As the Desert World Began to Settle Down

Emily complained on Facebook a bit ago about how so many bloggers have stopped dishing about their lives and instead have started dishing advice on fashion or design or photography or cooking, which would be perfectly fine IF all of these bloggers were professional stylists or designers or photographers or chefs, but they're not.

But don't you worry. This blog will continue to chronicle the happenings of my life. In detail. Particularly of BIRTHDAY/SPRING BREAK 2011. Woo! *Cue images of girls with low self-esteem.*

Or this instead:

After running the half marathon five-mile race in Moab and hiking to Delicate Arch later that day, Steve and I set off for the Needles District of Canyonlands.

First up--a four-wheel drive only road in the Subaru Forester that took us to that overlook you see in the above picture. And that also gave us the below view of the river (one of the many times we'd view that river during the week).

But the real highlight of the Canyonlands portion of this epic adventure came the next day. We planned to hike a 14 mile loop through the Elephant Canyon and Chesler Park area of the park. No big deal given that it's a relatively flat trail and it was our only plan for the day.

There were few people on the trail that morning since it was a Monday, but we quickly discovered that we were on the trail with a person bearing incredibly WIDE feet. I was determined that we find the owner of these WIDE feet and proceeded to check the shoes of the few hikers who passed us by.

In the meantime, we saw a lot of rocks shaped like needles.

It wasn't until we entered the Chesler Park portion of the hike that I noticed a park ranger walking towards us across the wide meadow. His large stature and solid boots made me suspect that he was our suspect.

Chesler Park or The Place Where We Met Wide Foot

And indeed! He was the WIDE foot hiker ranger! I was a bit disappointed that our mystery was solved at mile 4 of this 14 mile hike. But quickly the Wide Foot Ranger provided us with a different riddle: he asked if we had seen a hiking couple along the trail. Again, we had a quick answer; we had indeed seen this vagabond-looking couple about five minutes earlier. And ever the Marine, Steve asked if the ranger was out searching for them. I imagined this outlaw-of-a-couple out in the wilderness escaping park rangers by day and sleeping under bushes at night and as I did, I began to sing under my breath, "Mannnnnn on the run" to the tune of "Band on the Run." Wide Foot Ranger ruined all imaginations--the man was merely sick and the ranger was worried about them. Boring story.

But instead, this encounter with Wide Foot Ranger birthed a week-long earworm that is still haunting my consciousness. As we hiked along the trail, we sang the chorus to "Band on the Run." As we cooked dinner, we sang the chorus to "Band on the Run." As we tried to fall asleep, we sang the chorus to "Band on the Run." ALL. WEEK. LONG. Complete with guitar riffs.

It became the soundtrack to not only the week, but also that 14-mile hike that turned into 18.6 miles.

And that story must wait until tomorrow.