Spring Break As Recorded By Colin - Part II

Hello blogging world! I was unable to type my whole story at work, so I posted the first half, and now I am getting ready to post the second half. And I figure it would be easier to read in two seperate blogs than one big long blog. So hold onto your seats! Here we go!

11:00 Friday Morning : After realizing that it was still early, but that our camper family had left their camp spot available to anyone driving by, we decided to make our way back to our beloved spot. With no real sense of urgency, we coasted on down the canyon until we reached Williams Bottom, where we spotted something askew. Our camp spot had been stolen! It was eleven thirty in the morning! Who would be looking for a camp spot at that hour besides us? Discouragement encompassed round about the vehicle and resentment for this fiendly camper entered our hearts. But it was short lived and we decided it would be best if we continued our search for a new camp spot. We decided to leave the road that lead to Potash, and travel to the other side of the great Colorado. We did so, and we found multiple camping spots, but we couldn't decide which one we wanted because they were all very open to outside viewers, and because Amberlee was fast asleep in the car after about five minutes of driving. How romantic. So with Amberlee out of the decision making process we couldn't adequately vote on a spot to sleep. So we woke her up. Problem solved, we decided to set up camp at Kings Bottom (who decided to come up with these names? Seriously!). We walked around like zombies and set up our tent without too much trouble, and the tent was about a ten person tent. It was giant. Hello portable hotel! Well we did that and then we decided to go and hike the Fiery Furnace back at Arches!

12:00(maybe we lost track of time after camp) Friday Noon, Arches --- We finally made it past the visitors center at Arches National Park! Now we were on to bigger and better things, like balanced rock! Ok, actually we got to Fiery Furnace and started our little escapade down into the winding canyons! We started walking and didn't get very far honestly. It was awesome in there, but every canyon we tried to make our way through lead us to a dead end, unless of course we were expert climbers, which none of us were. So we finally found a cool trail out of a canyon and it was fun maneuvering about so that we could fit through rocks and cracks and all of that good Southern Utah jazz! However, this was very difficult because we couldn't step outside of washes or rock flats because we promised not to ruin the habitat and the environment by stepping on the soil. This soil takes hundreds of years to rebuild and its important to the surviving ecosystem! And everytime we saw this soil, Amberlee and Kristi would sing their song about it "You better not bust the crust....you better not hurt the dirt" to the tune of Another One Bites the Dust. Well, we made our way in and out of the canyon alive, with plenty of water and sunshine!

4:00 Friday Afternoon: Fiery Furnace Parking Lot --- This was the most lazy part of the trip. We sat in the car, ate our lunches, and then sat. And sat. And sat. The heat of the day and our lack of sleep had gotten to us. I believe it was at this moment that nobody really said anything or anything that we did say made no sense. It was all kind of a blur. I remember eating a bagel at one point because I forgot to pack a lunch and I took a huge bite unnoticed, or so I thought, by anybody else and I was slowly fitting it into my mouth when Amberlee turned around and saw about half a bagel out of my mouth. Not a good moment for me. We decided to now just drive around and do some little hikes. Problem with that idea was that everybody in the car was super indecisive, and when one person would ask a question nobody would answer. Literally. It would just be silent. Thankfully it was Amberlee's birthday, so whenever that happened I would just say "It's your birthday, so you can choose!" and it usually worked.

Time Friday Afternoon: Arches National Park --- We safely traveled to a few arches and we didn't really know what to do when we got there. Nobody really wanted to hike, but nobody wanted to just sit in the car either. So we decided going on a hike would be the best option. However, this was after a ten minute nap taken by Kristi, inwhich she fell asleep in about ten seconds. Something about that family makes for good sleeping genes. Anyways, and always, we hiked the trail until we saw the arches which were really cool, and made our way back to the car. We decided we should leave and start cooking dinner, a most wonderful idea! However, along the way we stopped at every scenic view there was and looked. That was special.

Time Friday Evening : Kings Bottom Camp Site --- Alas! We made it back to camp! We decided to cook dinner, which was delicious. I love dutch oven cooking. And this taco soup was zesty! It was meatless but it was still delicious, and we had way too much. Its amazing how much food three cans can produce. After dinner we started a fire, which took ages to light, but eventually it sparked and took off. We also made two types of cobler. The black cherry cobler more looked like half powder half cake, because we forgot to add extra water. Yum. Also, the other campers in our group arrived! We talked and played a game, Werewolf, which I won. Its like mafia, only different. While playing this game, Amberlee, having a million nicknames for me, shouted out "Oh Coli Boy!" just as a slip. She claims it just came out. I believe it did. But that didn't stop other people from calling me Coli boy. How unfortunate a turn of events! From cobler to name calling. Everybody laughed. I laughed. Amberlee felt bad. But this name continued to stick with me throughout the rest of the trip.

Midnight Saturday: Tent --- For those of you who don't know, Amberlee and her family are strange when it comes to sleeping and sharing beds with sisters. The whole trip Amberlee and Kristi tried to make me feel uncomfortable by holding hands or wanting to share sleeping bags. I frowned upon this. Well, while I was in the tent, I heard whispering. For a second I thought they were just trying to be quiet so that they didn't wake people up. But then I heard one of them say "But we have to be connected somehow!" I looked up and slyly smiled at them. They both erupted in laughter. Their sneaking failed! Then I fell asleep.

9:00 Saturday Morning: Camping Spot --- I woke up that morning after sleeping well all night. I woke up thinking that everyone was still asleep, however when I looked around me, only Joe was sleeping still. I knew that was my cue to get out of bed and help with breakfast. For the next few hours thats all that happened: breakfast and more breakfast. 

11:30 Saturday Morning: Arches --- We made it to Arches as an entire group. You can call this trip successful! Our first visit was to the greatest arch of them all, Delicate Arch. What a beautiful site this place really is! And it becomes even more spectacular when you realize that there really is no cliff on either side, it is a lone standing arch. This is not my first time seeing it, but it still amazes me every time I see it. While on the walk Amberlee asked the group if Speedo's were awkward because she knows of my love for them. This has been a continual debate since January. Every single person in our group agreed with her and it disheartened me for a minute, but then realized thats what makes Speedo's so great! I finally sucked up my pride and admitted that she won the argument, but that I still adored my Speedo. She made a disgusted face. 

2:00 Saturday Afternoon: Lunch Area --- We ate lunch. It was windy and cold. 

3:00 Saturday Afternoon : Landscape Arch, Partitioned Arch, Broken Arch --- We saw all three of these. They were all very beautiful. I am getting a little bit bored of writing about these hikes, but all in all let me just say this was a particularly fun hike. 

6:30 Saturday Evening: Arches National Park --- What a trip this had been, but it was time to pack up and leave for home. We journeyed our way through Wellington and Price, even stopping for dinner at BK, and then we dropped off everybody in Provo and made it back to Salt Lake around 11:20. 

Well gang, I had a most wonderfully fantastic weekend! Nothing but smiles and month old catalogs! 

A Break

Well, it has almost been a week since spring break ended, but due to popular demand and many requests from The Wolfgang Story band wagon, I am writing another blog. As you could probably guess, I am going to write about spring break. And not just spring break the whole break, but spring break the last few days, including Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, but excluding clips from each day.

8:00 Thursday Night : The Grocery Store --- After realizing that I had yet to pack any provisions for the camping trip, Amberblee stopped by and picked me up to go to Smith's Marketplace. We roamed through the isles and gazed at thousands of items of food. Luckily, even though so many foods were calling out to me, Nutrigrain bars won due to the fact that they were on sale! One box of nutrigrain bars, check! After that, I was pretty much stumped as to what to purchase. With such a wide variety of foods, which food would really fill me up? Cereal? No, not practicle for a camping trip without milk. Frozen pizza? Nope! Say goodbye to that extra thin crust! Then, on the end isle, sitting sheepishly and looking at me as cute as could be was a bag of blueberry bagles! Yes! This is what I had been waiting for! These bagles would lift me up to a new level, set me on a pedistool above the common man. Now, shopping was over. Time to head h ome and pack right? Wrong. If you have forgotten, Thursday was the first day of March Madness, so accordingly, I spent the rest of the evening watching that.

11:00 Thursday Night : My Room --- The games now over, and my realizing that I had to wake up in three hours, I decided that packing my belongings was a grand idea. It started with clothes and ultimately ended up with the packing of pad, pillow, and sleeping bag - sleeping bag case included! That was an exciting part to the story.

12:00 Midnight Friday Morning: My Room --- Time to go to sleep. And Amberlee's birthday! Happy Birthday Darlin'!

2:00 Friday Morning : My Bed --- Multiple alarms go off at decible levels uncommon to wake up to. Frightens me half to death, then I realize I need to get up and shower so as to smell and look nice for the day. And did I ever smell nice! I was complimented multiple times on it. Thank you Irish Springs!

2:30 Friday Morning : My Porch --- I walk outside with all my gear in hand when not thirty seconds goes by and Amberlee pulls up in her sweet Purple Chrystler. She is quite possibly the most punctual on time person ever. Its amazing. I put my gear in the car, say hello, say happy birthday, and we hit the road for Provo!

3:30ish Friday Morning : Provo Mainstreet --- Amberlee heads the wrong way to find her sisters apartment. We turn around and come back. We are lost. Amberlee almost runs a red light as we search for her sisters apartment and has to slam on the brakes and the car wheels screech. About a minute later, Amberlee runs a red light. We find her sisters apartment and help her pack up the car, where we stash our "crack" A.K.A. Chex Mix. Shhh. We hit the road again after a brief stop off at the local grocery store.

4:00 Friday Morning : Mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon --- We drive past giant windmills. They are awesome. We discuss why there is a red light flashing on them and how many birds die from flying into them. This concept confuses me but seems perfectly logical to Amberlee and her sister Kristi. Why not just fly above them?

4:30 Friday Morning : Spanish Fork Canyon --- We almost hit a deer. Kristi states she will go to sleep in the car so that she can take over for Amberlee and not fall asleep while driving. Kristi wakes up every five minutes to check on Amberlee to see if she is awake and doing alright. I sit in back and laugh. The moon looks awesome. Kristi and Amberlee switch driving, eventually arriving at Green River.

6:20 Friday Morning : Green River --- I drive to Arches while everybody else sleeps.

7:20 Friday Morning : Arches National Park --- We arrive and pull up to the visitors center in order to try and obtain a camp site. We are not the first hopefull people, but about the sixth. At seven thirty, they open the doors and announce that only the first three groups will receive a camp spot. Disappointed, we head back to the car and eat wonderful bran muffins. We sit in the car for a rather long time not really doing anything. Amberlee's phone happens to move around the car mysteriously. The car is already a mess. We decide to go and find a campsite after filling up our water bottles. Here is where the real problems arise. Instead of filling up our water bottles, we decide to leave the park, though not intentionally. As we are about to leave, I comment "weren't we going to fill up our water bottles?" The answer is a resounding "yes!" and so Amberlee attempts to reverse back into the parking lot. This is hysterical. Other cars wait as we try to maneuver about the lot backwards. We fill up our waterbottles and decide that its time to leave for camp. After about fifteen minutes of Amberlee making fun of me for just about everything I do, we finally leave Arches. But wait! We cannot find our ticket to get back into the park! We search the car, emptying seats and the trunk. It's nowhere to be found. Confused and aloof from coherent thought, we just sit there not sure of what to do and laughing from tiredness. We decide to check the bathrooms and anywhere else we had been at the visitors center. Kristi finds it in the orientation room where we had watching a most thrilling version of protecting cryptobiotic soil. So with a new found energy for finding a camping spot, we leave Arches!

9:00 Friday Morning : Williams Bottom Campground --- We find a beautiful, hidden little camp ground that would keep us in our own little world out in the wilderness, but there is only one problem: it is occupied. So the girls send me out to ask if it will be available that night. Using all the charm I can muster up I asked the man at the campsite if they will be spending the next night there also. He says no, and that we can take it in a few hours when they pack up. What grand news! Now we have two hours to go on a little hike or do whatever we would like. We decide to go look at old dinosaur footprints in the rocks. That was pretty cool. Everybody likes dinosaurs. At this time we also decide to throw rocks at cacti and across the road. Amberlee almost hits a few bikers. I throw I giant rock at a cactus and it smashes it. We all laugh. Take that cactus! Remember eleven years ago when you put spikes in my butt? Yeah, well so do I. We then move on to another hike because that didn't take so long. As we get there, we start hiking and there are a few people in front of us. The guy turns around sees us, looks forward and then does a quick double take. He turns to me and asks "Did you guys get the campsite?" I sit there a minute confused as to who this man is, but I realize its the guy that I had talked to earlier! We have a quick team meeting and decide to finish the hike because it's still early morning and its a gook hike. Now, I don't know if anybody knows this, but Amberlee is fond of creating nicnames for people. She already has a few for me. Well, while we are walking having a good time, Amberlee casually asks "Hey, Colin, can I call you CB?" I think for a minute of all the possible things this could mean. I can't seem to come up with any sort of meaning behind it. Then I hear laughing from Kristi. "Cactus Butt!" she says! And then it hits me! Amberlee has been telling her sisters many facts about my life, especially the embarrassing ones. I cannot believe that she thought of that before me. In fact, I was so shocked she even knew about it that I could barely utter out an objection to the nic name!

March is already zooming on by! I cannot believe it. I don't really have much to say on here besides that life is going well. I am loving every single day of it. Everysingle day. At one point in my life I decided that I wanted to wake up every morning and say "Today is going to be the best day of my life" and so far this year, I think that this is true. And it is also especially true in regards to Amberlee. Everytime I see her, I like her more. This has never happened to me before with a girl. For those who know me, usually I like a girl for not very long and then I move on, but not in this case. I am very happy.