Taking on Utah

So Utah is ten times the size of NJ with 1/3 of its population. That should paint a pretty accurate picture of how little inhabitants we saw between Bryce and Arches.

Took a quick stop at Capitol Reef National Park mostly for the Mormon pioneer house and orchards. Orchards! In the desert!

You may see a new Prairie dog that has joined us...

The reef.

The pioneer house with a disappointed Mark because it was merely a pie shop inside lacking in history.

This is also where the artist for Batman lived in the 1940s, so clearly the bats inspired him! 

Moving on, we found ourselves surrounded by canyons and cliffs galore, ranging in colors and striations.

When we finally reached our primary destination, Arches, at 5 pm, it was still 100 degrees, therefore we bailed on our camping plans in favor of a lodge in Moab. Driving a few miles into town we discovered yet another "park town," an outdoorsy, brew pub and cutesy coffee shop type. We did some chores, laundry, cooler cleaning and car organizing before  a stop at Moab brewery and an early bedtime.

We had booked a ranger led tour though the Fiery Furnace section of the park about 6 months ago and boy did it live up to the hype.

You can only explore this untrailed part with a guide or permit and it required scrambling and leaping among rocks. So fun!

Being among the beauty really was special. Also, the learning aspect was very engaging! For example, the Cyanobacteria take 100 years to form a healthy crust on top of desert sand which helps absorb water allowing plants to live. See the darker brown area near the tree? That is millions of microorganisms sticking the sand together. Don't step there!

 And! I got to see an actual water bear (Tardigrade) habitat! My students love these amazing microbes can survive up to ten years  without water. Here is their ten foot deep water habitat ( including the sand). This will eventually turn into an arch.

The juniper is fascinating too! It can cutoff  nutrients to parts of its body allowing other parts to survive. The top half of the trunk is actually dead while the bottom is alive with roots through the rock.

And! There is water in all of this rock which is doing all of the eroding. Check out the wet spot here ....

Oh and I guess we should have seen some arches! Here we go..

And elephants! Love!

Then Salt Lake City. The lake isn't visible from here which was slightly disappointing. We did see the Mormon stuff, actually from our hotel.

And then closer..

And of course a brewery... Or two!

Golden ale!!! Oh missing Beatrice....

But she may not be missing us...

Grand Teton and Yellowstone tomorrow!