Mobe & Montachello

    For fall break my family ventured to Moab & Monticello. We had some wonderful adventures together. Here’s a bit of what we did: Visited Newspaper Rock (full of hieroglyphs) and answered Karissa’s question of how the Native Americans were able to get over the fence blocking the rock. After my wonderful explanation of Native Americans being swift and elegant like deer while using their special jumping moccasins to get over the fence, I was informed that she meant modern day people. So naturally, I had to demonstrate what any modern day person would have done... and jump the fence just how the Natives would have. Um...yeah. I’ve never been skilled in the area of “fence-jumping” so blood resulted. Just kidding. But my attempt was quite mortifying.

 Moving on, we had a nice family dinner in Monticello before attending the temple. When I mean it was a nice family dinner (of delectable Subway sandwiches), that was after our attempt to eat at a locally run restaurant. After looking at the prices on the menu, our jaws hit the table in amazement of such high prices. The majority of my family usually has too much fear of embarrassment to just get up and leave out of a restaurant, but it seemed as though we didn’t have a choice. So, we ran out on a restaurant. Dad stood up and led the way. Mom passed us, however, literally running out of the restaurant, zooming past incoming customers with awe in their faces. The rest of us tried to walk out calmly as to not insult the owner. Overall, quite an embarrassing event considering the waitress would find a suddenly customer-less table with six menus and six glasses of water. Luckily our trip to the Monticello temple made up for the awkwardness of the evening. It was the smallest temple I’ve ever been in, but just as wonderful of an experience as any temple.

 The following day, my dad discovered a small burr with protruding spikes. Dad explained to Rebecca that he found a porcupine egg. Becca, all knowing, said, “Dad. Porcupine eggs aren’t spiky.” Porcupine...eggs? We all got a kick out of that one. We ventured on several hikes, one of which was to Corona Arch. You know Spiderman? Well we met him on our trip. Just as we got to the Arch, he jumped off, free fell, then swung from his strong rope. Ah! CRAZY! But don’t worry, he had a helmet, which of course would have saved his life if his rope broke and he fell 300 feet. Savanna immediately wanted to try, but my mom rebuked that idea, stating she did NOT raise children who wanted to do that. hahaha

  Later we went to the Moab Diner--this restaurant was a much better experience than the previous night. In fact, it was an amazing experience. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a delightful rocky road milkshake in my entire life. I couldn’t help but exclaim of it’s goodness after each bite. The next day we hiked to the famous arch printed on several Utah license plates--Delicate Arch. My family somehow left me at our camp site restroom though. They just drove away, anxious to get to the trail head I guess. I attempted to run after our van, and luckily Savanna remembered that I was actually part of the family, so I eventually caught up and hitched a ride with them. The arch was pretty amazing, and along the hike we passed several people speaking different languages. I find it interesting that people travel from all over the world to visit a rock...but I guess I’ve been to Canada just to see flowers (Butchart Gardens). We also passed several Aggies. I guess USU and hiking go well together, which is fine by me! The night ended with some wonderful star-gazing with my dad. We saw the brightest, most brilliant shooting star either of us had ever seen. Such a great way to end our trip.

UEA

Wow, this October has been insanely crazy for some reason. But 'crazy' in a good way! (*cough cough* the musical) Backing up to the third week of this month, we had UEA. My family, as well as the Stangers, went to Southern Utah. We stayed in the Stanger's uncle's house, which is insanely nice. While we were down there, Tuachan theatre was playing, "Crazy for You," the musical my school is doing this year. I wanted to go so bad because I'm in the musical. As it turned out, the tickets were sold out. Cyndi used her magic, however, and got four back row tickets. I was beyond excited. It was absolutely incredible and gave me ideas for what I could do for my 'showgirl' costume.

Insert Bobby ;)

{Tarzan was playing at Tuachan too.}

{Cyndi, Mom, Savanna, Me}

The next day we went on a huge day hike on the Subway. It took us a little less than 12 hours to complete. It was a fun hike with lots of obstacles (6 major ones).

{Trail head}

Obstacle 1: Repel between a crack in the wall.

Obstacle 2: Swim through two, freezing, ice cold pools.

{The two pools we swam through.}

Obstacle 3: Cross a very slippery and wet wall....

...so we don't have to swim through an even longer, thinner pool with a rock that could possibly fall on us.

Obstacle 4: Repel down a rock wall.

Random obstacle: Move a log downstream, so we don't have to swim in another pool.

Obstacle 5: Repel down a waterfall.

{Cool tunnel thing.}

{Entrance to the upper Subway. We love logs.} :)

{Crossing over the second waterfall.}

Obstacle 6: Repel down an even bigger and slicker rock wall than before. As you can tell from the picture, I was frightened out of my mind and wouldn't move a muscle.

{Savanna repelling off the wall.}

...so I just found a different way to get down.

{Entering the lower Subway.}

{Downstream view}

{Upstream view}

{Bec, Savan, Dad, Me}

Random obstacle: Find the exit point (which is a small sign and can easily be passed) and finish before dark.

As it just so happened, we found the exit point in the dark, with 1 more mile to go uphill. Rebecca and my dad were behind us for what we thought to be another half an hour. I think I said about 50 prayers at this point because we had all the flashlights (they didn't have any). Luckily, about 10 minutes later, they showed up. Thank goodness for faith and prayers. We hiked out safely, and ran into the park rangers. I felt comforted knowing people come and search for you if you haven't made it out of the park by nightfall.

Overall, it was a great trip that I'll never forget.

On Saturday, we had to leave bright and early so I could be back in time for Musical rehearsal. Later that night, I went to Trevor's birthday party. We had a fun time watching, "How to Train Your Dragon" (super cute movie) and chit-chatting. Trevor happened to have some chocolate covered bugs (yes, real bugs). I told Trevor I'd eat one if he did. I didn't think he'd give in so easily, but he just popped it into his mouth. It was obviously my turn next. It took me forever, but eventually I got the guts to eat it. It was sick. It tasted like hay and I wanted to spit it out so bad. But I ate the whole thing and coaxed Melissa to eat one too. It was quite the experience. We had a fun time though. :)

{The worm. Expect mine was covered in milk chocolate.}

(Photo credit- Me, Dad, and Mark)