Vacation 2011

Our 2011 vacation was a big hit. After our trip home from Louisiana in 2007, we spent one night in Moab, UT and barely touched the beauty of Arches. We vowed then to return for a "real" stay and fulfilled our vow this year. We scheduled our get-away to leave the day after the kids finished school to beat as much of the summer heat as possible, and we did it! We enjoyed the upper 80s at Arches, which hit the 90s the day we left, and is certainly in the 100s during this summer's heat wave (which we, in the NW, have most certainly missed!)

The kids loved climbing all over the rocks, leaving the trail, and climbing high -- right along with my (Karen's) blood pressure! But it was a beautiful exploration of majesty for us all.

Since we were already in Utah, we decided to head over to Colorado as well, so that Melanie could see her best friend, Lexi.

Then, since we were in Colorado, why not head back through Yellowstone National Park? Yep. Whew! It was quite a vacation through seven states that gave the kids three new states to add to their growing list of states they've been to. They also added two new Junior Ranger badges for two national parks.

We've told them this will likely be the last full family vacation we have for a while, as Chris will be pursuing his education next year. They're okay with that and are still glowing in the experience.