Well my friends, it is officially summer! And how did I kick it off do you ask? I went to Moab!!! (Yes, be jealous, be VERY jealous!) Treating myself to a trip to Moab, Ut was my reward for finishing the semester with flying colors (Flying colors meaning 4 A's and 1 B)!
My single's ward (Wilford 2nd YSA Ward) was invited by East Millcreek North 19th YSA Ward to attend their Moab trip for the second year in a row. We were also joined by Cottonwood Heights 6th YSA Ward (Yes, I think it is quite amazing how I know the official names of these wards... how many times do you think I can say the words "Moab" and "wards?" Quite a lot). Needless to say, this trip was SOOO MUCH FUN!!!
I drove down on the morning of Thursday, May 13th at 8:30 am with my friends Morgan Aldous and Morgan Kester/Hatch (aka Katch). The ride was filled with music, playing chicken with mutiple semi trucks :), snackage, Mexican Coke, "sugar" water at Ray's Tavern in Green River, DINO TRACKS, and more!
After setting up camp, my friends and I ventured to play in a giant sand box... officially called Sand Dune Arch...
where I got buried in the sand. I was compleatly covered, except my head, thus sand got EVERYWHERE! About a pound of it went down my shirt... entertaining! The day was very fun and I got some sun-bathing and a photo shoot in as well!
The rest of my group of friends showed up later that evening and my energy level SHOT up! Hehe, lots of laughs.
After setting up camp, my friends and I ventured to play in a giant sand box... officially called Sand Dune Arch...
where I got buried in the sand. I was compleatly covered, except my head, thus sand got EVERYWHERE! About a pound of it went down my shirt... entertaining! The day was very fun and I got some sun-bathing and a photo shoot in as well!
The rest of my group of friends showed up later that evening and my energy level SHOT up! Hehe, lots of laughs.
Friday: RIVER RAFTING ON THE COLORADO RIVER! It was cloudy, so it felt colder than than it was, and then the rapids were small... BUT it's ok! Because my raft got educated on the hilarious things that happen to river rafting guides and the secrets of Disney World. I shall never look at a Disney Princess the same. ;) Oh and I learned some sign language. It was grand! I did get a bad/weird/funny sunburn though. I had a little trouble with sun screen... and I have physical proof. I do believe that I will be spending the rest of the summer trying to fix it. :D It is almost as bad as the hand print on my back from Bear Lake last year (that tan line HAS faded, thank goodness!).
My friends and I went on an AWESOME hike to a BEAUTIFUL waterfall.
A couple of us jumped from the cliff to the pond below. Max Chamberlain was the first to jump (not surprised) then all of us were debating on who was going next. I looked around at my friends' faces and decided to go. I turned around and jumped! About half-way down I thought about what I had just done... thus I started SCREAMING... then hit the water. ADRENALINE BABY! Oh it was so cool!
The rest of the group then proceeded to jump into the water. The water was cold but it felt so good in the hot air. Sarah, Max, Dean, and I all climbed up the waterfall to get back onto the cliff.
The rocks were covered with moss except for about 3 spots where the sandstone shone through. These were the spots we stepped on. I wouldn't have made it if Sarah and Max were pulling me up and Dean was making sure I didn't slip from behind. We all dried off while hiking further up the trail to a beautiful canyon and climbed slick rock like Spiderman. Oh the view was beautiful!
A couple of us jumped from the cliff to the pond below. Max Chamberlain was the first to jump (not surprised) then all of us were debating on who was going next. I looked around at my friends' faces and decided to go. I turned around and jumped! About half-way down I thought about what I had just done... thus I started SCREAMING... then hit the water. ADRENALINE BABY! Oh it was so cool!
The rest of the group then proceeded to jump into the water. The water was cold but it felt so good in the hot air. Sarah, Max, Dean, and I all climbed up the waterfall to get back onto the cliff.
The rocks were covered with moss except for about 3 spots where the sandstone shone through. These were the spots we stepped on. I wouldn't have made it if Sarah and Max were pulling me up and Dean was making sure I didn't slip from behind. We all dried off while hiking further up the trail to a beautiful canyon and climbed slick rock like Spiderman. Oh the view was beautiful!
It started raining on the drive back to camp and continued to rain throughout the night until about 11:30 pm. Morgan Aldous and I went to see Robin Hood at 9:30. I slept through the fight scenes... how? - well my eyes couldn't focus on one thing because everything was moving, so I got dissy an fell asleep! It was a good movie even without the fight scenes. I won't see it again until it goes to the dollar theater/come out on video because I did not LOVE it. It was kinda unsatisfying, but it's hard to explain why... I guess it didn't feel like a movie, it felt like an in between story. Not a whole lot of climax. If you don't agree, feel free to comment.
Saturday: The girls woke up to Morgan Aldous sticking his head in our tent and telling us how beautiful we looked... thanks Morgan, but it could not be true.
Next thing we know is that Dave and Max are jumping into the tent and doing steam roller on us. Needless to say, we screamed.. waking up our tent neighbors (sorry Doug and Ron!). After packing up our stuff, Max and Dean went biking on Porcupine Trail while the rest of us went shopping... for 4 hours. I got an awesome shirt and sweet sunglasses! After shopping, we ate at Moab Diner (so good!) then went for a walk till Max called us when he was done.
After resting for a bit, we all headed to Delicate Arch (except for Dean, he broke his collar bone while mountain biking) and then to Sand Dune arch where we created an awesome sand canyon!
Morgan Katch and I headed home after that and the rest of the group went back to the waterfall. We got home at about 9:30/10:00 pm and they got home about 12:30 am. Morgan and I had an awesome talk on the way home and I'm glad it was just us even though Aldous was an awesome companion on the ride down :).
Next thing we know is that Dave and Max are jumping into the tent and doing steam roller on us. Needless to say, we screamed.. waking up our tent neighbors (sorry Doug and Ron!). After packing up our stuff, Max and Dean went biking on Porcupine Trail while the rest of us went shopping... for 4 hours. I got an awesome shirt and sweet sunglasses! After shopping, we ate at Moab Diner (so good!) then went for a walk till Max called us when he was done.
After resting for a bit, we all headed to Delicate Arch (except for Dean, he broke his collar bone while mountain biking) and then to Sand Dune arch where we created an awesome sand canyon!
Morgan Katch and I headed home after that and the rest of the group went back to the waterfall. We got home at about 9:30/10:00 pm and they got home about 12:30 am. Morgan and I had an awesome talk on the way home and I'm glad it was just us even though Aldous was an awesome companion on the ride down :).
Moab 2010 was MUCH different than Moab 2009, but it was still so much fun!!! I still made some awesome new friends (whom you might hear about in detail at a later date) and strengthened the bonds of some old friendships! I cannot wait for the many adventures to come this summer!
