Utah is home to some of America’s most magnificent national parks, a discovery that I made while planning our trip to this underrated state. So, in an unprecedented roadtrip move, we decided to take three nights to camp across the home of the Ute, the Native American tribe from which this mountainous state’s name is derived. Previously, Tennessee was the only state where we stayed more than a single night, partly because it’s so a wide and partly because there’s a lot to do in Memphis. Whereas Knoxville was more of a forced stopover, we wanted to visit every one of the stops in Utah, beginning with Arches National Park.

The road from Four Corners to Arches National Park made us backtrack through southwest Colorado for a couple of minutes by heading the opposite way on US-160. The first time we were traveling along 160, on the way to Four Corners, I noticed a small two-lane road that was perpendicular ours, which is significant only because there are very few roads that intersect with the highway. The land is flat and barren, so we could see all sorts of nothing down this right turn, as far as the Earth would let us view until it curved. I remarked “Wow, that seems like to road to nowhere.” No surprise, that road turned out to be Colorado-40, our path to Arches.

At the end of CO-40, we reached the Utah state border and took pictures in front of the “Welcome to” sign. It’s more colorful than previous state signs, featuring snow-capped mountains, the iconic Delicate Arch and a skier from the 2002 Winter Olympic Games held in Salt Lake City. We’ll be seeing plenty of mountains at Zion National Park in two days and the Arches in a few hours. But, we won’t get to check out any of Salt Lake since it’s to the northwest, the opposite of where we are right now. One day, though, I hope to explore what lies in the north of this vast state.

Friedman: There’s no such thing as a free lunch
The Good News: We arrived at Arches National Park at 6 PM to find out that this is a fee free weekend thanks to an economic stimulus plan by the DOI. The Bad News: The plan worked. Everyone decided to come to Arches, which means that although we saved $10 because there’s no car entrance fee, we had to book a hotel because all of the campsites were taken.

Devil’s Garden, the campground where we had intended to sleep, would’ve cost $20. We ended up staying in the neighboring town of Moab at a Super 8, which cost $80. That’s a 400% increase! Thankfully, it was 3 minutes from the park entrance and offered hot showers, free WiFi and limitless electricity so we could recharge our electronics. You have to be very disciplined with a cigarette lighter when you have a constantly-powered GPS, two digital cameras batteries, a video camera battery and two always-draining iPhones, one of which is playing music through the car’s stereo at all times. We were smart enough to bring a splitter for the cigarette lighter, but that piece of crap broke within the first hour of the trip.

Moab had the feel of a college town with people walking around the suburb-like city. It reminded me of Penn State during perfect late spring or early fall days. We ate at a restaurant called Eddie McStiff’s after debating whether to try something original or something that we knew was going to be good like Wendy’s. We’ve done a decent job of avoiding fast-food chains and continued with that policy in Moab. Plus, Eddie McStiff’s had a funny name to it, so how could we pass it up? I ordered their menu’s corned beef Reuben, which was good, but nothing beats the Frasier Street Deli versions of the sandwich. We ate and called it a night. Even though Arches National Park is conveniently open 24 hours, we decided that it would be better to see the arches in the daylight before moving on to Monument Valley.

When we woke up the next day, we found out that the Super 8 was clutch for yet another reason: It offered a free continental breakfast in the morning. So, while the last of our electronics recharged, we helped ourselves to eggs, bagels and apple juice. Since this wasn’t a planned hotel, I didn’t write down the check out time on my itinerary, so George called up to ask, “Is the check out time 11 AM or 12 PM?” The clerk replied, “Yes, it is!” We found out it was 11 AM, so we quickly packed up our gear and headed to Arches National Park.

If you ever plan on visiting Arches National Park, read this…Water! Brings water! You have some water? Good. Bring more. The sun beats down on this arid desert and you’re hiking seemingly endless trails that provide no shade until you get to the distant arches. That’s how we felt with water. We almost went without because we had driven passed the visitor’s center near the entrance and didn’t want to waste time turning around. Tacking on 10 minutes to buy bottled water ended up being the decision that allowed us to see Delicate Arch. Otherwise, we would’ve given up or passed out.

Delicate Arch is the most iconic out of the park’s more than 2,000 naturally formed rock arches. It can be seen on everything from license plates to stamps, so if there’s one arch to see in person, this is it. The 1.5-mile hike from where you park is rated moderately strenuous. Just make sure you have enough water, a pair of hiking boots and enough physical energy to make it there and back for a roundtrip of 3 miles in the hot sun. We went at noon in mid-August, so other times of the day or months of the year may prove easier if you’re not used to hiking.

As we took breathtaking pictures in front of and underneath the Delicate Arch in the heat, we could see snow-capped mountains in the distance. With a little Google Maps research, I found out that they are the La Sal Range, part of the southern Rockies and a 50-mile drive from where we’re standing. We saw the rest of the arch formations from Arches Entrance Road, stopped to eat at that the Wendy’s we passed up in Moab yesterday and are now headed to Monument Valley before it gets dark.