Login

A Tale of Two Sundays

It’s definitely no secret that I love Utah’s peaks. There’s just no substitute for the serenity of our unkempt wildernesses. That’s why Jason and I happily spent two consecutive Sundays in American Fork Canyon.

The first Sunday we went for a lovely hike on the Tibble Fork Loop. This path is approximately 3.8 miles long and roams through hillsides of fragrant pines, graceful aspens, and rolling grasses. Beautiful! We enjoyed our low-keyed exercise but countered these mellow meanderings the following Sunday with an adrenaline overload.

Nestled between a speckled canopy and a cascading creek was the perfect spot for some picture taking.
This stream was accented by a timber rainbow that arched elegantly over its banks.

The next week we went rock climbing and rappelling with a couple of our buddies: David and Chuong. The two cliffs we scaled, Stoic Calculus and Rockapella, were ones that Jason and I have ascended before on a couple of occasions so they didn’t scare the bejeebers out of us. However, after we were good and tired from climbing David took us further up the canyon to a different block of rock, which we accessed through the Echo picnic area, for some rappelling, a much more intimidating task.

Jason is a natural climber. He's got long limbs and he knows how to use them.
Jason and David make quite the pair. They're even goofier together than this photo suggests.
Our friend Chuong hadn't been climbing in years and he was a little unsettled by the idea of starting up again but you'd never guess it from the way he spidered up the walls.
A ridge at the top of Stoic Calculus provides a great spot for resting and gawking. Here Jason is taking in that view from 70+ feet up.
I accidentally put my helmet on backwards without realizing it. That prompted a lot of smack talk and the taking of this picture.

None of us, besides David of course, had rappelled before so when he explained that we would have to belay ourselves on the way down, in essence do our own braking, everyone panicked. We didn’t know what we were doing so we were sure our amateurish self-belaying would result in some colossal mishap.

I may be smiling here as I take a leap of faith over the side of this cliff but inside I'm crossing my fingers that I don't end up a flattened morsel.
Jason was hesitant to plunge into the abyss but, since Chuong and I had already done it, he knew he'd most likely survive.
Here I am dangling just a few feet from the ground. No splat for me!
David has been rock climbing and rappelling for years. He "showed us the ropes."

No one wanted to be rappelling contestant #1 but somehow I got volunteered to be the guinea pig. Sure, send the girl first, she’s expendable. Those first few steps over the ledge of that imposing drop-off were nerve-racking but then I loosened up and realized I was having a blast. Once I got to the bottom I understood David’s reasoning for forcing me to lead. Those manly men wouldn’t want to be shown up by little ol’ me. Calling their masculinity into question proved greatly motivating. Chuong was very worried about going down and Jason was a bit anxious as well but they both reluctantly scurried along the precipice. Their braking hands were so tensed around the ropes during their descents though that by the time they reached the bottom those grips of steal had cramped their palms and they both had to have help getting their gloves off. Surprisingly, I had kept my cool while dropping so my hands were just fine and I decided to go back up to the top and give it another whirl. So much fun!

Jas and I had a great time in the canyon two Sundays in a row. Between the steady constancy of hiking and the adrenaline rush of mountaineering we experienced the full spectrum of what American Fork Canyon has to offer, from the relaxing to the taxing.

Rachel September 8, 2011 2 Comments

Undead Again

I had no idea I would be dead again so soon after Jason and I stumbled through the streets of Salt Lake City a few weeks ago.

I made myself extra undeady for this shooting: lots of blood, gashes, rotting flesh, and bruises.

My friend Cam, who owns a knife business, needed some zombies for an ad he was filming last week so Jason and I volunteered and got a couple of our friends to join us. The shooting seemed to go relatively smoothly; I’m pretty good at hobbling around while maliciously glowering…probably because of all those years of practice.

My friend David is a "world-famous" actor. I'm sure you recognize him from such cinematic masterpieces as The Crow IV and A Tree Falls. No?
We did Matt's makeup on the fly while filming. Hence, he looked a bit more like Braveheart than a zombie but he still pulled off creepy well.

This piece of adtastic footage will hit the internet sometime in the middle of October. I’ll keep you posted on it. I know you wouldn’t want to miss our commercial debut as flesh feasters.

 

Rachel September 3, 2011 1 Comment

Parks and Saints

Jason and I just had a super crazy week. You know, one of those weeks where you don’t bother unpacking your suitcase from one trip because you will just be leaving again on another excursion a few days later and your house somehow becomes a shrine to clutter even though you’ve been home so scarcely that it doesn’t seem possible that you could’ve had any effect at all on your living space.

We stayed in cottage #7 this year. It was right on the green so Jason got a kick out of watching golfers throw tantrums when their shots went awry.

We spent the beginning of our week in Park City for the Society of Cosmetic Chemists’ annual scientific seminar and golf outing. This event followed its usual format: lectures and dinner the first afternoon and golfing the morning after. Jason typically tags along when I head up to this gathering. He doesn’t golf and he doesn’t get to eat with me and the other scientists at Ruth’s Chris so why is he so eager to go? I know that boy loves me but I think his enthusiasm for escorting me to this function has more to do with the lavish cottage suite at the Hotel Park City that he gets to lounge in while I am off with my fellow chemists than my entertaining personality. These cottage suites are spacious and swanky and go for well over a $1000 a night during Park City’s peak season. With a private patio sporting a gas fireplace and Jacuzzi, it’s easy to see why people are willing to shell out the dough for these accommodations. Luckily, we got a great deal through the SCC’s group rate so we got to enjoy the hotel’s splendor for relative pocket change.

Our suite had its own private patio equipped with a fireplace and Jacuzzi. We sat out there sipping sparkling lemonade from fancy glasses while the brilliant night sky captivated us.
My golf team had the misfortune of being stuck with me. I pity the fool!
Jason decided to go mountain biking at Park City Resort while I was out golfing. Without my voice of reason he got exceptionally lost and ended up on some pretty treacherous terrain. What's pictured here is not that treacherous terrain but a lovely meadow he came across somewhere in the middle of it all.

A few days later we were off to St. George to attempt to see The Little Mermaid again at Tuacahn with Jason’s parents. Those of you that regularly follow my blog may recall that we got rained out when we tried to watch this show in July. We had decided to make a special trip to St. George just to give seeing this production one more chance because we had heard so many impressive things about it. As fate would have it, however, another thunderstorm was right on cue to ruin our fun again. Geez Luis! I would have been majorly disgruntled if we had driven 4 hours solely for the purpose of seeing this show but once more hadn’t been able to finish it. Fortunately, although the weather was constantly on the brink of causing havoc during the performance, the lightening that endlessly illuminating the sky to our northwest never moved in on us. It wasn’t until we were walking back to our car after the show that the heavens let it all loose. Disaster narrowly averted! And the musical was great, with some pretty creative special effects, so it was worthy of our second try.

Scuttle, the bird-brained seagull, was dressed in a full flock of feathers. What a great costume!
Heidi Anderson, who played Ursula, did a fantastic job. She was just the right combination of wicked and witty.
King Triton was a tall fellow; lengthy Jason appeared shrimpy next to him.

Although our retreat to St. George was quick, and we spent more of it driving than anything else, all that car time did allow us to chat with Sue and Keith quite a bit. And since we not only got to watch all of The Little Mermaid but also grab breakfast at The Bear Paw I’d say that it was a trip well spent. (The Bear Paw serves terrific French toast stuffed with brulee cream; I’d highly recommend gorging yourself on it.)

What a busy week spent traveling all over tarnation! But hey, between the green slopes of Park City’s summits and the red cliffs of Tuacahn we got a whirlwind tour of some of the best scenery in Utah not to mention the delight of great company and the pleasure of cultural enlightenment.

Rachel August 31, 2011 No Comments
 Categories

Recent Posts

Recent Comments
Blogroll