Gold and Beautiful

We booked a canyoneering trip with Moab Adventure Center for day 2. We were at their office bright and early (7 am) and were driven to Negro Bill Canyon. There we hiked for about 30 minutes and reached a grotto.  This is where we tied ourselves to a rope and rappelled down a cliff 90 ft.high. Once we got out of the grotto the next rappel was at Morning Glory arch, from a 120 ft tall cliff. From here we hiked another 2.5 miles through the canyon before heading back. That evening we decided to go to Dead Horse Point State Park to take some sunset pictures. No hiking was involved!!! Interestingly this place is called Dead Horse Point because it was used by cowboys as a natural corral and when the corral was abandoned, the horses did not leave and died. The weather in Moab is typical desert weather, hot afternoons and cold nights. So bring a sweatshirt!!

I always prefer to get done with the final exams earlier in the week, finish grading and assessments and then take a break. So I was definitely disappointed when I found out that all three of my final exams were scheduled on the 7th and the 8th. Classes ended on the 30th, I presented two projects at the STEM symposium on the 1st and would have had to wait until 7th for finals, grading and assessments. So at the last minute S and I decided to make use of this time and flew to Moab, Utah.  We spent 3 days at Arches National Park and couldn't be happier. We wanted to go to Arches during Spring break, but the weather was too cold in March. We could have waited for the semester to end and then gone, but then the temperature would have been extremely high. So, April would have been an ideal month to visit Moab, but I couldn't cancel classes in April and flying to south west cannot be (or rather should not be) done over a  2 day weekend. There is so much to do.... for anyone ...