Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Stats for the day:

·          9370 steps (on pedometer)

·         Daily miles driven: 455

·         88°F at 12noon in Arches National Park and 94°F by 1pm

·         57°F at 9pm in Estes Park, CO

·         Complicated, windy roads taken: 1 (beautiful, but made it a long evening)

After packing up camp at the Moab KOA, Matt and I headed into Arches to hike to Landscape Arch.  This is the arch that had a large section suddenly fall in 1991 (and it’s not far from the rumbles of Wall Arch which collapsed in 2008).  Because of this, you can’t get very close to the arch anymore, but it’s still a pretty commanding view.  And, it’s in an area that’s filled with a number of arches.  It was amazing to me how many people were on these trails.  I think some of it is because it was a pretty easy trail, but also I can tell we’re getting further into the summer and vacations are in full swing!

Landscape Arch ~ Look to the right part of the arch and notice how thin it is.

Before the true heat of the day came, we started the drive to Colorado.  We’re headed to Rocky Mountain National Park which will be a quite a contrast to the parks in Arizona and Utah!  It was a long drive, ending with us taking the scenic (and therefore most complicated) way to Estes Park.  By the time we got to our campsite, we were ready to relax and head to bed!

The Ring and the Road ~ Don't worry, Matt took this picture.  My focus was on the road.  You can see how busy and curvy it was; but in all seriousness, it was insanely windy!

Math thoughts for today:

·         Landscape Arch is 306 feet from base to base, which will be fun to use to do some comparisons with distances and estimating (what would fit between the bases).

·         We experienced quite the change in temperatures today – perfect examples for working percent change problems in class.

·         There are a number of ways to get into Rocky Mountain National Park.  I think this could be an excellent park to have students do map work (routes, distances, rates, scale factors).

Shout-outs:

·         Estes Park makes me think of some specific people.  I remember Cindy Bond (my high school coach, mentor, and now, colleague) spending lots of her summers traveling here. 

·         Also, Kim and Edie Hays are huge fans of Rocky Mountain National Park, and my mom has made multiple trips with one or both of them.  I hope I can bring back some fun memories to share with them!