The Last Hurrah: Day Two

Hickman Natural Bridge

(I should be packing, but writing a blog post is a good avoidance tool).

I don't know what it was about the two hikes we did on Saturday, but they killed me. I blame it on the sun and lack of shade and warmer temps and soft sand. All of those seem like completely plausible reasons for my lameness.

Hickman Natural Bridge was cool because it provided shade under the arch. Paul also made friends with some lady who was driving a U-Haul from Madison, WI to San Diego. She was the first of many friends that Paul would make on this trip.

After the bridge, we started a U-shaped hike that was somewhere between 8-11 miles. No one seems to really know. I'm going to say it was 11 miles since that makes my lameness not as lame.

Christian, me, Paul, Bryanne, and Steve | Photo courtesy of Steve

 But it provided some great views of Capitol Reef, taking us up and up and up and down to Cassidy Arch before dropping us into Grand Wash for the walk back to one of the cars.

Wolf's Tooth

Christian, Paul, and Steve taking a break and a look.

Christian venturing on what he referred to as his "moon walk."

The gang atop Cassidy Arch | Photo courtesy of Steve

Cassidy Arch heading towards the Grand Wash.

I love the West for views such as this very one.

In the Grand Wash.

And while the hiking was great, dinner that night at Cafe Diablo was memorable. On the hike, Christian was asking all of us about our most memorable food experiences. All I could think about was how I wanted a Slurpee, which is not terribly memorable. But dinner that night was really time and food worth savoring--a perfect combination of scenery, great weather, food, and company. I'm still thinking about that chocolate bomb of a dessert I ate with the homemade black cherry ice cream. Oh man.

There is also something about being out in nature (or on vacation) that makes the whole world loosen up a bit. Somehow it's easier to strike up conversations with total strangers when you're eating good food or trekking across the desert together. Maybe it's one of the many reasons I like that nature time so much; we all tend to have a bit more time (myself included) to be a bit kinder. And so it really shouldn't have been a surprise that after we picked up a couple who was hitchhiking back to their car (that turned out to be 10 miles away), they showed up at the restaurant that night and kicked in $60 towards our tab. I like stuff like that. But then, who doesn't?

Really just one great day.