From Bryce to Canyon

To pick up where I left off…

After Bryce Canyon, we buckled up for the four-hour drive to Arches, which took six hours, one of which was spent waiting for a single scoop of huckleberry ice cream that Rocco forgot to order. I only slightly exaggerate. The drive was full of yet more breathtaking views: canyons of all colors, a magical snowy forest, huge slabs of orange rocks rising above us. Four of us gaped and gawked while one of us tried to keep the car from plummeting thousands of feet down a cliff, which always seemed to be three feet away from the passenger side of the car. If Kevin were writing this blog, today’s post would have a totally different vibe, with an ominous looking font written in all caps and lots of danger signs.

Also, to be clear, by “four of us gaped and gawked” I mean “two of us gaped and gawked.” Rocco and Leo spent the drive asking if they could stop being forced to look outside and play games on their phones instead. Vincenzo, Gold bless him, gets carsick if he spends too much time on his phone. I know moms aren’t supposed to pick favorites but…

We pulled over in Escalantes for a stroll through the Petrified Forest, which made this Pacific Northwest girl raise her eyebrows and say, “Forest?”

Well, you may see a forest but all I see are Leo’s socks that he wears like this despite my attempts to make him less of a goon.

The Petrified Forest was “truly remarkable,” as the brochure promised. We spent most of it discussing the differences between being truly remarkable and most remarkable and also what it means to be re-Mark-able, which was fun for a bit but then suddenly irritating, as most conversations in the Mouthy family tend to be.

The beginning of the “hike” through the “woods”: