Welcome Home

We had a little more driving left en route to Santa Fe.

Our route took us through colorful Colorado.

See?!

We took a rice crispy treat break in Durango. Then we were on our way again.

We made it to New Mexico, bullet holes and all.

We are here. 

Our first glance at the outside of our new place. The backyard.

The front yard.

We are already messing with the furniture.

This home is equipped with a little bit of networking.

Takeout when you don't have any cooking supplies.

Dexter reading in his new room.

Our new house!

Moab

Next stop on our adventure was a two night stay in Moab. It was hot and beautiful. 

The open road.

Our first hike in Moab was outside Arches National Park but was to a beautiful arch. 

Beautiful spot with no one around.

A large number of cairns.

Our first glimpse of Corona Arch. Do you see it?

See it now?

There are a couple of tricky sections.

Getting closer. There are some ladders and ropes to help.

Bowtie Arch is also on the way.

We made it!

Impressive.

Hanging out at the base.

Little kids, big rock.

A view from the other side.

Arch selfie.

Getting inside the rock.

Heading back down.

Train tracks at the start of the trail.

Lunch post hike.

We decided to take an evening trip to Arches National Park. It's close to sunset, hence the cool shadows. 

"Park Avenue" in the evening. 

This represents the mood we wish we had.

Here is the actual mood of the hikers this evening. Especially the ones who are under 15.

Hiking back out of Park Ave.

Sunset in the desert.

Balancing Rock in the distance.

Getting closer to the rock.

At the base of balancing rock.

Maya and the rock.

On the Road

On the road after too many tearful goodbyes. We put on a happy face and began our voyage to our new home.

Here we go.

We decided to take the Northern route which took us on the 80 past Tahoe and Reno and on to our first stop in Elko. 

Elko is a town that exists in Nevada.

We stayed in a hotel room with a view of a casino.

The next day we made our way to Salt Lake City. It wasn't a long drive and then we got to see cousin Katie and her new house!

The best antidote for a long ride in the car is a hike in the nearby mountains.

Katie was kind enough to show us this sweet trail.

Dexter contemplates the danger of falling.

Happy hikers.

Cool waterfall!

Dexter approves.

Dad and Maya chill while Mom, Dex, and Katie explore (in the background)

Hello from the other side of the river.

Fun with Katie.

Because Mormons don't like to have fireworks on Sunday, 4th of July celebrations were happening a day early. Lucky for us, we were staying right next to a fireworks hotspot.

Setting up for fireworks excitement.

Look at that.

Cool!