Officially Declared: Crazy and Insane

I just had the best weekend of the year so far! I decided I wanted to escape the sub-arctic temperatures of West Jordan, Utah and head down to St. George to do some hiking. So Caron, Garrett, Matt and I headed south for a quick road trip.

We stopped for dinner on Friday night at the One Man Band Diner in Nehpi. (And yes, it was spelled that way on a giant billboard.) We had a lovely small town experience complete with a wonderful assortment of country tunes and some interesting dining partners.

We made it to St. George, and when we got there I was so excited because when I breathed outside I could not see my breath! Oh it was so glorious! We woke up Saturday morning to an absolutely beautiful day and headed off to Zion National Park and the famous Angel's Landing.

My awesome grandpa came with us. He is 81 years old and is a hiking guide for Green Valley Spa in St. George, so he knows all the cool hikes and everything about the geology and history of the area. I love hiking with him--he is so amazing and can still kick my trash. When I grow up, I hope I'm still as active as he is.

We were doing great for about the first 1.5 miles up the trail. It was sunny and gorgeous and I just really loved being outside. I have missed the sun and being outside so much!

Here's my grandpa climbing up to and peeking out of the peep hole in the rock. After about 1.5 miles up the trail, we reached what is known as "Walter's Wiggles". It is a series of steep switchbacks and we came to discover that it was completely iced over. Well, being the die hards that we are, we proceeded to climb up the ice ridden switchbacks. We only slipped a few times. :)

We made it up Walter's Wiggles to Scout's Lookout. This is where the adventure gets scary. To proceed up to Angel's Landing, you have to climb up this narrow, steep ridge with sheer cliffs on every side of you. Luckily they have chains you can hold onto to keep yourself from plunging into the depths of Zion Canyon. However, as we proceeded to climb, we discovered that the trail was super slippery because of the ice. But Caron, Matt and I were determined to go anyway. Garrett and Grandpa elected to climb the West Rim Trail instead.

We made it about halfway up before we realized how extremely crazy and insane we were, and decided to turn around and go back. It just kept getting more icy and perilous, and we decided that it wasn't our time to go so we better turn back before we died. Getting down from there was much worse than going up. At one point, I decided I might just have to stay there until spring because I was too scared to move.

This was the point at which we decided to turn around. As we were figuring out how to get ourselves down off the cliff and clinging to the blessed chain, we sang our favorite hymns to keep us alive. If you ever do this hike, be sure to memorize the words to "Hold to the Rod" and "How Firm A Foundation" :) It will be your saving grace! :) Luckily since I am writing this post, that means we are all still alive and did not slip and fall to our death.

When we got back to Walter's Wiggles, we had the great idea of just sliding down all the switchbacks. It was SO MUCH FUN!

Matt decided to take it "snowboarding" style and slid down on his feet. It was hilarious!

We then hiked to Emerald Pools to discover these amazing icicle waterfalls. Wow! It was so incredibly cool. Despite the ice and snow, it was sunny and 50 degrees and beautiful all day long. The red rock against the bright blue sky was like a dream come true. These pictures don't even do it justice at all.

After the hike, we headed back to my Grandpa's house for dinner. On the way to Grandpa's house, Caron, Matt and Garrett nearly got attacked by a crazy driver so they had to pull some tricky driving manuvers to lose their followers. But they were successful and made it there safely. Grandpa and his wife AnnaLou were telling us tall tales about rattlesnakes and bears. Garrett was intently focused on the rattlesnake story and was so dumbfounded when it wasn't true. It was so great!

Sunday we went to church with my aunt and uncle and then basked in the sunshine on the GRASS! It was so fantastic.

We stopped off to see the St. George temple and enjoy more of the warm weather before driving home. Oh yeah, and we drove with the sunroof OPEN! And wore sunglasses.

It seriously was so great and exactly what I needed. The whole trip just made me so happy. I loved not having an agenda, being out in the sunshine and nature in good company, doing silly things and not caring how silly they were, having a near-perilous adventure, hanging out with my awesome grandpa, and just having a fabulous time. So if that declares me crazy and insane--bring it on!

Note: This post was brought to you by the song, "Friends in Low Places".