Capitol Reef National Park

We had a nice easy day today at Capitol Reef National Park. After the running around we did the first 3 days, we decided we needed to have a slow day – being pregnant she’s finding she can’t keep up the pace as long as before. And for myself, I was kind of tired after all the driving and rushing to find lodgings.

We stopped at the Visitor’s Center and quickly left to go into the park. It was busy when we entered, then went nuts after a couple of bus-loads of seniors descended on the place. Suddenly we were surrounded by a lot of loud older people with walkers and canes who were quite rudely pushing us out of their way so they could get where they wanted to go. No “excuse me” or anything like that – just a shove or jab and then they’d stand right in front of what we were looking at. Some people can be so rude.

We drove around and took in the viewpoints – lots of deep red cliffs and textured pillars that reminded me of the ancient rock carvings in Egypt at Karnac. We stopped at the Grand Wash and hiked for about 2 hours to get to the Narrows – where the canyon walls close in to perhaps 20’ wide and as high as you can see, all the while taking sharpe twists and 90 degree turns every few dozen yards. I kept thinking how deadly this place would be if there was a flash flood – which fortunately did not occur during our little hike.

Here’s a funny pregnancy story: at the Grand Wash trailhead there was an outhouse. She had to pee and stepped inside. Me being the wag I am, stood outside making all sorts of farting noises. Unknown to me, the outhouse stank terribly (probably a bit accentuated by her sensitivity to smells now in general) and the pit was full. She heard me making the fart noises and thought they were coming from the pit below and was so disgusted she peed standing up! She came running out looking a little green about the gills. She jumped into the car and demanded we leave immediately which we did. Only then did she tell me the story!

We did a quick stop to the Fruita campground where we picked a bag of apples and observed the herd of semi-tame deer who were eating the fallen fruit. And we bought a load of bread and a peach pie from the little bakery down the road.

We drove back along Highway 24 towards Moab so we could see the Capitol Reef petroglyphs on the rocks there – wow, very faint but fascinating.

Then it was on to Moab for a nice meal and rest in the hotel there. It was a shock to arrive in Moab which was a much more dynamic place than the others towns we’d stayed. A big town, it had lots of motels, restaurants and shops that were open after dark. What a concept!

All during the trip we’ve been talking about Peach – how the exercise we’ve been doing is good, that little proto-baby is getting to visit all these places. I’ve been worried that this will probably be our last care-free vacation that we can just go and do what we want, when we want without worrying about schedules. Mom-to-be pointed out that we’ve seen all sorts of couples with babies and children who have managed to survive and still do these trips, but I’m still concerned that we’re going to have to do a lot more planning and such to do such trips with Peach in the future.

She’s holding up well despite all the walking and long days. Still has a bit of morning sickness and nausea at times, and the gagging when she brushes her teeth continues. Being pregnant has definintely made her more sensitive to certain smells and she’s becoming a bit more picky about foods. But nothing too out of the ordinary.