I don’t often get to admit that I was correct, but I was definitely correct this time. Remember when I said our Moab campground smelled a little skunky, upon our arrival and check-in? Well, I woke up an hour before my alarm to a very different kind of alarm. SKUNKS! The smell was so overpowering! It was definitely fresh and I’m not a huge fan of fresh skunk spray. I know I’m weird, but I prefer and actually kinda like the smell of two day dead, road-killed skunk smell. Definitely don’t care for the fresh skunk perfume!
Ben’s nose and my nose usually interpret the smell of dead skunk very differently, but this was lively and STRONG with an intense, burning tang to it. I think we’ll both be on the same page about the “quality of smell” this morning!
I could almost swear that the skunks were actually romping about IN the Airstream. After popping up into a sitting position, carefully and without banging my head for the thousandth time, I quickly confirmed that no skunks were present inside. Shew! That would have been a weird scene to wake up to and I have no clue how we would have handled that one (mental note… form a plan in case skunk invasion actually does happen).
Now that I knew the interior coast of the Airstream was clear, I moved right on to the uncontrollably giggling stage. I couldn’t help it. It was sooooo FOUL! Then, as I started belly laughing, my concern was whether everything in the Airstream would forever smell like skunk and our nostrils would be so singed and forever scarred that we couldn’t smell our skunky selves, but everyone else would. 🤢
I felt kinda bad for waking Ben up because until the belly laughing started, he was still purring lightly beside me. But seriously! How the man could sleep through that kind of stench is mind boggling.
When Ben finally stirred, I could tell when he was done breathing out of his mouth and actually took a nice deep breath through his nose. At that moment, there was an amusing show of gagging and sputtering from the other side of the bed.
It was a bit earlier than we wanted to wake up, but the show was on! The show wasn’t quite what I expected though. The first question out of his mouth was “is that YOU?” 😳 Now Ben and I have been together since we were 17 years old and I don’t think I’ve ever made a smell that compared to this stench, so that had me a little bit concerned. Did Ben actually think my body could churn out a smell that disgusting? That might be a private conversation for later. LOL
Ben being Ben went straight to Google to determine how to keep skunks away for the next two nights. It was obvious to me that they were permanent residents here at the campground, so now the focus became how to send them over to the nice people from Wisconsin’s camper, without any evidence. Ben the Google pro always finds the answer! Rags soaked in vinegar under the Airstream. Easy peasy!
Next on the docket was coffee and breakfast, which all had the extra tang of skunk flavor. I don’t recommend anyone thinking they should bottle that smell up as a flavor enhancer. Bluck! Even with the extra tang in my breakfast, thankfully my digestive tract seemed to be behaving. If all the belly laughing hadn’t triggered anything, I was hoping I’d be ok to freely explore Arches National Park for the day. 🤞
We had a huge day of arch and rock sightseeing planned, with a little extra curricular clothes washing to following our day in the park. I really felt like we needed to get the skunk stench out of everything.
We were ready to head out but did one last quick search on Arches National Park website just to refresh our memories about the particular sights and hikes we had planned for the day. I had my bowel emergency kit packed and in the truck, just in case things decided to get exciting again.
Among our online research, we learned that we had to make a reservation for the park, which we did not know. UGH and SIGH! Ben quickly solved the problem by getting us one of a few reservations left at noon, which was perfect for me. Gave me some extra time to evaluate my GI tract and soak our rags with vinegar for our sneaky “deter and send the skunks to Wisconsin people’s camper” plan.
We hit the park at exactly 11:58 am and we’re released to explore rocks and more rocks! I don’t know if I was feeling a little frisky or what but suddenly every rock formation we saw looked like one thing!
And I saved the best for last…
Ben and I were quite proud of ourselves on the last one. It’s not on the official park map but by golly we found it! The crown(ed) jewel of Arches National Park.
As a bonus on the way out of the park we caught a bonus angle with bush!🤣
But wait, you say! Did we actually see any ARCHES? Why yes, but they weren’t nearly as exciting or giggle inducing as the other rock formations. Hehe!
We actually had to work for the above arch, like in an actual hike across rough terrain with no potties, so I’m particularly fond of that arch.
And we saw a few more…
I guess I would have found the park more intriguing had they called it Penises National Park but maybe the attendance wouldn’t have been as high. Who knows though. Most of my friends have a similar sense of humor. 🤷🏼♀️
Then because I think we were scared to go back to the Airstream and find that our entire rig smelled like skunk, Ben stalled and had me do weird poses and I was clueless about what I was participating in. I SWEAR!
Gosh I love my husband. He makes life so much fun, even when half the time I have no clue what he’s up to.
We arrived back to camp and I was either nose deaf or the smell from the morning had completely dissipated. I still felt the need to wash anything that was exposed to the great skunk fiasco of 2023. So I grabbed my quarters and all the laundry and proceeded to fill every washer, since no one was around. Just as I had started the last load in the third washer, Mrs. Wisconsin walks in with Mr. Wisconsin’s tidy whities among other things in a ridiculously small laundry bag. I felt kinda bad about that, especially knowing that we were sending the skunks their way tonight. I set my timer for the 27 mins that were left on the first washer and promised to come let Mrs. Wisconsin know the minute I had a washer open for her husband’s undies. 🙈
In the meantime, we caught a glimpse of possibly the world’s tiniest house, just on the other side of the campground. Thought it was kinda cool. Very rustic.
Next on the schedule was the coolest idea that Ben had, by far! We headed back to Arches National Park for sunset and some star gazing. No picture he took could possibly show how awesome the stars were over a pitch black park but this was the best we could provide.
That’s a wrap for Arches National Park. Tomorrow is another day full of amazing rock sightseeing in Canyonlands National Park. I just hope I can start unseeing phallic symbols. LOL
TaterTotTales 