"Our Mental Synchronization, Can Have But One Explaination..."

Well, last week was Spring Break here at my school so what did I do? Deserted this place like 90% of the humans who frequently occupy this campus. Some people I know went on an exotic cruise, some to Australia, Hawaii or Mexico. I decided to take the more exotic route...

Camping.

I have never been a huge fan of camping. Have I ever hated it? No. But there are usually so many more things I'd rather do than sleep on the ground, eat ash, and smell like who knows what.

But this time... I LOVED IT!

I honestly had SO much fun.

When my friend invited me to go with their group, I was a little hesitant to say yes. I knew most the people going, but we weren't, like, besties, and camping is the kind of thing where you kinda want to be preety comfortable with the people you're with. I agreed to go and even then I worried a little. I knew the boys going pretty well but I didn't know any of the girls going very well, and if anyone knows anything about girls, it's that they always need their gal-pal in situations like this, in case of an emergency...

The day came, my heart fluttered a little, and there I went!

The group ended up being 6 boys and 3 girls. 3 of the boys I knew pretty well, 1 I'd met, but never really gotten to know, 1 I went to highschool with but hadn't seen since senior year, and one was that boy's friend who I met for the first time on our trip. 1 girl was the boy from high school's girlfriend and the other, I'd met before but the closest to a conversation we had before that was both saying we liked certain shows on netflix and me complimenting her overalls.

We camped in the Watchman Campground just inside the entrace to Zion's National Park. We got there late sunday night and left Wedneday late morning/afternoon.


Monday's highlight was dreaded but infamous hike, Angel's Landing. This was another reason why I was hesitant to come on the trip at first.

On the switchbacks aka "Walter's Wiggles" on the way down.
See that red hat in the far far back? That's me.

I'd hiked Angel's Landing once before in my lifetime. It was on my senior trip. All you need to know about the experience is that I may or may not have cried at one point and there was a stretch where one of my friends physically and literally pushed me from behind to help me keep going. (Apparently I also slipped on the scary rock part and could have fallen, but I don't really remember that part.)

3 cutie patooties. Love these boys!

This time, I was golden. Remember the girl I mentioned above that I knew before but hadn't really talked to much? Yeah, we became besties. And we both felt the need to stop at the same times so we stayed together while we let the rest of our group go ahead a bit. I don't know if I would have been able to make it without her.

View from the top!

The hike was also a lot less strenuous than I remembered, who knew?

All in all, except for the foot blisters, Monday was a success.

Tuesday, the highlight was going to Sand Hollow Reservoir. I also went there on my senior trip and it was fantastic. We cliff dived and sun bathed and played the whole day long. This time though, was different.

With clouds in the sky, we pulled up to the kiosk where you pay to get in. On the side of the little booth was a sign that read "No jumping or diving from rocks due to shallow water". That was disappointing, but I could cope with that. It's when we got out of the car that I wanted to curse my first great experience there that led me to believe we'd have a great time at that reservoir.

Marti (my new bestie) and I shivering and trying to work up the courage to jump in the water.

 

The wind was whooshing, the sky was dim, and the water, felt like it was made up of thousands of the smallest, coldest icicles. Despite the conditions, we still had a ton of fun. Although only a few of us got into the water (and for a fraction of a second at that), we had a blast roaming around and exploring the surrounding area.

Wednesday, the main/best part of the day was when we went to "Cave Valley". When we got to the supposed "Cave Valley" there were no signs, no parking lot, no trail, nothing... We pulled off the side of the road to park and began to wander toward some mountains in the distance.

I was a little skeptical at first, especially because it was pretty chilly and we were headed deeper toward shade, but it ended up being a splendid afternoon. We did find one little cave where they have a guest book outside, and inside on the walls were pretty cool pictographs. Whether the pictographs were real or not, I don't really know, but either way, it was cool to see.

Marti and I at the caves.
Notice how we're doing pretty much the same pose and how we both even have a head tilt goin' on.
Aren't we adorable?

A highlight of the whole trip was Marti and I singing. We sang, and sang, and sang. Seriously. Whenever something someone said reminded us of a song, we'd sing it. We'd often break out into the same song at the same time at the same part of the song. Our favorite song to sing was "Love is an open door" from the movie Frozen. Our friends are champs for listening to that for 4 days...

The best part of the whole trip was getting to know the people I was with. They are some quality human beings and I truly am grateful to have them as friends. Call me crazy but I truly have missed them each day since and when I do see them, I feel genuine excitement and joy, even though it's been a few days, at most, between seeing them.


*Disclaimer: I stole these photos from the pals I was with, (I didn't take a camera). Marti has the best ones, but I haven't gotten them from her. When/if I do, I'll post more of them up on here.
**2nd Disclaimer: It's very likely that there are spelling errors in this post because the little red squigly lines aren't showing up on this browser for one reason or another... Whoops...