Adventure Holiday

Here are some highlights of the adventure part of my vacation in Utah.

I went rock climbing for the first time, and it was a real thrill. Adrenaline pumping, heart thumping, scared witless rock climbing. I loved it.


The climbing shoes were incredible. They were painfully tight, but the grippy stuff on the bottoms were SO grippy. Most of the first climb was about learning to trust that your foot would actually stay in that 2mm deep crevice when you put all your weight onto it. Wahoo! I can't wait to go again.

My dad gets some kudos for climbing. He's pretty old. Not too old. But, you know, old. (Tee hee!)


Sorry, I don't have video of me climbing. However, I do have video of The Husband. Unlike the indoor skydiving, Neil was so much better at climbing than I was. To make up for me being a little mean in that indoor skydiving post, Neil gets the video feature in this post. He was a real monkey.


I also went white water rafting for the first time. Any hard core rafters will mock my excitement, as these rapids were not very big. But it was exciting to me, and extra kudos go to my mom who came rafting, too, despite not being a fan of thrill-seeking. (I think she liked the thrill!) Next time, we'll go for bigger rapids.


We're all smiling there, but when the water splashed into the boat, it was COLD! Here's a video of our longest and bumpiest rapid:

Grand Canyon (no The)

I am in Grand Canyon! (No one puts a "the" in front of it round these here parts.)


It is a stunning place. We woke up at ridiculous o'clock to get to a trailhead by 7am. Then, we hiked down a steep trail to Cedar Ridge for gorgeous views of the canyon -- though the river remained elusive. Here's me on the trail (in the white hat):


We had a fantastic guide who was so enthusiastic about the area; she kept us all in good spirits, which managed to last through the strenuous and sweaty trip back up. She taught us about the plant that tequila gets made front, how the Ponderosa Pine smells like butterscotch and Ooh-Aah Point. I don't know how long the trail was, but it was 1200 feet down into the canyon.

We got to see some sure-footed mules coming down the trail, though I think the wranglers didn't like having thier picture taken.