Moab, Utah

Our visit to Moab Charter School began with our inclusion in the daily occurrence of the Morning Circle.

The Physical Education Teacher, Murice Miller, was instrumental in our visit and super enthusiastic to lead us in to the waiting children!

The school is relatively small and has a really inclusive family feeling!

Learning the World Harmony Run Song.

The School Principal, Carrie Ann Marinelli, most respectfully announced three local recipients of the Torch-Bearer Award. The first recipient was Jessie Cloward, who is a school board member who helped the school get their new building and worked endless volunteer hours.

The second recipient was Cassandra McDougall, a staff member behavior support paraprofessional. She began by volunteering for the charter school, usually for at least 5 hours a day last year, and was hired this year to support students who have extra classroom needs.

The third recipient was one of the students at the school, Efrain Santana. Efrain was chosen because he is kind, understanding and encouraging to everyone.

The award has a quote by Sri Chinmoy on the back,
"To change the world around you,
Give the world
What you have
And serve the world
With what you are."

Congratulations to all the torch-bearers!

We presented our Certificate of Appreciation and an artwork by Peace Run founder, Sri Chinmoy, entitled "Peace Feeds the Children" to Moab Charter School.

Then it was time to hold the torch!

The 6th Grade Kids led the younger kids on a run around the field- one grade at a time, but most of the kids ran all seven laps! We all had a great time!

A big thank you to all the kids and teachers of Moab Charter School for spreading the peace!

Next it was time for us to visit the world renowned Arches National Park. The park is adjacent to the Colorado River, 4 miles (6 km) north of Moab, Utah. More than 2,000 natural sandstone arches are located in the park, as well as a variety of unique geological resources and formations. The park contains the highest density of natural arches in the world!

There are petroglyphs right on the side of the path! It is believed that most of the petroglyphs around Moab were created during the Archaic (6,000- 1,000 B.C.) and Fremont (450- 1300 A.D.) cultural periods.

We took one of the most popular walks- to Delicate Arch. Last year 1.6 million people visited Arches!

Malyavati lizard spotting!

We met lots of friendly peace lovers along the way!

Delicate Arch is 52-foot-tall (16 m). The arch is the most widely recognized landmark in Arches National Park and is depicted on Utah license plates and a postage stamp commemorating Utah's centennial anniversary of admission to the Union in 1996. The Olympic torch relay for the 2002 Winter Olympics even passed through the arch.

After visiting Arches, we headed back to town to spend some time with the kids from the After School Program at Helen M. Knight Elementary. We ran a loop around the school grounds which was a lot of fun!

Next we went inside and all did some drawings for peace together.

A big thank you to all the kids and mentors for a really fun afternoon!

A visit to Dead Horse State Park. As you can see, the view was stunning! It features a dramatic overlook of the Colorado River and Canyonlands National Park. The park covers 5,362 acres of high desert at an altitude of 5,900 feet (1,800 m).

As the sun was setting, we took a quick return visit to Arches to see the famous Landscape Arch.

What a perfect end to such a wonderful experience of ancient beauty and profound peace.

All gratitude to our dear friend Jessica who hosted us, arranged our whole visit and took care of us in every way!!