After Clay went back to Chicago, we had another week in the Moab area. Without the pressure to show off our favorite places to a guest, our pace slowed down drastically. But we did continue to make the most of this amazing place, where no amount of time ever seems to feel like long enough.
Without the distraction of Uncle Clay, the girls were back to making friends with the other feral children in the ‘hood. Don’t know about you…but I wouldn’t want to cross this motley crew.I continued to love my view out the front door of Arches National Park in the distance, particularly at dusk.One morning we did a hike out to Corona Arch, a very fun, popular hike to an arch outside of the National Park.The girls spent much our time at Corona Arch entertained by this fuzzy caterpillar. (You can see the remnants of Sunny’s henna on her hand – painted by a campground friend who was practicing on all of us with her new henna kit.)Family photo at Corona Arch. Besides being a well-known brand of beer, “corona” is latin for “crown”, and refers to the gaseous glow around the sun and other stars. I LOVE to see the cactuses flowering – it’s such a bold statement of life & beauty in a seemingly hostile environment.Before we left Moab we spent a couple of nights at a campground to wash dishes, clothes, and ourselves. Look at these happy, dirty kids – legs brown from sun and dirt and adventure.One of the GREATEST things about this week was connecting with another full-time RV family in our boondocking neighborhood. Hannah & I took a hike out to Double Arch to watch the sun set one evening. We almost stepped on a rattlesnake, talked to a very odd snake-chasing man for awhile, and saw a breathtaking sunset – none of which were the most memorable parts of the evening. Little did I know at the time that this was an initial connection for what would develop into a very meaningful friendship!On one of our final evenings in Moab, I drove out alone to my favorite spot to watch the sun set from inside Double Arch. I pressed my body against the smooth stone and watched the colors light up the sky and transform day into something else, contemplating the age of the landscape, the arches, our culture, my family. I tried to soak up all of the loveliness and my quiet moment alone I wondered why I find it so difficult to simply enjoy these special moments, and am instead just distracted through their duration by the fact the moment is so fleeting & I can’t capture it and hold it forever. Arches is one of my all-time favorite National Parks, and this final sunset, where I pushed myself to climb too high up the arch and thought I might never actually find my way back down alone, was as fitting a goodbye as any.
