An Adventurous Weekend for a Not-So-Adventurous Girl

My mom called me a couple of weeks ago and asked if my roommates and I wanted to go down to St. George for the weekend as she would be there visiting her sisters with my grandmother.  Kristin and Faith had prior engagements planned but Heidi said she would be up for the trip if she could get work off.  A few days before we were to hit the road, both of us realized we probably couldn't afford to go if we didn't have other people to share the traveling costs, so we tried to think of others who might want to go with us.  I had heard from several sources that my friends Andrew and Kevin were fun to travel with so I sent them texts two days before we were to leave asking if they would like to go on a roadtrip with us to St. George.  I thought I was going to have to use my limited persuasive powers to convince them to come with us but, after a few questions from Kevin had been answered and I had promised that we would hike The Narrows on Saturday morning, both Kevin and Andrew agreed to come with us.

On Friday evening, we threw all our stuff into the back of Kevin's car, ate at a Texas BBQ restaurant in south Provo, and then, as Dad would say, we "were off like a herd of turtles."  To keep ourselves alert and awake, we played the The Alphabet Game and then an alphabet movie game (which I don't really want to take the time to explain).  Andrew fell asleep.  Heidi, Kevin, and I enjoyed a conversation about Indiana that later morphed into a conversation about differences in speech based on location. (Yes, we're deep and we know it.)

We reached my Aunt Andra and Uncle Kim's house in St. George where we would be staying for the next few days and, according to Heidi, that is when my adventures began.  Mom, Grandma, and Andra came back from a play at the Tuacahn ampitheater and we got to meet Andra and Kim's dogs.  They have two Great Danes and a Basset Hound.  Since I'm normally a little skittish around dogs (animals in general, really), Heidi watched in shock as I smiled down at them and willingly pet their rather large heads.  That momentous occasion set off a chain reaction that resulted in a weekend of adventure, full of semi-adrenaline rushes and moments where I threw almost all caution to the wind.  In other words, while this was an adventurous weekend for me, it could probably be classified as normal life for everyone else.

After a night filled with sonorous snoring and Spanish swear words (in Andrew's case), sniffling due to a dog allergy (in Kevin's case), a good night sleep (in Heidi's case), and bouts of insomnia (in mine), we drove to Zion National Park and commenced our hike through The Narrows.  Knowing there were supposed to be thunderstorms later in the day that could result in flash floods, each step into that water and over those slippery rocks was something of an adventure for me.  At first I was incredibly cautious, barely focusing my eyes on anything other than the water and rocks at my feet.  (The Narrows hike really isn't all that strenuous since it's pretty flat but it takes a lot of mental concentration to keep your footing on the uneven and slippery rocks.)  I became more comfortable throughout the hike, however, and I started to look up a little more.  The rock formations surrounding us were really awesome.  Brigitte, you would have loved this!

The adventures soon began to pile up.  We waded in water waist-deep and we climbed up and over huge rocks.  We climbed up an old wood branch to get to the rock where we ate our snacks.  (Funny story to go along with this:  Heidi kept slipping when she was trying to get up the branch and I could see her leg scraping along the rocks and wood.  I was obviously far more concerned about the pain she might be going through than she was.  I kept shrieking, "Heidi, you're hurting yourself!" and she kept saying, "Celia, I'm fine!")  I was stung on my lip by what looked like a flying ant.  I walked through water inhabited by water bugs and tadpoles (again, this was a pretty big deal for me).  I massaged Heidi's leg when she got a muscle cramp in her calf (I'm not a touchy-feely person so this was another big moment).  All in all, I'd say I was successful in doing some adventurous things I wouldn't normally choose to do.

 We decided to turn back about two and a half hours into the Narrows.  We finished the hike about five hours after we had begun.  On the home-stretch, we began to hear the thunder roaring above us. Fairly soon after we took our first steps back on solid ground, it began to rain.  We congratulated ourselves on our impeccable timing and we were especially glad to have avoided the danger of flash-flood weather.

We drove back to Andra and Kim's house, got cleaned up, and then headed to my other aunt's house for dinner and to meet up with Mom.  Aunt Kristin, "domestic diva" that she is, made us a great meal with ingredients from her own garden.  We talked and enjoyed watching the thunder in the backyard for a few hours.  We then returned to Andra and Kim's house and played card games until midnight.  We all discovered that Andrew is entirely too good at Egyptian Rat Screw (Egyptian War) and that I am a complete idiot when playing the game Thirteen.

We attended Sacrament Meeting at my Aunt Kristin's ward, ate sweet rolls and drank chocolate milk at her house afterward, and then met up with one of Heidi's friends at the St. George temple.  We drove back to Provo on Sunday afternoon.  It was a great trip.  I can't speak for everyone but I had a great time!

The adventures have not ceased since my return from St. George.  At ward prayer, I stroked the back of Shana and Calista's lizard (which caused Heidi to write me a Nice Note which reads, "You've grown up so much!").  While playing Fugitive at FHE yesterday, I hopped a couple of fences, bloodying up my ankles and probably breaking a few laws in the process.  Yep, I am living on the edge.  Who knows what crazy thing I'll do next!  :)