Sitting, Walking, and Tenting

At 7 a.m. I groped around on the floor next to my futon until I found my cell phone.  Without opening my yes, I mashed random buttons on the side of the phone until I found one that turned the beeping off.  I savored the feeling of having slept in.  Then I mocked myself for thinking that 7 a.m. was sleeping in, sighed, and got up.  Just before eight I grabbed my purse and a jacket and headed to my yoga class.  This was my second time going to the "challenging" class, and it was wonderful and relaxing, and I walked out of there an hour and fifteen minutes later feeling like I had been beaten with a stick and then placed on the rack and stretched.  I quickly walked the two blocks to my apartment, looking forward to conference.  That is when I discovered that I had left my keys on the table instead of in my purse and that my roommates, both of whom had still been asleep when I left, were now not only awake but gone.  I went to the apartment office, but the girl there was a temp who had no access to the key box. So I called Allie, and sat down to wait outside our door.  Luckily I had my camera to take pictures and a cell phone to text, and even an iPod to play tetris on if I needed to. The fifteen or twenty minutes until Allie came home passed quickly, and I only felt mildly moronic.

Either I also used drugs to pass the time and then forgot about it, or I was just really proud of myself for forgetting my keys in this picture. 

When Allie got home I changed out of my yoga clothes, grabbed a pie (did I mention I made two this week?) and Monopoly, and went to pick up Cuny, who had left his keys in my car.  Then we drove to Salt Lake to hang out with Borg, watch conference, and eat the pie I made to celebrate Borg's birthday.  After the first session, I used my leadership skills and my position as the driver of the vehicle to declare a trip to REI.  When we got there, I led us confidently on an entire circuit of the store before realizing that I had no idea where the tents were.  Cuny pointed them out effortlessly.  Jerk.  I had already large amounts of research on the tent that I wanted.  I found it, grabbed the bag and cuddled it to my chest as I debated whether I wanted to buy this bright orange, $250 tent.  I had a 20% of coupon, $15 dollars of store credit, and a $50 gift card coming that I could apply retroactively.  The cute salesman assured me I could retroactively use the gift card, and I trusted him.  Which may or may not turn out to be a bad idea.

Name suggestions anyone?

In the end, I walked out of there with my new tent.  Of course I needed to test it.  But, as an apartment dweller, I have no convenient backyard in which to pitch my tent and test its tentness.  So I did the only thing I could, I set it up in my room and dragged my futon in it.  Then I slept quite well.  Actually, I haven't gotten around to taking the tent down, yet, so I've been sleeping in my tent since Saturday night.  I think I'll miss it when I do pack it up, despite the amount of floor space it occupies in my small room.  I like waking up in the morning to the geometric lines of orange and mesh above my head.  I can almost imagine that I can see the stars.  It's a bit like having a cave, and a bit like having a fort, and it's a lot like having fun.  I've always loved tents.  They were my home away from home, my refuge from bugs and wind and sun and were a soft place to sack out for an afternoon nap while camping.  They have only ever felt flimsy or thin on the rare occasion that one has collapsed (stupid snow) or when I could swear I heard strange snuffling noises outside the tent in bear country (stupid bears, or, possibly, stupid overactive imagination).  I am thrilled to be the owner of my own palace.  It's new, it's clean, the poles are shiny, and it's ready for adventure.  I got a three man tent so I could adventure by myself or with friends this summer.  Any takers?

Sunday morning Allie's brother, sister-in-law, and nephew came over for a breakfast of pumpkin waffles and the best syrup on Earth.  Then, between sessions, I snuck out for a trip to the waterfall.  Battle Creek Falls is a half of a mile of fairly steep but not too challenging trail away from the trail head, but only 2.5 miles away from my apartment door.  So I've hiked from front door to waterfall and back many times.  Since I had only an hour or so before the next session, I decided just to drive to the trail head and take the much shorter version of my usual walk.  As you probably noticed, the weather on Sunday was very dependable and predictable.  It would snow like crazy, then the sun would come out and melt everything and it would look like summer, and then it would snow like crazy again.  It completed this cycle at least four or five times throughout the day.  This meant that it was sunny when I started my hike through the two inches of snow on the trail, and on the way down the trail I was walking through the wind and blowing snow, and watching my footprints from minutes earlier fill up with snow.  In short, it was absolutely beautiful and I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

A winter scene juxtaposed with a summer sky.  

This isn't the waterfall.  This is just on the way to the waterfall.

Then, after the afternoon session, I made my first batch of pumpkin chocolate cookies ever, and Cuny, Allie, and I finished watching Doctor Who season 5.  For those of you who don't know Doctor Who, it is my new favorite show ever, and deserves a post of its own, which it isn't going to get today.  Suffice it to say, it's worth looking up.

So there you have it, my conference weekend.  I talked about everything but General Conference, rock climbing, and skateboarding.  But really, this week there are probably hundreds, if not thousands of blogs being posted about conference itself on the internet.  If you want to read about conference, go find one of them, or better yet.  Just watch the conference.  And the best way to get idea of my rock climbing and skate boarding is to come with me.  So come do that.

There.  I have now said everything that needs to be said.

Good bye.

'Till later when I think of something else to ramble at you about.