I love all the common interests I have with my friends, but I also appreciate the differences. It’s the differences that challenge me and expand my horizons. I’ve mentioned last year that the Grand Canyon wasn’t high on my must see list but Ashley who is interested in seeing all the National Parks (multiple times even!) insisted we visit Grand Canyon last year. It was the first trip I took that wasn’t a metropolitan destination, my first hiking trip even. I loved it.
This year she made a compelling 10 point argument that we have to visit Zion National Park. I’m not sure why she went through the trouble of making a 10 point list as I’m certain all she had to do was say, “Hey! We’re going to Zion National Park this year!” and that would have sufficed. Ashley, Nicole, and I took a long weekend and hiked Zion, with Ashley as our experienced tour guide.
Nicole and I flew into LA on Friday and Ashley drove us across three state lines to Springdale, Utah just in time for a late night dinner, where weirdly, I had an exceptional meatloaf. Really. The next day we woke up after sleeping like logs and had a “late riser’s” breakfast before embarking on our hike to Angels Landing. Ashley once sent me a video of someone hiking Angels Landing. In that email sent last year, she said, “When we go to Zion, you might want to sit out Angels Landing.” That video did a better job conveying how amazing and awesome and scary the hike was than any of my photos. (Also, I was too busy holding on to safety chains to even try to capture the greatness.)
When we reached the top of Angels Landing, I knew that it was an important moment in my life. Ashley’s passion has become a little bit of mine. It also made me miss Sugarface. I texted him that night telling him I want to hike to awesome places with him.
The next day we hiked to Weeping Rock, Emerald Pool, and Hidden Canyon. We saw our first 360 degree rainbow at Emerald Pool, climbed a hanging sidewalk to get to Hidden Canyon, and let Weeping Rock weep on us. On the hike to Hidden Canyon, I was tired and hangry and when my hips got wedged in between two rocks, I fell apart in laughter that almost resulted in me peeing myself. Nicole asked me what was so funny. Through tears and laughter I said, “I’m stuck in between a rock and a hard place!”
On our fourth day together, we drove back to California, flanked by storms and ambushed by tumbleweeds. I didn’t know tumbleweeds were a real thing. Apparently you don’t want to drive through them as they get stuck under your car. We ended our last night together watching Pitch Perfect 2 and with late night conversation. The next morning we had breakfast and aggressively hugged each other at the airport.
I had already begun to miss these girls before I even got off the plane on the first day together. So you can imagine how much I miss them now. I’m both grateful and sad that we see each other once a year. I’m sad because it’s only once a year! Grateful because we make it happen despite living very separate lives in different corners of the country.
Here’s looking forward to next year’s adventure!
