Aint' No Mountain High Enough, Ain't No Valley Low Enough to Keep Me Away From You Baby!

Nathan and I thought that it was about time the two of us had a little "us" time. We wanted to get away together this weekend so- thanks to my beautiful sister Bobbi Ann, we were able to make that happen. Originally we had planned to go down to Lake Las Vegas and stay in the very fancy Ritz hotel there. But as Thursday drew nearer (designated day of departure) we decided that why not stay home and have a "Staycation"! We still took all three kids to my sister's house as planned, however, instead of heading down to Vegas, that evening we went to our favorite restaurant in Salt Lake, Cuchina Touscana. This one of my favorite places to eat - it is yummy Italian food and the crazy but very talent owner is named Walter but you pronounce it with a V so you would say "oh everything is Vounderful Valter" because he is constantly walking around the dinning room asking how the food is. This is how fancy people behave. Aren't we so fancy?

On Friday, I slept in until 9am because nobody woke up me at 6:30am telling me the were starving and expecting me to do something about it. They have me trained right? We went shopping, to the movies and out to eat. What a perfect day. We saw the movie "The Proposal" with Sandra Bullock. It was so good! I definitely recommend seeing it. I love going to the movies. We went to another one of our favorite restaurants, "Simply Thai" in Sandy. So good! I love Thai food. We were trying to eat a lot of rice since we decided we were going to hike to the top of Lone Peak in Draper. *I have to write a little side note here - when Nathan said he wanted to hike Lone Peak, I didn't really take him serious. I thought "Okay, so we'll get up, hike around a little, come home around noon, go see another movie and got out to eat and oh! maybe I'll get those cute sunglasses I wanted - I can do that". This is what Nathan was thinking, "Tomorrow we are going to climb to the top of that mountain! 6000 ft all the way baby!". Can you see the difference between a man and a women?

So on Friday morning Nathan got up at 5:30 and began to pack our backpacks. I woke up thinking "oh shoot - he's really serious". I then rolled out of bed and threw on my clothes and laced up my hiking shoes. The whole time I am doing this I am just sure that it won't be that bad although Nathan appears to be taking this a little more seriously than I am but oh well, I'll just follow along.

We were on the mountain by 6am and we begin heading up a trail that has been recently washed out by mud slides so it is a little challenging to say the least. Then I remember a little tidbit I heard from Debbi, my sister in law, about how they are having a lot of problems with cougars in the foothills of Draper. So now I start to panic about cougars. And then I remember about the Bear attack in AF canyon last year. So I am now scared of cougars AND bears. Nathan then announces,

"Isn't that pretty - it's called Bear Canyon".

"WHAT?", I ask a little panicked - "Why is it called 'Bear' canyon?"

"Tammi! It's just a name! Calm down." OK. Whatever - I was just asking.

Then we spot a wild turkey - I think I heard that they can be dangerous right? I mean "wild" can never mean good things when used in conjunction with an animal can it? So I quietly hurry past the possibly dangerous animal. Nathan then spots a hawk flying above us, and I think "oh great, when you see a hawk in a movie it is never a good thing. Is there a dead animal around here or something?" After a little while longer, Nathan almost steps on a rattle snake. In my mind I'm thinking "Oh great! I forgot about snakes! Now I have to watch for cougars, bears, crazy wild turkeys AND snakes! Please don't let me die today."

We just keep forging ahead and pretty soon we are hiking on granite and snow. We are so close to the top but my legs are getting shakie and my hands are getting weak from hanging onto anything I can just so I don't slide off a cliff and I finally say,

"Okay, I am done! I can't go another step further - go ahead and I will wait on this ledge for you."

"Are you mad at me?" Nathan replies.

"No, I just know what my limit is and it has been reached. This is it."

"You are so close to the top! Only 800 more feet to go. You can do it - I know you can."

"Nathan - I know I can't- just go to the top and look out at the valley. I'm fine right here. I promise - I won't go anywhere!

So Nathan proceeds to the top however he falls just a little shy of it due to the snow field. Only those hikers with cramp-ons, snow picks and ropes are able to make it to the top. Well, needless to say, we (painfully) made our way down the mountain without much incidence. (thank goodness! but I swear I did see a snake - it was, however, slithering away from me so that was a VERY good thing)

Okay - all joking aside- I did enjoy the hike. I love getting out in nature and enjoying what God created (even the yucky snakes). I am so grateful for a wonderful husband who never made me feel like a wimp. He just encouraged me the whole time and we had such a blast doing it together. The one thing that made me feel really great is that I was the only female hiker on the mountain. Pretty cool right? As Audrey likes to say "I'm the WOMAN!"

Yikes! A snake - at least it was Nathan that found this guy and not me!

We just had to hit the 7/11 at 6am before we began our journey - this is a necessary step - basic hiking rules 101.