7/12/17 Wednesday Arches National Park

We ate dinner across the street at The Broken Oar.  The girls shared a steak and Ella finally got some of her beloved mashed potatoes.  Unfortunately, there was a rain storm going on while we ate dinner.  It stopped long enough for us to get back to the motel, but we could see lightening still popping up in the hills behind the motel so we said no to the outside pool.  We played pinochle instead and then everyone hit the sack.

Dave was sounding a bit wheezy when he woke up this morning, so he started a z-pack and stayed in bed while I drove the girls into Arches.  There was a line at the entrance, but the good news is that they spotted a WV license plate.  The only US one they don't have is Hawaii - I don't hold much hope, but you never know.  We stopped at several places for the girls to see some arches- Delicate, Sandstone, and Skyline - and for them to do some climbing on the red rocks.  We came back into town  about 1:30, woke Dave up and took him to lunch.  We stopped at a bookstore and picked up new books for the girls, had the oil changed in the truck, and then came back to the motel.  Dave watched the girls in the pool while I did a batch of laundry.  I am waiting for the dryer to finish and then we will find someplace for dinner.  Someone emailed and asked why we weren't camping in Arches.  Two reasons: 1) they are doing a lot of construction in the park and the campground is closed, and 2) the last time we were here, the temp was 100+.  We were lucky today as it was cloudy and 75.