High Adventure!

Two years ago, a dear friend of mine, Verlene, talked me into climbing Angel's Landing for a birthday adventure. All of her other friends had declined the opportunity! I'm always up for an adventure, so we booked a nearby hotel to Zion's National Park and went mid April of 2009.

I LOVE southern Utah with the red rock. It is beautiful. It's like I'm in a different part of the world just a few hours south of my home. The day was absolutely gorgeous. Since it was early April it was not too hot and not too cold. Verlene is much more physically fit than I, so she would have had a bit of an advantage over me; however, that day she got allergies REALLY badly and she could hardly see. I'm guessing her memories of that trip are pretty miserable. That night once we'd figured out it was allergies I gave her some of my allergy meds and she did great the next day. I feel bad that I didn't giver her some sooner.

The climb up Angel's Landing was beautiful! I used my camera as an excuse on dozens of occasions to catch my breath and take some pictures. I probably have 300 pictures from that trip! Towards the top of our climb, you are basically walking the ridge line over to the next peak before reaching the plateau at the top. There are a couple spots where there's no path, just a pole and a rope to help you make it up. At one spot in particular, it is quite narrow and only one person can pass through at a time. Considering how slow I am, many people were coming down by the time we were climbing up it, so we had to take turns and wait. Verlene and I are very friendly people and started to visit with the people around us as we waited our turn. There was a guy behind us from Texas that was on vacation by himself and hiking several parts of Zion's National Park. His name was Joe. He was very polite about waiting and was behind us for probably the last 20 minutes or more.

Here's a side note to help you understand the ending of my story. I used to watch the TV show FRIENDS. Matt and I bought every season and watched it from start to finish. In one particular episode, Joey is dating a girl who would always eat food off Joey's plate. Joey really liked her and didn't want to break up with her just because of this habit of hers, so they guys helped Joey brainstorm ideas. On their next date, Joey bought every side dish on the menu for her so that she wouldn't need to take anything off his plate. But of course she does anyway, after which Joey loudly announces, "Joey doesn't share food!" as he slams his fists on the table.

Now back to our story. At the end of our climb is a huge plateau that seems to be floating. The views around us are absolutely breath taking. Verlene and I sit down to enjoy some lunch. Joe wandered our way and continued talking with us while we began to eat. I put my backpack at my feet and I'm sitting with my legs crossed to eat when I notice a little chipmunk venturing closer and closer. We're watching it and joking about it. I'm using my backpack as a table or bowl so that my food is not on the ground while I eat. Next thing I know that little chipmunk is trying to climb into my backpack and help itself to my lunch, so I loudly say, "Joey doesn't share food!" I didn't think it was that funny as Verlene just about died laughing, when I realized Joe is standing right there looking at me like I'm crazy. Amidst Verlene's laughter, she explains to Joe my reference from the old TV show FRIENDS and tells him I'm not talking about him, which is about the time I figure out why Verlene is laughing so hard. Talk about open mouth insert foot! It was a very funny situation. That little chipmunk provided us great entertainment!