The funnest day I have had in a long time...

So about 2 weeks ago, me and my family were in dire straits. We had all been going 100 mph in different directions (work, vacations, camps, etc..). It was BAD! I hadn't cleaned my house for weeks because I was never home long enough to clean or even unpack from our last adventure. I had mountains of laundry (seriously, mountains) and my husband was an exhausted overworked mess. He said to me one night, "Can we just be done? Can we just stay home and not go anywhere for a few hours, maybe days?" Let me just say, he wasn't really asking-he was insisting that we slow down. I had also been feeling that we needed a break so I readily agreed that we were not going to plan anything else for the rest of the summer. Well, the the next day, my co-worker (who I love) asked if Todd and I wanted to go to Zion's National Park with them and do the Subway hike. If you aren't familar, it is a day hike that is limited to 80 people a day, so you have to have a permit several months in advance. Tough even to get a permit. So, of course, I immediately said yes and then realized I was going to have to try to convince Todd that it was worth a 5 hour drive on his only 2 days off in like 8 days. I told myself that even if he didn't want to go I would go by myself with my friends because I LOVE hiking and this seemed like as good a time as any. I held my breath after I asked him if he would go and as luck would have it, he loves hiking also and maybe was prompted to say that we could go. WE NEEDED THIS WEEKEND!! It was so much fun and quite the adventure. You may get bored.. but I have to record our story because someday I will forget all the silly, unbelievable details.

So to make our hike, we had to leave friday night. Todd had to work until 6:00 p.m. Yes, that is right. We had been so busy that we hadn't packed anything yet and had to get ready for the hike that night, pick up Jodi and Jantzen, load the car, arrange kids with Maddie (our dream come true), and head down south. We finally pulled away from SLC about 7:30 p.m. All was going well until about 9:00 ish. My friend, Jenni, who was also traveling down about the same time called me and informed me that they were having car problems and they didn't know if they should keep driving their car. I would have been so sad if she missed this hike that we were all looking forward to. We told them we would wait for them in Fillmore and then follow them, so if they broke down, we would be available to help. So at 10:00 p.m., we meet at Fillmore and discuss what is going to happen. We had no options.. They didn't feel like it would be a smart idea to drive the car any farther. It was too late to get a rental. We did not want to go without them, so we unloaded our Suburban and they unloaded their gear (4 persons in their car) and we proceeded to reload with bags on top fastened with bungees we bought at the Maverick. It took us awhile to get everything secured and all 8 people squished back in the car. I knew my husband would make it happen. It was a comical situation. Not once did anyone complain even though I know it must have been HE.. for the people in the back stuffed amongst all the gear for the hike.

About 11:30 p.m. we are on the road again, determined to make good time and be able to get a few hours of sleep before our early wake up call the next morning. Then at 11:35 ish or so we thought a bag fell off the top. Stopped, checked the bags, resecured them, carried on. Drove until about 11:41 p.m. then sound was heard like a bag being dragged along the freeway at 80 mph. Stopped, checked.. sure enough, a backpack (my backpack) was dragging along the road, still hooked somehow to the top rack. So after readjusting, we were on the road again at 11:45 p.m.

I would not be exaggerating if I said we stopped at least 4 more times because we thought bags came off. Then, right as we were getting close to our destination, it happened! A voice from the back of the suburban squeeked..."I think I heard something fall off the top!" We stopped and checked..yes, says Todd, something is missing. There is a hole in his wonderful pack job and a bag is gone.. HOLY FREAK!! Are you kidding me?? It's like 1:00 a.m. by now and we don't know at what point we lost the bag. So, we turn around and peer into the darkness. After driving a mere 100 yards or so, we spot a pink duffle laying off to the right side of the road..my other bag. It looked as if it had been hit by a car or dragged along the road, but otherwise all my belongings inside were unscathed. By this point we were all a bit delirious with the hilarity of our trip. BUT THE BEST WAS YET TO COME....

About at this point, another voice from the back of the suburban squeeks..."are you guys following a map with directions?" I was literally a bit offended. What did they think I was some idiot person driving to some remote place I had never been in the middle of the night, sleep-deprived? So I said, "Yes, we have a map with directions." and that is all I said. I was confident we were going the right way. Well, again, Stacy was mistaken. It wasn't until we had actually left Zion's National Park boundaries that the little voice in the back said ..."mmm.. I don't think we are going the right way.." We stopped, I showed him the map. He showed me where we were and where we were supposed to be. OH MY FREAKIN FREAK!! It was about 2:30 in the morning and I had just added another hour onto our trip. Oh ya.. I was so popular. Actually, no one even got mad, we just had to chuckle or we might have gone insane. So we finally pulled in to our "campsite" about 3:30 a.m. and threw out our sleeping bags and went to sleep about 4:00a.m.

When we awoke at 7 a.m. we realized that our "campsite" was nothing more than a gravel pit in a burned out part of the park. For real, we slept in a gravel parking lot. It was so par for the course for our trip thus far that we all just laughed.

We packed up and actually started hiking about 8:30 a.m. And it was seriously so awesome. The group we went with was so fun--we laughed the entire time. Despite the way the trip down went, there was no problems or serious injuries on the hike. Todd and I would have done it again the next day if we could have. The whole weekend was the best...even the drive down because it was so unreal. It just made the weekend even more unforgetable.

So here are a few of the most memorable shots...

Our superb camp site at 7 a.m. (day of hike)

Our fun group

Beginning of the hike, taking sand out of our shoes.

This is right before we dropped down into the slot.  It was so awesome.

Wendy, me, Jenny

The climb down into the canyon.

The trail down into the subway slot canyon is the rocks behind Clay who is in the background of the picture.  It was really fun coming down into the canyon, kinda steep, but really fun.

I am not sure why I posed this way--could be a felt victorious and brave because I had made it down into the canyon without killing myself.  This was the first water in the slot...much more to come.

Wendy, our fearless leader, being silly.  

Our first swim...thought i might die of freezing or drowning or both...