DAY FOUR – DENVER, COLORADO TO MONTICELLO, UTAH

HIGHLIGHTS: The great state of Colorado and Arches National Park

DRIVE TIME: Denver to Arches National park about 5.5 hours, Arches to Monticello UT

 

This is the fourth post in a series of posts about our week-long western road trip. Each post will break down what we did, where we went and what we saw each day. Most excitingly (that’s totally a word, guys) I’m posting my favorite pictures from the trip. Start from the beginning and check out Day One.

 

On Day Four, we woke up early feeling refreshed after our early night in Denver. We (again) had big plans on this day – driving across the state of Colorado and hoping to reach somewhere near Arches National Park in Utah by the end of the day.

From Denver, we drove I70 West clear across the great state of Colorado toward Utah. For me, a mountain lover, this was the coolest drive EVER. This highway is a road trip must! Leaving the Denver area we were surrounded by beautiful mountains for miles. Almost the whole drive is mountain after mountain and I70 cuts right through them. Literally. After passing the Continental Divide, the highway slopes downward for quite a few miles. The speed limit combined with the twisty, curvy road made this drive a little scary. The semi drivers and locals were taking those curves with way more confidence than I had. And I always get a little freaked out by the run away ramps for semis. We don’t have those in the Midwest!

Further west, as the mountains fade into the rear view mirror, the landscape turns to a rocky desert. Or at least what I think of as a desert. With the exception of Las Vegas, we’d never been to the desert before. We are midwestern girls, born and raised. Farmland is pretty much all we know. Driving through western Colorado, we were awestruck by the sandy hills and mesas, and the great expanses of dirt and nothingness.

Our next big destination was Arches National Park. In researching sights to see for this trip, this was one of the few places both of my sisters and I agreed we had to see. The park highlights natural arches created by erosion over bajillions of years and other desert wonders.

We reached Arches National Park in the late afternoon. We didn’t have a lot of time before the park closed, so we just hit the major attractions. We saw Delicate Arch from a distance. It’s a 3 hour-ish hike to see the arch up close and on this day time was not on our side. Someday I’ll go back and see Delicate Arch up close. It was cute and tiny from the far off viewing area we found, and still very worth it.

 

We also saw the iconic Balanced Rock. And for the second time in our trip, we had this attraction to ourselves. By this time the sun was starting to set and the views were incredible. The blue wide open sky gave the setting sun plenty of room to dazzle us. We were feeling a little slap-happy at this point, as you can see by the pictures, and we had the best time laughing and being silly through the park.

 

So much of your road trip experience depends on the people you are travelling with. I am so glad I got to experience Arches with my sisters. It might have been the desert sun, or the freedom felt after sitting in a car all day, but we had a blast at Arches and left with very happy memories.

As the sun started to get low in the sky, we drove from Arches toward Moab to look for a hotel. We found a cheaper option at a local Bed and Breakfast called the Grist Mill Inn in Monticello, UT, about an hour south of Arches National Park. The hour drive was in the dark, on roads were curvey and unfamiliar, and we were all a little nervous about the Bed and Breakfast because, well, that’s how many horror movies start. But we were pleasantly surprised by the cute B&B and we had a wonderful stay.

By this point in the trip, we were starting to feel the drag of being on the road for so long. We were sleeping in weird places, not getting enough rest. We were eating weird things, mostly trail mix and granola bars. We were far from home and our bodies and minds were probably ready for some normalcy by this point. And, I don’t know about you, but when most people start to feel tired and uncomfortable they also get grumpy.

I love my sisters more than anything, but there are no other humans on this planet that make me angry like they do. Sister love, right?! And, well, on this evening something exploded – emotionally, if you know what I mean 😉

I won’t go into too much detail, to spare some of the parties involved (mostly my sister Sara, hi Sara…), but there may have been a small (huge) fight involving night sweats, lies about a bunk bed, and the ratio of certain parties pulling their weight on the trip to certain parties NOT pulling their weight.

FAMILY FUN, RIGHT?!!

In the end, we didn’t kill each other. Everyone made it home from this trip. And now we’ve got this somewhat hilarious memory that may or may not still cause some anger but ultimately won’t destroy us. What’s most funny about this incident is that it happened after our most fun day of the trip. Oh well, that’s just what happens when you travel with family I guess.

This night ended in silence. Because we were all a little mad at each other, and possibly a little (irrationally) freaked out about ghosts in the B&B. We made it through the night with a grand agenda for the next day. The Grand Canyon!

Check back soon for my next post where we see Horseshoe Bend and the Grand Canyon!

Have you driven through Colorado or Arches National Park? Do you fight when you travel with family? We can’t be the only family…

Comment below!