Dan the Gimp

Photodump!

Fall Break 2018

Weekend in Moab

End of Summer Roadtrip

This roadtrip was the loveliest, in the way that every single thing we saw far exceeded any of our expectations. It was all so grand!

Devils Tower, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, Needles Highway, Sylvan Lake, and the grand finale: a total eclipse. Everything was magnificent and so much more amazing in person than it could ever be in pictures.

I am still not over that total eclipse. It was stunning. Hands down one of the coolest experiences of my entire life. After the eclipse we were stuck in a traffic jam with the rest of America, turning our five hour drive to our next campsite into a nine hour drive. (still worth it.) As we sat in that car for all of those hours, I tried so hard to write out in words my feelings on the total eclipse experience. But try as I may, I could not and still can not find any words to do it justice.

I think that is a good sign of a life changing, utterly amazing experience, if we can't even find the words to describe it.

Kings Peak

It was on our bucketlist to summit the tallest peak in Utah--Kings Peak.

The day before, as we packed and prepared, while we loaded all of the gear and food and water we would need, I started to get terribly anxious about the trip. I asked myself, WHY are we doing this again? Why are we not just going out to dinner and then binge watching Ozark this weekend like any sane human being?!

But it is of the utmost importance for me to constantly remind myself that every beautiful life changing adventure we have experienced has started with my nerves screaming "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!?" and in turn, me pushing past my fears to do it anyway.

I suppose the thing is, sometimes I just want to really live, you know? I want to feel my lungs expanding in my chest and listen to my heart pounding loudly, reminding me that I am alive. I want to jump outside of my comfort zone for a time, outside of the ease and luxury of this life, outside of the mundane and the day-to-day routine. I want to feel some pain and fear, just the right amount, the kind that reminds me of how strong and capable I truly am. I want to ache for home so that I remember how fortunate I am to have a place called home at all.

I am a glorious mess of a human being, made up of scars and bruises and passions and flaws and emotions so heavy that it's a wonder I can walk at all.

So sometimes, occasionally, I just want to really live.

ROADTRIP

Time is a fickle thing. Life is so chaotic, so jam packed from sun up until sun down with work and family and curve balls being thrown in all directions, and so I like to make my own time machine by finding magical moments, perfect pieces of stillness throughout all of the chaos and pain that life entails.

In those moments, I allow myself to just be. That's the secret of my self-made time machine. Just be, here in this moment where I am content and momentarily untroubled.

Sometimes these time slowing pieces of perfection find me in the most mundane and ordinary of days. Sometimes they are small and quiet, so quiet that I don't even realize I am in them at all unless I am paying very close attention.

And then there are the moments that I have to go in search of.

Dan and I planned weeks ago to take a roadtrip for the long Utah-holiday weekend at the end of July. We planned this trip, yet we flew by the seat of our pants. We camped in a different camp site each night and paddled a different lake each day. We made spur of the moment decisions. It felt exciting and adventurous, all of the things that the best memories are made of.

We were on the road for hours at a time, we watched sunsets, we snacked on nachos and beef jerky while jamming out to fuzzy radio stations. Once we ended up on a dirt road, all the way until we reached a sign that said "passenger vehicles not recommended", which is coincidentally when our GAS LIGHT turned on. We lived on a prayer while we made the FORTY MILE drive back to the tiny town we had just come from where we praised the heavens for our miracle while filling up on gas. It was a terribly risky three hour detour.

Some of our favorite spots, if you are interested in slowing down time yourself:

Stanley is the most charming and authentic little mountain town I have encountered! There are a few different options for food including a grocery store and gas station. We stopped in for dinner at the Mountain Village Resort and I swear to you that their beer battered cod were THE BEST fish and chips I have tasted.

Stanley lake was beautiful if you are looking to avoid the crowds that redfish lake brings. The camp spots were full (we should have reserved, but we like to take risks, you know) but just up the road from the official camping are some unregulated camp sites that were beautiful, and we stayed there. (No restrooms, if that is a make or break for you.) Conveniently, we found that behind our camp spot there was a marshy area where we put in our kayaks and it led us down stream and straight into Stanley lake. SCORE.

Redfish lake of course was what we drove all that way for in the first place. We spent the day there on Sunday. If you go smack in the middle of Summer like we did, expect crowds! We paddled about half a mile down shore and then a mile across the lake, where we found a perfect beachy shore that we had all to ourselves. We ate lunch and swam and sunbathed, it was glorious. After our stay on this secluded beach, we paddled around the lake for a while. We figure we did a good five miles of paddling. You can also find lots of mountain bike and hiking trails all throughout the area. One day we'd like to go back to backpack in and camp higher in the mountain.

Two sites that we set up camp well after dark to and from our travels were the Joe T. Fallini campground at Mackay Reservoir and the Scout Mountain campground just south of Pocatello.

The Sawtooth Mountain range is allllllways worth that five hour drive.

Anyway, we are home now and it is good to be back with the boys, who I swear to you, always mature a few years worth when we leave them for a few days.

Happy Tuesday friends! Get out there and get you some!


xoxo