused at its started reaction.

I didn't see the startled cow, but this is how I think it looked when Jean honked the horn

As Jean sped around twists and turns I finally asked her to slow down and watch out for cows. She did, but also said the worst thing that would happen was that we would bump into one, so I stopped worrying so much. Ellie was terrified of them though. She kept saying, “Let’s get out of here, please,” really nervously. As she tried to fall asleep on the couch (it was, like, 9:15, by the way), we kept going over cattle gates and stopping so suddenly that I was surprised she ever fell asleep.

We searched for a place to spend the night and found nothing. So we decided we’d just spend the night at the Canyonlands visitor center. I had a great sleep, and I think Ellie did too, because in the morning she asked me where we were.

Natural Bridges, I always mispronounce it because I call it National Bridges, has 3 large bridges. We hiked to two of them. The first one was called Sipapu. (My mom says that Sipapu means “from the underworld, where the the puebloan people believe that humans came from). It was a very, very long hike. We had to go down steep hills and rocks that weren’t very stable and rickety, rickety ladders. Before the path that we used was in place people had to climb across a log and down a really tall evergreen tree to get to the bridge. But it was worth it to go because it was so beautiful.

Sipapu Bridge is the second largest natural bridge in the world, but you can't tell from a picture

Greta is under Sipapu Bridge

We also hiked to the oldest natural bridge in the park. That was a short hike. I did it with Daddy and Stella while Mom and Ellie made dinner. When we got back to the RV, I was very hungry.

Owachomo Bridge is the oldest at Natural Bridges

On April 17th we went to Hovenweep National Monument in Utah. When we got to Hovenweep my dad and Ana went and got our Juiour Ranger packets. We had breakfast and then did our work. After we did our packets we went into the visitor center. We were going to get our badges but then my dad said no and so we started our trail.

Behind us is a little house build inside a boulder. Awesome!

When we got going my dad spoted a lizard then another and another and another. We saw some ruins and then Greta saw a lizard that had a frill on its neck. We saw 17 lizards in all.

A very cute lizard!

After that we did our junior ranger hiking-bingo and looked for birds. Our dad told us that the the ancestral pueblo people who lived in Hovenweep had to put rocks and then mud to fill up the gaps that the big rocks did not cover.

That's Hovenweep Castle across the canyon behind us. It is built using big and little rocks.

After that we got pictures and started our way back. On the way back we saw a beetle that had a turquoise head. My dad said its head was beautiful.

Ana was the only one of us who could fit under this rock on our trail

When we got back we went turned in our juiour ranger packets. After that we got to pick out a certificate. I chose the one with a mountin lion on it. After that we got to pick a normal junior ranger badge or one of the badges that they made. I got a badge that they made. Then we left and hit the road.

After Mesa Verde, we went to buy some groceries and then Mommie told Dad, “yes, you can take the girls for subway sandwiches”. We love subway sandwiches because they are so bacony and mayoney and pickley, and HUGE!! Mom and Dad let us get HUGE footlongs which is great because I am not very big but usually I finish mine before everyone else, except Greta.

We all got footlongs!

And then we went to Four Corners where Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico all come together in one place. But we were sad because the gate was closed when we got there so we couldn’t stand exactly at the spot where the four corners meet. Mom and Dad tried to encourage us to be happy and believe that we were already on Four Corners but close enough wasn’t good enough so we were still sad. 🙁

Four Corners was closed. And, we are standing on a... cattle gate!

I would just like to add that Goosenecks of the San Juan River State Park was a special place, and our only issue was that we were there on an extremely windy evening. We hoped the wind would die down after sunset and we would be able to enjoy the stars and the morning view of the canyon below us, but, unfortunately, the winds only grew stronger. It wasn’t worth the million-to-one chance our parking brake wasn’t up to the task. We will have to try again another day, another trip.