Today was the day of the “Ring of Fire” solar eclipse. It started at 9:31 am and finished at 12:01 pm. Here in Moab, Utah, we would only have 90% of the eclipse so we wouldn’t see the ring of fire. I saw people heading out to the national parks to photograph the eclipse. I realized that the sun is the sun and when you are shooting into the sky, it doesn’t matter where you are. Ronnie and I picked a spot in the front of our hotel where there were chairs where we could relax, bathrooms nearby and coffee and juice nearby. It was an ideal situation. When we bought our eclipse glasses, we had to buy a five-pack, so we handed out our extras to other people. We met a nice couple from Davenport, Iowa, who spent a lot of time with us while Herb photographed the eclipse.
After the eclipse, Ronnie and I had lunch and decided that we would head to Dead Horse Point State Park to view the Colorado River as it meandered through the sandstone terrain from a vantage point 2000 feet above the river. It was cool. On the way, we saw terrain that differed from the other states that we have visited including formations called the “Monitor and the Merrimack.”
There were other neat views along the way. Utah is certainly an “Oh Wow” state.
Dead Horse Point State Park was a fun place to visit.
On our way out, we visited the gift shop where Herb couldn’t resist buying a Dead Horse Point long sleeved t-shirt. On our way back to the car, we saw a van that had a great paint job.
We arrived back at the hotel in Moab around 3:15 pm. We wanted to visit Arches National Park which is only about five miles from our hotel. Until the end of October, the park requires you to have a timed-entry pass. There weren’t any available until October 31st. But you could enter the park before 7:30 am or after 4:00 pm without a time-entry pass. We thought that we would try to get in after 4:00 and we were successful. It was a wonderful ride through the park. We bought an “America the Beautiful” pass which would allow us into national parks for the rest of our lives. The cost was $80, and it included a vehicle entry and everyone in the vehicle.
This was one of Ronnie’s favorite pictures as she loved the tree growing out of the rock.
This is called one of the windows.
This is balance rock. Who would have guessed.
Before we left, we purchased an app that gives a guided tour of each of the national parks and points out the best attractions on the journey.
We finished in the park around 6:15 pm and headed back to our room for some much-needed rest. We are thinking that we will do Canyonlands National Park tomorrow and then Capitol Reef National Park on Monday before we head to Escalante, Utah, and two nights in a yurt.
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