2 Comments

Another Republican politician caught in an affair. Honestly...

You know you are getting old when you have the following conversation with your niece:

Jon: Do you guys have a DVR?
Sienna: No...well...my grandma has this really, really old DVR in her room, but it is kind of weird.
Jon: How so?
Sienna: Well, you have to put this big tape in it, and...
[laughter from Jess and me (realizing where she was headed)]

1. How do you fall asleep getting tattooed on your face?
2. How do you fall asleep with Rouslan Tounamiantz looking over you?
3. Which is worse for the girl: the 56 tattoos or the smoking habit?
4. How does this Rouslan figure kiss anyone?
5. What is it like to breath-in through your nose with quarter-sized gauges in each nostril?
6. Conversely, what does it take to blow your nose?
7. How, after all those tattoos and piercings, did the tattoo artist walk out of the optometrist with that conservative pair of glasses?

All said, I think the girl was lucky to wake up when she did. Also, given the conservative glasses and the unlikely scenario of sleeping through 56 stars, I tend to believe the tattoo artist.

Jess and I were scheduled to go to Maple Creek this past weekend; however, the weather forecast for Preston was thunderstorms while it was sunny in St. George. We decided to delay the Maple Creek trip. To rub salt in Maple Creek's wounds, it was officially replaced in my top 10 list with the addition of this weekend's suitor. Angels Landing:

Dave, Drew, and I woke up and hiked the East Rim trail on Saturday. A few stories and 10 miles later, we were in Zion Canyon taking the shuttle to meet Jess, the boys, my niece Sienna, and Jess's family to hike Angels Landing. I was most impressed by Beckham, who hiked all the way up to the chains and back without any help (his favorite part were the two baby owls we saw). The view from atop Angels Landing was magnificent. This, along with further thought, has caused some reorganization on the list:

1. Lake Powell. If I had to pick a spot, I'd say Gunsight Bay. Maybe Iceberg Canyon.
2. Yosemite. Probably in Mariposa Grove. Maybe Vernal Falls. Maybe at the top of Half Dome.
3. Zion National Park (Angels Landing, Pine Creek, East Rim)
4. Iao State Park, Maui, Hawaii. I would mention the road to Hana if I would have flown over it rather than drove that tremendously windy road.
5. The beach in the Dominican Republic just east of Las Terrenas airport.
6. Arches National Park (Delicate Arch, Double Arch, Fiery Furnace)
7. Trunk Bay, St. Johns.
8. Chichen Itza, Mexico.
9. The Seward Highway.
10. The Columbia River Gorge.

Dave and I bought a National Parks Pass and are already thinking about the Grand Canyon (North Rim, Havasu Falls), Glacier, Yosemite, and various slot canyon hikes around Utah...so there may be some further shakeups in the near future.

P.S. Thank you Dave and Candice for watching Beck and Ira while we scaled the chains. Life will be much harder on us when you have your own kids.

This past weekend, I went down with our ward's youth to Moab. The Sunday before leaving, one of our friends in the ward, Mandi, mentioned that Delicate Arch was her favorite place on the earth. I admit that I was one of about 10 people laughing at that comment. Somebody mentioned that she must not get out much.

I have since repented of my initial reaction. It was amazing. I can't believe I have lived in Utah for nearly 20 years and I had neglected to visit this place. For those of you who haven't been, you should go. After visiting the arch, I apologized to Mandi and told her that although it is not #1, Delicate Arch definitely makes it into my top 10 most beautiful places I've ever visited. She asked me for a comprehensive list, so here goes. As a disclaimer, the nostalgia of some of these places definitely influences their ranking (i.e. I don't think Maple Creek would make most people's top 10?):

1. Lake Powell. If I had to pick a spot, I'd say Gunsight Bay. Maybe Iceberg Canyon.
2. Yosemite. Probably in Mariposa Grove. Maybe Vernal Falls. Maybe at the top of Half Dome.
3. The beach in the Dominican Republic just east of Las Terrenas airport.
4. Iao State Park, Maui, Hawaii. I would mention the road to Hana if I would have flown over it rather than drove that tremendously windy road.
5. Delicate Arch, Utah.
6. Trunk Bay, St. Johns.
7. Chichen Itza, Mexico.
8. The Columbia River Gorge.
9. Maple Creek. Right before the fence on the trail to the spring (where the maples bend to touch each other over the trail for about a half mile).
10. The back porch view at the Anderson's Place in Soldotna, Alaska (at dusk).

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order)
- Buckskin Gulch, Utah.
- Pine Creek Canyon, Utah.
- Flaming Gorge, Utah.
- Farmington Canyon, Utah. At the glacier lakes.
- 27 Charcos, Dominican Republic.
- Yellowstone, Wyoming.
- Palancar Reef, Cozumel, Mexico (underwater).

Have I forgotten anything? I'm sure my list will change as I visit more places (like Europe). I would enjoy seeing your lists as comments or otherwise.