A few weeks ago the government decided to initiate a stimulus package that actually made sense- they opened all of the national parks to the general public at no charge, for 2 full days. I'm sure they'll find a way to make up for the loss, seeing as how we ALREADY pay for our national parks with our taxes. Oh yeah, and with the campground fee. AND the donation buckets they have posted everywhere. What a joke- the government never misses an opportunity to wring your pockets dry.
Well, we decided to take advantage of the offer and coerced a few friends into hiking the Narrows with us. I haven't hiked it since I was 12 and have been dying to do it again. For those of you less familiar with the hike, it's a 16 mile (as the crow flies, but more like 20+ with the number of times you zigzag across the river) hike through the back country and Virgin River in Zions National Park. Since the hike takes an average of 12 hours to complete and you are hiking in the river about 96% of the time, it can be pretty grueling- I've heard it likened to walking over very large, slippery bowling balls, which leaves you feeling muscles you may never have known you have. The view, however, is spectacular and some of the most amazing scenery you'll ever see. It is touted (and quite deservedly) as the best hike in the national park system. I think you'll see why when you look at the photos below.
We had such an amazing time, and an amazing crew, that we're planning on doing it again next year. We're aiming to get licensed in repelling though, so we can hike the Subway and Slot Canyons. Who would have ever guessed I'd become such an outdoorsman?? I guess I have to pack in all of the adventure now, before I end up a rich socialite living in the Hamptons... such things will probably be below my social status then...
Our campground- good thing we hadn't put the food out yet; this mom and her 2 fawns wouldn't leave us alone!!
Tanner spent most of his free time catching lizards and frogs- such a boy!!
Freezing our arses off at 6 am in the morning- just hitting the head of the trail and beginning our day. It was horrible trying to make ourselves cross the river and get wet- we could see our breath!!
The sun starting to peek up- the camera was on a rock, set on timer mode, so the view's a little crooked.
About 3 hours in, hitting the small Narrows.
A cool, little inlet.
A beautiful waterfall that we had to hike around.
Tanner, trying to be artistic. I love Lindsay's head at the bottom. or should I say bangs and hoodie?
A view through the Small Narrows
Getting kind of deep. Little did we know we'd be swimming less than 100 yards ahead.
Probably my favorite picture of Tanner.... ever (he's holding another lizard that he caught.)
Big Springs = half way!! This is about 6 hours in. There are 2 springs, but again, on a rock, on a timer, so it ended up not such a great shot.
The crew entering the Narrows- that's them at the bottom, several yards ahead of me. Pretty daunting knowing you're now stuck for the next 4 hours with no way out...
The bus on the way back to camp. We made in 11 hours, 15 minutes- 45 less than the average. I look like a deer in the headlights, but maybe it's the blisters on my feet, the strawberries on my inner thighs, and the fact that I can barely walk. But seriously- this hike is amazing! Lol
A friendly doughnut eating contest
This is the finished product- the original black pulls with have to stay for now, until I can afford some cool crystal ones. So I guess for the time being, the dresser will have to look a little more retro fun than vintage chic; I'm okay with that. (PS: those are drop cloths in the background, not clothes, because yes- we are once again repainting our bedroom...)
Everyone looking pretty chipper before the race. (From Left) Our training partners Travis and Brooklin, me and Tanner, my 14 yr old sister in law Ryley, Mom Guzy, Dad Guzy, my brother in law Trent and his wife Eliza
Oh Shiz Moment #1: The race has barely begun and this is the first thing you round the corner and see. So discouraging, the hill seemed to go on forever
Some pretty scenery to help us forget we've got 10 miles ahead of us
Oh Shiz Moment #2: The second hill after cresting the first
Oh shiz Moment #3: Looking at the third, and last, hill that I have to conquer
Dad at the top, filming everyone
More pretty scenery
A nice rainstorm came to cool us down
Where the trouble began- when I took this photo, I thought it would be fun to see I made it to mile 9... little did I know
Finally exiting that blasted canyon
The finish line
Maryanne, who kept me moving through mile 10. I'm not sure who's looking worse here... hahahaha
Mom with her medal- she took second in her age group and came in in under 2 hours. She's a running superstar
Still chipper, but a little more beat
Go Team Guzy!! (A funny sidenote: see the port-a-potty behind us? I accidentally walked in on a girl using it this morning before the race. Hahaha- there she was, exposed to everyone, with her shorts around her ankles. C'mon people- who doesn't lock a port-a-potty??! I kept seeing her throughout the race and every time I did, it brought a little smile to my face. Poor girl)
Go Team Jones!! (Why does it look like Travis is a getting a little post- marathon action out of Brook??)
Go Bees!!!
Now I had a pretty decent hotdog at Ikea last week, but nothing beats the sweet, all-beef deliciousness of a ballpark footlong
Me and Dad, loving us some good ol' fashioned baseball
Our campground- good thing we hadn't put the food out yet; this mom and her 2 fawns wouldn't leave us alone!!
Tanner spent most of his free time catching lizards and frogs- such a boy!!
Freezing our arses off at 6 am in the morning- just hitting the head of the trail and beginning our day. It was horrible trying to make ourselves cross the river and get wet- we could see our breath!!
The sun starting to peek up- the camera was on a rock, set on timer mode, so the view's a little crooked.
About 3 hours in, hitting the small Narrows.
A cool, little inlet.
A beautiful waterfall that we had to hike around.
Tanner, trying to be artistic. I love Lindsay's head at the bottom. or should I say bangs and hoodie?
A view through the Small Narrows
Getting kind of deep. Little did we know we'd be swimming less than 100 yards ahead.
Probably my favorite picture of Tanner.... ever (he's holding another lizard that he caught.)
Big Springs = half way!! This is about 6 hours in. There are 2 springs, but again, on a rock, on a timer, so it ended up not such a great shot.
The crew entering the Narrows- that's them at the bottom, several yards ahead of me. Pretty daunting knowing you're now stuck for the next 4 hours with no way out...
The bus on the way back to camp. We made in 11 hours, 15 minutes- 45 less than the average. I look like a deer in the headlights, but maybe it's the blisters on my feet, the strawberries on my inner thighs, and the fact that I can barely walk. But seriously- this hike is amazing! Lol
This is pretty close to how I've felt about my computer lately, thanks to a nice Japanese website that held within it a dirty trojan virus that hijacked it, rendering my every function useless. What was I doing on a Japanese website you ask? Well, none other than surfing the web for a cool, new blog background! I'm happy with the one I ended up with (courtesy of a more reliable, American site, no offense to the Japanese), however, am not so happy with the hoops I had to jump through to fix my machine. After many phone calls to my tech-guru brother Jimmy, I finally gave up and ended up uninstalling the entire XP operating system, then installing Windows Vista, which I luckily happened to have an extra copy lying around, thanks to my other brother Jeff. Now I think I'm back up and running and I have to say, I'm kind of excited about this new OS... Vista might be kind of cool afterall, despite all of the negative rhetoric from the geek world. To just an everyday, average joe, vista looks pretty sweet. Thank heavens I have great family to fall back on, otherwise, I might have been stuck on Tanner's trendy mac forever!!!
I took Lola and Otis out to potty after work one day last week and found Otis getting a little distracted with what I thought was a pine cone. I told him to leave, then walked over to investigate for myself. I picked this little guy up, he was almost completely non-responsive and could barely open his eyes. I felt so terrible for him! I brought him inside and put him in a little sauce bowl and under a lamp to get warm. Then I called the Tracey Aviary and was connected with a local bird rescuer. It turned out that she lived right down the road from me, so I was able to take him on over to her house. By the time I got there, he had warmed up a lot and was quite the explorer around my car and lap and had no problem chirping out his story to me :) The rescuer looked him over and told me he had obviously gotten separated from his mom and almost been eaten by another bird, as was evidenced by the peck marks on his head and back. He would've been eaten if Otis hadn't found him. The poor little guy had such a rough start in life, but I hope that now he has a bright future!
