2,000 Miles in Five Days

It is approximately 2,000 miles from Salt Lake City, Utah to Bold Springs, Georgia. I know because I recently made this trip. In five days!

Our daughter, Caroline is moving to Ireland sometime in 2019. Before going to that fair green country, she needed to come home to store some of the things she will not be taking on her exciting journey and of course, to celebrate Christmas with her family. I flew to SLC on Sunday, December 16. She met me at the airport at 11:30 and we took off with a car loaded to the brim. There was just enough room for me, one carry-on luggage and one personal item.

Our first stop was to her office in Provo. The snow capped mountains were a gorgeous contrast to our warm temperatures in Georgia.

It must be very difficult to stay focused on work done with this view of the mountains each day. I was mesmerized–Caroline was a blasé about the snow and the mountains–she is ready for a different view.

We reached Arches National Park around 4:30 in the afternoon. The park office had already closed but the gates were open. The park is north of Moab and is bordered by the Colorado river. There are over 2,000 sandstone arches and other geological formations which loom like skyscrapers over the desert vista.

Balanced Rock is about 128 feet tall. It appears to be balanced but it actually sits atop a pedestal of Dewy Bridge mudstone which is slowly eroding. This boulder weighing in at 3,600 tons will eventually tumble to earth as wind, rain, snow & sleet chip away at its base.

Leaving the Balanced Rock area of the park we headed straight for the Windows Section. The sun was setting quickly and we had to get to what is known as the beating heart of Arches National Park. The largest grouping of arches is in this area including North Window, South Window, Turret Arch and Double Arch. The arches are caused by the cutting action of wind blown sand not erosion.

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On our way back to the car we spotted this cairn–or small grouping of stones often stacked as a memorial or a landmark. We were reminded of the cairns we saw frequently in the Bahamas.

More on our trip tomorrow!

(My apologies if you received this post twice–somehow it first posted incomplete–operator error I am sure)

Joy