Arches

In the order seen on the hike:

Though “Devil’s Garden” is a very cool name, I wouldn’t give the devil credit for anything as amazing as the scenery in this park.

With all the rocks and arches to look at, I found myself interested in dead trees. Interesting, no? I only wish I’d framed this shot better. Doesn’t do the tree justice.

Here’s Double O… though I cropped out the other O below the main one (it was obscured by shadow anyhow.)

Back at the camp site that night… I love this shot of the skyline at dusk.

Friday afternoon, Jesse, Mar, Shawn, Mel, and myself headed out to go to camping in Arches for the weekend. We hit Sam Hawk on the way south, mmm… Beautiful idea, what better way to start a weekend getaway than with great food? We ended up not getting to the camp site till close to 10pm. We met Jeff and Megan (Mini) there who had already set up camp and gotten a fire going. They brought a huge tent— all 7 of us fit comfortably inside, we probably could have put a few more people in there if we wanted to.

It was a blast. From hiking to several of the arches (most notably Double O— we didn’t have time to hike to Delicate Arch so we just climbed up a lookout point at sunset) to just having a great time around the camp fire, it was a great weekend. We cooked burgers and hot dogs and marshmallows (among other things) over the fire; Jeff brought his guitar and played while people sang along. Heh, the best was when he played “Hit Me Baby One More Time” and everyone sang along (except maybe me and Shawn, we didn’t know the words). In any case, it’s actually a decent song when done acoustic like that by someone who can actually sing.

Later Saturday night I read a few stories from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark… Very nostalgic and fun to get some people a little creeped out around the camp fire. Of course, then there was that bit that I knew was coming.

Back in August I went with Jeff, Jesse, and Megan to The Gorge in Washington to see Jack Johnson play, and on that trip there was a lot of senseless, silly laughter. You know, the kind where there’s nothing really that funny going on but you’re laughing until your eyes water and your stomach hurts because other people are laughing and it’s just contagious. Well Megan has an infectious laugh, and on that trip we did a lot of laughing on the road. I kind of suspected there’d be some laughter on this trip too since Jeff and Megan would be there.

When camping, the silliness always seems to hit when everyone is settling down to sleep in their tents. This is of course when me, Jeff and Megan had the giggles hit. This time around Shawn got sucked in and he was laughing along with us… Words can’t really describe it. Pointless but thoroughly enjoyable laughter. I’m sure the others, if they were awake, were annoyed with our antics, but dang it was fun. According to Megan, “best laugh ever.”

Did I mention the weather was perfect, the sky clear and the scenery beautiful? Thanks Jeff for reserving the camp site and for everything else.