Tracie and I finally hiked Jupiter today. It was fun, but also a minor mess. From the very get-go, something was weird in my legs… felt like they weren’t connected to my hips right. It was almost unnoticeable at first, but somewhere in mile 12, it became nearly unbearable and quite hard to walk right. We also missed our turn on the way back, ended up at a dead end, and had to hike up a brutal mountainside to find another trail. And of course, we had ran out of water a good two hours before. Finally, six and a half hours after we started, we made it back to the car (me hobbling on my disconnected legs). But aside from the weird hip thing (which I’m actually kind of worried about), it was a pretty awesome hike. We took pictures.

We played on the flagpole…

… and jumped for joy…

… came across the BUGASAURUS REX (actual size shown!!!)…

… played on the flagpole some more…

… and with the self-timer on my camera.

Something is happening right now, I’m not sure what… but I feel like if I were a glass of water, I’d be cloudy. And I feel I’m in need of some intense Sarah time. Not the kind where I seclude myself from all the people around me (not that at all), but the kind where my mind takes a break from them. I feel like my mind has been clouded the past two months (possibly even longer) by practically everyone I know… or rather, by myself dealing with them. And I just seemed to have lost myself in there, my self-awareness. And now I feel like I’ve just kind of been walking blindly, asking myself how I got here. It’s not that I’ve been doing the same old, same old (the exact opposite is the case), or that I’ve had a bad few months (for the most part, they’ve been quite good)… but I just feel like it’s all led me to this place, a place where I feel I’ve gotten away from myself at my most basic form, where I’ve become cloudy. My long weekend in Jackson cleared me, put me back in my most simple form, made me fully aware of myself again. But after only a few days back, I’ve clouded again. And everything around me seems to reiterate my need to just… be. To be a clear glass of water again… hydrogen and oxygen, and nothing else. It is now Sarah time, indefinitely. Hydrogen and oxygen (and carbon), and nothing else.

Well, it rained my whole time in Jackson. Not just rained, but poured… severe lightning and thunderstorms the whole time (and no, I did not complete #5… unfortunately). It rained so much, there were landslides everywhere. No climbing of the Grand Teton, or any other mountain for that matter… too much electricity in the air. Basically just lazed around during the days and went to awesome concerts like Sister Carol and Charlie Hunter at night. Soaking in the hot springs (as per usual) was pretty much the extent of outdoor activities. Didn’t take a lot of photos, but still had a good time. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I realize what an incredible time it was. Climbing the Grand would have been awesome, but getting rained in still has its perks… like dancing my ass off, high-speed rainbow chasing, scum fighting, and sleeping really, really late as the rain patters on the roof and the lightning crackles in the not-so-distant distance.

Do I really look Asian??

Some coworkers and I ventured off into the Uintas this weekend for some climbing and camping. Of course, OF COURSE, I make it through the whole weekend with no injuries… only to roll my ankle and smash my hand in the middle of the road upon arriving back to the car at the trailhead. Wasn’t a big deal at the time, but was an hour later when I realized I could not move my hand nor my ankle in certain directions. And that’s just great considering I’m supposed to climb the GRAND TETON this weekend! Blargh!

Anyway, we still had a good time (and I suspect I will be healed in time for my grand plans).

Now back to our regular Friday schedule.

You could probably call me a Potterhead. I love Harry Potter. I was thrilled when book seven came out, but I was in Jackson when it did. I didn’t want to abandon my friends while I disappeared into a corner to read it, so I postponed buying it. And since then, I’ve been too busy or forgot to get it. But last night, last night I finally got it. I got home pretty late, pretty tired, and didn’t want to start reading it because I knew I would read it all night and get no sleep. It pained me not to open it, but I left it untouched. However, this afternoon at work, it started calling my name and I couldn’t wait any longer. I started reading it in between my photo shoots. Throughout the later half of my work day, in between three shoots, I managed to get to page 200 (but don’t tell my boss this). In 2005, I was in Maryland when book six came out. I started it at 5 p.m. one day, read it in between my shoots of a full work day the next day, and finished it that night. That’s how deep my Harry Potter love runs. Work schmurk. Harry Potter comes first (again, don’t tell my boss this).

For the past few weeks, I have avoided absolutely anything that could give anything away. I don’t touch online reviews or news stories. When I open the book, I freak out if I accidentally open it to a future page, for fear of seeing a word that will give something away. I don’t want to know anything. I finally bought the book last night because I knew the longer I waited, the greater the chance of me over-hearing something I don’t want to hear.

So after shooting the Little Buckaroo rodeo all night, I left just now with the intention of returning home and delving more into this final installment. However, on the way to my car, I ran into some coworkers. We chatted, and after a few minutes, I said I was off to read Harry Potter. One of them says, “Oh, don’t you hate that?!”… I was like “uhhh, wha?” and she yells two words that I did not want to hear… two words that officially ruined everything. I screamed. She just ruined everything. I was mortified. I still am. And I still have 569 pages to go. But now that I know the answer to the big question, those 569 pages aren’t going to be nearly as wonderful as they would have been had she just kept her big, fat mouth shut! ADLKJGVHSLCSDGJJ!!!!!

That’s what Tracie and I call ourselves, or B.E.S.T. for short. The other day, the two of us decided to ditch yoga and hike from the very bottom of Deer Valley to the very top… in a thunderstorm. It was spontaneous, it was adventurous, and it was just what I needed. Luckily, the storm, which flooded Bonanza Drive, calmed down a little once we were en route to the summit. The endeavor took us three and a half hours round-trip and wasn’t nearly as challenging as we had expected. So we decided to start a club (BEST) and top as many summits as we can, starting with the little 10,000-footers here in town, then taking on some along the Wasatch Front, all in preparation for topping the highest in Utah, King’s Peak (a massive 30-mile hike). We’ll do Jupiter this weekend, and it will be a nice little prep for the following weekend, when I journey to Jackson and top the big kahuna herself, the Grand Teton. Not gonna lie, I’m a little freaked out, mostly because of the exposure, but also because I know how bad it’s going to kill my knees. But regardless, I know I can do it, and I know it’s gonna be A.W.E.S.O.M.E. That stands for amazing, wonderful, excellent, spectacular, outstanding mountain expedition… in case you were wondering.

Been a while, crocodile. Computer is back up and running though so we’ll now return to our regularly scheduled program.