Flying Over Arches National Park

Chances are, if you’ve spent much time in the Western United States, you’ve probably come to recognize this symbol on the Utah license plate:

delicate-arch-hike

It’s Delicate Arch, the 52 foot, freestanding arch of sandstone that every Utah native I’ve ever met gladly boasts about.  And they should.  Imagine having Arches National Park in your home state.  I want to say something about how it’s one of the Must Sees for every American, though maybe that would sound funny since I was the only US citizen on our trip between me, Martin, and our German guests (remember the culture shock our friends had in the suburbs?).

After we flew around Canyonlands, we zoomed over to Arches National Park.  We couldn’t fly any lower due to aviation regulations.  So despite my joking suggestion, Martin wasn’t willing to attempt to fly through the arches.  Still, I bet you’d like to see Delicate Arch from the air, right?  Here are two angles for you to enjoy:

arches national park aerial view

Can you spot Delicate Arch?  I’ll admit that I’m the one who took the picture, and I still have to pause for a moment.  So how about a friendly little cheat sheet?

aerial-delicate-arch

We flew a big circle around the Arch and snapped a shot from the other side, too.  Can you spot it here?

arches national park

And a handy little key for that one - 

delicate-arch

That about wraps up our trip to Canyonlands and Arches National Parks as Martin prepares to surrender the pilot’s seat for me.  I’m still pinching myself for getting such a great view.  Any fun summer plans in the works at your house?  Sometimes, there’s nothing so nice as a getaway from home for a bit.

(First image by Wikipedia, remainder by Katie for Making This Home)