Day 25 (Friday June 5) Richfield UT to Mesa Verde NP CO

Today we drove across Utah to visit Arches National Park on the way to Mesa Verde National Park. Arches is a great collection of natural wonders, most notably the numerous sandstone arches throughout the park.



However, one of its most famous attractions is the "balanced rock" which does seem like it could go at any moment, especially in the strong winds.



Speaking of the wind, it was gusting to up near 50 mph which was a little much for Max. We got out to walk at one viewpoint and I was going to take a picture of his ears blowing but he couldn't take it and started shaking his head. I guess it made his ears itch. So he waited in the car for most of the rest of this trip.



This was another one where you could experience it much better by hiking in, but we could see most of the major features from the roadways.

Then it was down the state, through some dust and rain storms, and into SW Colorado to arrive at Mesa Verde National Park just in time to set up camp before a great sunset.