Day 2-3: Zion and Arches

We are officially homeless! I am writing at 3:30 on Friday (stealing Motel 6's free wi-fi) and we have slept in the van two nights in a row now. Last night we resided at Motel 6, but not in a row, in the parking lot. We were fortunate enough to be close to trees which served as our bathroom. If you're wondering how four people and all of their things managed to sleep in a a mini van let me try to enlighten you. Last night we cleared out half of the back end where Shy and Danny barely squeezed in, I slept across the two buckets seat in the middle, and Justin slept in the front and reclined the seat. We did sleep almost 8 hours and for the most part woke up well rested.

I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move. -Robert Louis Stevenson

Yesterday after leaving Vegas our first stop was Zion National Park. Between Vegas and Zion the scenary was absolutely phenominal. Shy and I were like kids sitting in the back seat "oo-ing" and "aweing" at everything we saw. We took a picture of ourselves to document our sheer happiness and our faces are just glowing (sorry I can't post it yet). Once we got to Zion we paid the $25 park fee and rode the "free" shuttle through the park. The rocks were beautiful! We saw a variety of deer and wild turkey. After leaving Zion we decided just to drive to Arches so we could be here when we woke up. Justin watched a documentary while Danny, Shy, and I talked about life for a couple hours. Mostly things of great depth and meaning but also whether or not we would want to marry someone hot and dumb or smart and ugly. As vain as it sounded, we unanimously voted hot and dumb because we all want to be attracted to the person we're we end up with!

Funny moments: The park ranger asking Justin if he had picked the thistle he was holding. Note- This is funny because Justin lied and said no of course but the ranger woman asked him as if he had just killed her puppy. I suppose you had to be there but the look on her face was priceless. Our sleeping arrangement last night gave Shy and I the giggles due to how ridiculous it was.

Today we woke up in the van and were all up by 10. From there we brushed our teeth in the grass with the water we had in the van. We had yet to eat at a stellar breakfast place yet so we drove down the main street in Moab, Utah and found the Jailhouse Cafe. Ironically, we all ordered the exact same thing for breakfast, the Jailhouse Chorizo Scrambler and it was D-Licious! For as great as Zion was yesterday, Arches sadly was not all we had it cracked up to be. Don't get me wrong, huge free staning rock arch ways are genuinely remarkable, but it was nothing like the Utah license plate or pictures on the internet.

The first place we pulled over was filled with large pretty rocks (shocking I know), unique flowers, cactus, lizards, and places to climb. Shy and I explored while the boys ran around trying to find things to climb. Between climbing spots we all explored together for a bit but then the boys made their way to their first arch. After they headed down from the arch we agreed to meet back at the van since Shy and I were on the opposite side, little did we know they would get stuck and take 3 times as long to return. In the time it took them to get down from the arch, stuck in a crevice, and back to the van, Shy and I managaed to get back to the van, find a huge ant hill, walk around, do abs, break into the van, meet a few people, and worry that our best friends died. Luckily, they both returned in one piece. We did explore a few other pathways and trails. Shy and I sang disney songs to pass the time as we hiked.

Since our next stop is Denver, I'm hopeful we will have access to the internet so I can post a bit more frequently. To all of my readers, I hope you are enjoying this journey as much as I am! We are having a phenominal time and thankfully have yet to kill each other :)