Fantastic Arches

Those people in Washington who decide what sights and areas will be designated as national parks or national monuments really must know what they are doing. We have learned that when we are traveling, we will stop when we see the sign indicating that it is a national site of some sort.
The Arches National Monument is no exception to that. As you ride through the park and view one fantastic sight after another, you have to marvel at the various places we have to see in our own country.
The arches in the picture are amazing. They are small in comparison to Rainbow Bridge at Lake Powell, but I have not been to Rainbow Bridge. I really wanted to go there when we were at Lake Powell, but the price for the six members of our family was too high for us to pay at that time. I listened to the guide tell about this solid bridge that the Indians called a rainbow because they thought that a rainbow had come to earth and become solid there. It is big enough to have the capital of the United States underneath. It would have fit side to side as well.
I had to settle for the beautiful arches in the picture,

A Special Family Stop

Most of the places we have gone we were with one or more of our children. We stopped at the Tetons with all four as seen in the picture. Although we enjoyed the foreign travel very much, many of the wonderful sights we saw were in our own country.

It is wonderful to live in a country like the United States. We have so much as a people. In addition to all the beautiful places in our land, we have freedom and opportunity. We have the freedom of speech, the freedom to worship, the freedom to train, and we have the opportunity to work and improve our circumstances.

Something that we often fail to appreciate is the freedom to travel around our land. We don't have to have special identity papers or permission to move around. We can just enjoy the beautiful sights that are all over our land.

It was amazing to travel around Yellowstone and see how large it is. Not long ago I watched a program about the Appalachian National Park and they said on the program that it was larger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Glacier Park combined. Just about the time that sank in I thought about Alaska and its size. I once heard about an Alaskan who threatened a Texan that he would have Alaska cut in half and make Texas the third largest state. This is a big and awesom land.

The freedom to travel is both educational and a blessing. Add that to all the other benefits of being an American and you really have something.