Over the Mountains and into Arches

The drive from Denver to Moab took us over and through mountains.  The views were spectacular.  We drove through huge rock formations that looked like the pictures of Rivendell from Tolkien's illustrated version of The Hobbit. 

The picture of tunnels, above, shows one set of short tunnels.  We also drove through a very long tunnel and were impressed with the engineering that creates these time saving shortcuts.  After driving through those mountains, we settled into a drive through sear, flat meadow that did not look like it could support any gardening or even food for animals.  And yet we saw houses!  We wondered aloud why people lived here and what they did to support themselves.

We began to see water and forest land again and stopped to admire Glenwood Canyon - I recommend this stop for anyone driving on this stretch of I-70.

We could have gone rafting here, too.  Those who were rafting were clearly having a blast.

Then, we crossed into Utah and the terrain began to change again.  We were surrounded with towering red rock formations.  This appears to be a truly alien landscape to my Michigan-born eyes.  We decided to check into our hotel and it turned out to be a great choice - a spacious, spotless room with a continental breakfast served every morning that includes fresh croissants. 

After we unpacked, we grabbed some water and headed out to Arches to get a park map and drive the scenic road to scope out the short hikes and good photography viewpoints.  We took some photos and we plan to go to the park at 8:00 am tomorrow to get some morning light photos of several more arches.  Here is one photo I took today of the iconic Delicate Arch.  I walked a (long) half mile uphill in 95 degree heat to get this - another reason we are going back in the morning.  This park's formations are amazing, powerful and seem so much like earth spirits that have been captured in rock.  I hope we'll get some more good photos tomorrow.