Huaca Pucllana and Museo de Oro

We had a fun morning exploring a couple of cool places. First, we visited the Huaca Pucllana, which is a pyramidal structure used by several ancient civilizations. Afterwards, we headed over to the Museo de Oro (Museum of Gold), which in addition to displaying lots of gold artifacts also housed a bonus Arms of the World Museum. It was pretty fascinating! Plus, on the way there, we got to experience a truly unique street performance. Finally, we headed back to the coast for lunch, and we actually ended up at the same place we ate on our first night here (Mango's) because they have the best patio and their menu is different at lunchtime, so we got to try lots of new things. After lunch, we had some rest time and later went for an evening stroll along the malecon. We are leaving Lima early tomorrow morning, but we have thoroughly enjoyed our time here. Hopefully, we'll be able to visit again in the future!

Huaca Pucllana

An ancient royal Wari tomb
(The dead were mummified in the fetal position
and stuffed in a basket. Then, a false head was
placed on top.  The tomb was also filled with
things that might be needed in the afterlife and
"guides," which were usually mummified children.)

An example of different kinds of sacrifices

These people are my favorites!

Juggling machetes at a traffic light, on the back
of a flatbed truck that was simply stopped at the light

Clay loved the shields covered in weapons!

Guns disguised as walking sticks

Golden funeral regalia

Golden gloves

Mini desserts on the buffet mean you can try a bunch!

The fog began to lift as we were finishing up our lunch

An evening walk along the malecon

Delicate Arch

We made it over to Arches National Park this morning before it was too hot to be able to enjoy it. Our goal was to hike the Delicate Arch trail and see the famous arch that most people probably associate with the park. Round trip, it is a moderate three-mile hike. The terrain reminded us a bit of Enchanted Rock, if you're familiar with that well-known hunk of granite in central Texas. The hike was fun and the reward of seeing the gorgeous arch was well worth the effort to get there!

The Delicate Arch Trail begins at Wolfe Ranch

The creek at Wolfe Ranch

View along the trail

Tadpole pool 

Interesting formations at the top of the Slickrock area

Happy Hikers

Almost to the top of the trail

Our reward!

Proof that we made it

Max always finds the highest accessable point

We always find lots of rock stacks when we hike,
and Clay decided he wanted to try his hand at it today.

Ute Indian petroglyphs

All the Mexican food, after a strenuous morning

Sadly, this is the last day of our Epic Summer Road Trip, but ending it at Arches was a good way to go out. Ruth and I will get on a plane back to DFW tomorrow and jump back into sports practices and CC tutoring prep work. The boys will continue on in the RV and will have a couple of days of Man Trip, before they head out to west Texas for the family's annual gathering near Ft. Davis. Thank you for following along on our journey. It's been amazing in so many ways! Stay tuned for future adventures.

Arches

Let me start by saying, sometimes it's totally worth it to get up for the early run:

Sunrise

Good morning, sunshine!

They don't call this neighborhood
Rim Vista for nothing!

Sights and smells of the morning

Little Bunny Foo Foo

Later in the morning, we paid a visit to Arches National Park. Wow! What an amazing place! It is so incredibly beautiful and unlike any place we've ever been. We took a couple of short, easy hikes and saw Park Avenue, Double Arch, Turret Arch, and The Windows up close. We also drove down the main road of the park and viewed from there lots of other interesting formations, like Balanced Rock and The Petrified Sand Dunes. We can't wait to go back tomorrow and do a longer hike.

Park Avenue

Petrified Sand Dunes

Balanced Rock

Making arches under Double Arch

Double Arch

The Windows

Turret Arch

I don't know if this formation
had a particular name, but I called
it The Three Wise Men.

This one I called The Lion

Until tomorrow...

Grand Teton

This is the last of my catch-up posts. If you missed the others, just scroll through the last few posts to see what we've been up to the last few days.

Yesterday afternoon, we left Yellowstone and made the short drive down to our campground on the north side of Grand Teton National Park. After a short rest, we headed out on a hike on the Flagg Canyon Trail, along the Snake River. As Clay said, "It was a good hike, except for one thing: the bugs!" The mosquitoes were really bad. Consequently, what should have been a two hour hike was accomplished in an hour and a half.

Little waterfall in Flagg Canyon

Snake River

This morning, we got up early and drove through the rest of the beautiful Grand Teton park. Our goal was to get to Jackson Hole, WY by 9:00, take the aerial tram up to the top of Rendezvous Peak, and have waffles at Corbet's Cabin, and that's just what we did. Jackson Hole is a lovely ski resort town, and we wished we could have stayed longer. But, we still had several driving hours ahead of us to get to Park City, UT, so we left after breakfast and vowed to try to come back someday. We stopped for a mid-afternoon meal in Park City and then headed to our campground, where a playground and rec room were our reward for a long day in the car.

The Tetons at Jackson Lake

Buffalo herd in front of the Tetons

A curious onlooker

Jackson Hole

Corbet's Cabin

View of the valley from Rendezvous Peak

View of the Grand Tetons

Here comes our ride

Welcome to Utah

99 bottles of beer on the wall and a nod
 to Texas at Davanza's Pizza in Park City