Day 8 – June 26, 2019

It was a mild, quiet evening in the campground. Our site was a few feet away from the Colorado River. On the opposite shore was a sheer red rock wall that soared over 100 feet high. We slept like zombies. (Ashley informed me that zombies terrorize people at night with murderous rampages and most of all they don’t sleep. But I don’t care, I’m sticking with the definition of zombies meaning we slept well.)

We got up around 8, enjoyed breakfast, broke down the tent, and we were back at Arches by 9.

Ashley was greeted by Ranger Luke, who quizzed her about the park. When the grilling ended she had badge number 3.

We drove back into the park to visit some of the spots we didn’t see yesterday.

Before we left on the trip, Ashley purchased a plush Brutus the Ghost Town Donkey at Knott’s using some gift money from Grandpa. Brutus (or Donkers, as Ashley calls him) joined us on this trip. My original plan was to make this the Donkers travel blog. Now I feel bad, because this is the first time I have mentioned Donkers. The adventure thus far has surprisingly centered on the pink bunny slippers. Donkers finally emerged for a couple photos and then he scampered back to the van.

After visiting a half dozen arches, Ashley love for Arches National Park was waning. Her enthusiasm was declining with each arch we visited. Kind of like trying to eat that tenth slice of cake. Sure I would eat it, but it’s nowhere near as good as the first. Ashley make a proclamation: She would not go on another hike to see another arch. She said they all look the same and she was arched out. Being sensitive to Ashley’s mood, we visited two more arches and left around 2:00.

We got a camp site at a Colorado state park near the state border. We used the occasion to clean out the ice chest and make dinner. We finished up playing Mario Party (Ashley won, as always).

Seems like we are finally settling into somewhat of a routine. The key is to realize that nothing is going to turn out exactly like we hoped. If we can all set our expectations accordingly, the trip will go much smoother and the chance of us having positive memories of the trip at its conclusion will improve.