Know what's not cool? Having a birthday during Finals Week. And that's been my husband's birthday for the last several years. Hallelujah that this time next year we won't be pulling all-nighters, writing papers, studying until our eyeballs fall out, and barely having time for dinner (well, hopefully). Today is BWell's birthday and we were able to fit in a birthday lunch and some cupcakes. Now we won't see each other again until probably 10 or 11 (or until morning if I am a good girl and go to bed when I'm supposed to. . . early work makes me have an early bedtime).
I knew we wouldn't have much time to celebrate today. So about a month ago I had this rebel moment where I was like, "Screw studying. Curse finals." And I planned a weekend getaway to St. George. It was such a joy on Friday afternoon when Brian opening his box full of travel snacks, JT's new cd (gotta have road trip tunes), and a poster that read, "Good for a weekend stay in St. George". And just like that, we packed a suitcase and skipped town. So I can't say we got much studying in over the weekend. However, we did fit in plenty of hiking, pool time, and I even got my first sunburn of the year.
We hiked Angels Landing in Zion National Park. It was seriously a delight. It was especially a delight scaling along the steep slab of rock at the top, hanging onto chains for dear life, and thinking about the several people who have slipped to their death on that same stretch of the journey.
In all seriousness though, the hike wasn't nearly as frightening as I had imagined. There were only a few spots where Brian and I found ourselves using the chains. Plus, the entire trail besides the sketchy chain part has a PAVED path. Talk about fancy pants hiking. I had no idea how touristy this hike was though. I think we heard more foreign languages than we heard English.
Oh, and you know how city people get real annoyed with tourists? Like let's get real, I'm sure they've wanted to kill me all the times I've paid visits and gotten lost, jaywalked, taken pictures of the "huge skyscrapers", and all that jazz. They probably roll their eyes and think, "What a tourist." Well, I discovered over the weekend that country people have that exact same feeling for city people. For instance, when we got held up on the trail because a group of people spotted a lizard. You would have thought it was a unicorn. And then there was the time one couple made us wait FOREVER coming back on the chains because the dude had to take fifty pictures of his girlfriend posing. I get it. You want a cool picture so you can show all your friends how you roughed the wild terrain with its paved pathways and all, but maybe do it at a time when there isn't a line of people behind you. Okay, end rant. I promise I don't hate city people. We actually hiked up with a guy from New York and he was totally cool. Also, while we ate our lunch at the top of the summit, a couple sitting next to us got engaged. That was exciting.
It was a quick trip, but it was a good one. Maybe we will score lower on our finals now, but hey, I got to celebrate the birthday boy. Totally worth it.
I love you, BWell. Let's make your 25th year of life the best one yet!
