Susie's Leaning Tower of Chocolate for 2012 March 17

We left a day early for our trip to Arches to take advantage of today's awesome weather. It was around 70 with a nice breeze/howling wind (depending on where we were). We carried the kids on the hike to Delicate Arch (3 miles). As we rounded the corner to the view, Dalton started chanting in my ear, "Edna Mode. Edna Mode." He loves E! We had a snack at Delicate. It was pretty windy up there.

Next we went to Sand Dune Arch and played, and finally hiked 1 mile to Landscape Arch. We decided to go up a bit (hah!) further to Partition Arch. Climbing up the sand fins with the kids was fun. I love that view though, and the kids liked that one, too. Maggie was a great sport and walked the whole way back down to Landscape. Climbing on the "red mountain" was the part she'd been waiting for.

The 1 mile back to the parking lot from Landscape was horribly windy right in our faces. We were carrying the kids (sans packs) and practically running to get out of it.

We hiked about 6 miles today and are definitely feeling it. We wanted to do as much as possible today because it's supposed to rain. Rain + slick rock = scary. Rain + red sand = clay. (Been there, done that.) So we just have a few little hikes and the visitor's center for tomorrow. We're also going to Dead Horse Point State Park. Yay!