This morning we launched the model rockets the kids built a couple weeks ago.  M was first up:

Liftoff:

Recovery:

B’s turn:

Next we drove the mile or so to Kodachrome Basin State Park.  We hiked a trail in the northern part of the park:

Kodachrome Basin is notable for its sand spires, thought to have been formed in a process similar to that which forms tufa:

B photographs the spire:

B photographs Juniper berries:

We next hiked a trail in the southern park of the park that led to Shakespeare Arch:

Next we arrived at Sentinel Spire:

Posing at the base of the spire:

We could see the RV in the distance:

The kids received their Junior Ranger badges, their first from a Utah state park:

We did another rocket launch in the afternoon:

M’s rocket lost a fin in flight.  B’s parachute failed to deploy, the rocket came straight down, and the rocket body impaled itself on the nosecone, which deployed and descended pointed side up:

The kids and I worked on M’s motorcycle.  I cut flat stock long enough to fit into both sides of the broken frame tube, then slid the frame halves over the flat stock:

We then drilled through the frame and flat stock within, and bolted it all together.  We will finish the other side tomorrow:

I also installed a light fixture in B’s room to act as a night light:

Dusk at Grand Staircase-Escelante National Monument: