4/13/2011-4/16/2011

            Today we saw newspaper rock and it was COOOOOOOL. There were lots of figures all over the rock. It almost looked like it was being taken over by petroglyphs. After that, we drove to Moab and stayed at Ken’s Lake. After that, we set up for the night.  The next morning we decided what to do and we made friends with a kid named Olivier. The way we made friends with Olivier was when he got his kite stuck into a stinking tree. So we helped him and after we got the kite out of the tree, we were best friends. We went to a creek just down from his camp and we decided to make a raft. When we tried out a raft two kids came running down the trail probably because they heard me yelling out where the raft went. After that, I made friends with Samuel and Zoë made friends with Matisse and we both made friends with Chenille. The next day, we played tag with the kite but we called it MOCKER. Then we hiked with Olivier because his mom [Alison] knew the town well. We got lucky and saw some petroglyphs on the hike. After we got back, we drove to get some water and hunting for petroglyphs. The next morning, we played MOCKER with all of our friends. When we were done, we went petroglyph hunting with Olivier. We had a BLAST. We hunted all day. The next day, we hiked to a waterfall that we saw at the campsite. It was loud. Then we went to Arches National Park and saw some balanced rocks and arches. So we had lots of fun. Sadly we will leave our campsite to see some other things. [MH] When we were at Bluff we went to Fort Bluff. They had the original covered wagons and artifacts. We learned that Bluff was the original Mormon settlement and people moved out from there. After that, we drove to Moab and camped. We made friends with a few kids. On Saturday we went to Arches National Monument. Did you know that Arches National Monument wasn’t formed from water! It was formed when there was a shallow salty sea that evaporated and left a layer of salt 5 MILES DEEP!!!! Then after years a layer of sand stone grew over it. Then the salt pushed up the sand stone. Then the rain got into the cracks and dissolved the salt. When the rock above the salt fell in to create a valley it left fins of rock that were carved out to make arches but the erosion of wind and rain. [ZH]  We went Rock Art hunting in Moab and I found a push me pull me goat! At one of the panels there were dinosaur foot prints!  There were tons of people mountain biking, but the kids aren’t interested nor are they quite ready.  I was dying to get on my bike, but…..The Rock art was beautiful, and it is like a treasure hunt!  It was nice meeting someone who knew the area and could show us all the special spots!  Thanks Alison!{KS}