Day 35: Arches National Park to Ontario, Oregon

The last fun day of our trip dawned. Camp was slowly packed up, oatmeal eaten, sticky oatmeal bowls cleaned. and off we went. Just before Arches, Ben and clan went to Moab instead to find Kim some kind of baby-safe medication as she was feeling awful. Bry and I went ahead and hiked one of the longer hikes (just a mile each way) to Landscape Arch. Then we met up with them and did the shorter hikes to Tunnel and Pine Tree Arches. 

By this time it was already past noon surprisingly and we needed to hit the road fairly early. We did a couple other little trips, one to Sand Dune Arch (such a cool spot for families; so much sand for the kids to play in and rocks to climb). Our final stop was the viewpoint for Delicate Arch, the famous free standing Utah-license-plate arch. We could see it quite well in the distance but next time we'll do the hike up to it. 

It was crazy how busy this park is even mid October. The parking lots were totally full and we could see the people swarming up at Delicate Arch. I can't imagine this place in June or September, probably chaos. 

Kim by this point, couldn't wait to get home and to a doctor and we both had 16 hours of driving ahead of us to get home. Micah really wanted to hike to the upper viewpoint so Bry and I made lunch, we all prayed together, and then we headed out. They planned to leave after Ben and Micah did the final viewpoint hike. 

It was a long afternoon of driving but through gorgeous country. Utah was breathtaking; I could live there I think! Bry had begun to feel his throat tickling, which discouraged us from driving through the night. He really wanted to be healthy by Wednesday for starting his new job. Regrettably, we hadn't planned anywhere to stay for the night so we ended up at a Motel 6 in Ontario, Oregon, just past Boise.