Practicing Good Behavior

First, I want to thank everyone for being awesome. We're very happy and pretty psyched to be getting married! Now, we get to start planning the wedding (even though I not-so-secretly wish we could elope)!

It's going to be a little weird to just jump in and write about other things, when what I want to write is: We'regettingmarriedWe'regettingmarriedWe'regettingmarriedWe'regettingmarried
We'regettingmarriedWe'regettingmarried. For about 17 pages. But! I'll refrain and have a little bit of regularly scheduled programming. To ease the transition, I've uploaded this Kitty video.

This semester I'm taking a seminar through the MBA program called Leadership Through People Skills. It has been really interesting. While I've loved the MPC program, it hasn't had any management or leadership training*. So far my classes have focused mainly on marketing and public relations, which is good ... since the majority of us work in some form of marketing. But, I imagine quite a few of us want to continue to move up the ladder and will need to improve our management skills to do so. It isn't easy.

The seminar is rewarding, even if it is on Friday and Saturday, but emotionally draining. We have to go through multiple practice role plays with difficult personalities. During the role plays our classmates film us, and then we have to sit down and shut up while they critique us -- usually ripping our attempts to shreds.

Me pretending to be Q1
for a classmate to sharpen his skills

In the last couple of sessions, I think I made actual improvement in dealing with some of these different situations. And, of course, I want to be able to apply it in real life: at work and at home. This means that Boyfriend is now my live-in lab rat. The first weekend our teacher told us to go home and ruffle someone's feathers, and then try to use our Q4 skills to manage the behavior. Fortunately, I'm so good at being annoying I didn't even have to try to frustrate Boyfiren

I think the point of all this is that I would like to make my life and relationships better. As we go through class and watch the videos, most of us get rated as "Q1" behavior, which you want to avoid. When this happens, it is eye opening, but scary because I think this is how people perceive us all of the time. One guy in class pretty much outright said I'm a difficult person. I was trying to show restraint during the role play and he gave me credit for not being as mean as I normally am...

After sizing myself up in the seminar I think I fluctuate pretty regularly between Q1, Q2 with Q3 masking. Essentially, I'm bossy, then dismissive and if all else fails, I'll be chipper to smooth it all over.

Trying to manage a real-life case
with my classmate playing a Q3

Through this all, we come across as only wanting to stick to our own agendas and we don't have time to listen to others. It takes a lot of tearing down and intentional behavior to avoid this. It leaves me wondering if I have what it takes, or would I rather just revert to old habits?

Reverting to old habits would certainly be easier, but then will I get the same old results? And, like I said, not just in working relationships, but my interpersonal relationships too. I'd like to make an intentional shift, especially as I start a new transition and as Zach and I are merging our families. Maybe, this will make a difference or help me.

If you want to check out the seminar I've been working through you can go to this site or check out this book!

* To be fair to the communications program, I think some of the electives that I haven't taken did focus on management and leadership roles.   

Another Yellowstone Adventure

Boyfriend and I went to Yellowstone again this weekend. It was a short trip because I'm taking a Saturday class. Per usual, our trip was outstanding! Every time we visit Yellowstone we experience new things and as soon as we leave, I start planning our next adventure back.

This trip, though short, had a few distinct highlights. The first was our hike on the Howard Eaton Trail to the Lone Star geyser. When we got to the geyser, the sign said it erupted every three hours. We decided we would wait for about 15 minutes before turning around and hiking back. Almost as soon as we said that the geyser started to bubble and erupted, shooting steam and water 30 feet into the air.

It was really cool! And honestly, when we started Howard Eaten we didn't know we would find a geyser at the end. We just saw a sign near the trail that said, "Lone Star Geyser .3 miles." Since it wasn't far we continued on, I'm so glad that we did.

After the Howard Eaton trek, we jumped right into another adventure. We walked the Fairy Falls trail to get a better view of the Grand Prismatic Spring, by far one of the most amazing, non-wildlife, sites in the entire park.

Found this Boy in a tree! 

Oooh!

Aaaah!

Awe <3 comment-3--="">

Beautiful bird's nest!

After our two hikes, which probably totaled a solid 10+ miles, I was ready for something a little bit more low key. We went to the Midway Geyser basin pullout and walked along the river for a little while. About ten minutes into our walk I wandered off to show Boyfriend something by the Madison River, I was a few steps ahead of him when he said, "Maybe, show me when you have this," I ignored him and kept walking until I realized he wasn't walking anymore. I turned around and there he was, standing, then kneeling with a ring in his hand. Can you believe it?? I really couldn't. A little bit of me still can't! After he asked me to marry him, I made a really, really bad joke and said, "No..." he just stared at me. I told him I was teasing and bad at jokes and of course "yes!" and then after  some hugs, kisses and crying, we just sat and watched the river. It was so perfect. Just the two of us, nothing fancy and in our favorite place.

When we got back to camp, we got out a bottle of wine, now dubbed "engagement wine," and passed it back and forth (we didn't bring cups on this trip), while sharing what we were most looking forward to about our future. 

So....yeah. While nothing could top this, we did wake up early the next day to fulfill our lifelong dreams of seeing the wolves in Yellowstone. We have tried on multiple occasions to succeed in this task, but every time we try one of us (maybe me) gets really angry and scary in the mornings if you try to wake them up. This time we actually did it though! We were out of camp by 4:30 and into Lamar Valley by 5:50, plenty of time to scope out a spot. We waited for about an hour and a half before seeing anything. It was a freezing 25 degrees while we waited, but it was worth it once we spotted our first wolf. While the wolves we saw were far from us, we could clearly see 4 - 5 of them bedded down and starting to move around for the day. Based on their positions, I assume that they had been right under our noses the entire morning.

While small, in the following pictures, you can distinctly see the black wolf making its way up the hillside. The were bedded on the hill and near its base and one-by-one made their way up and over the top, where we think they had a kill, since each time a wolf walked over the hill, a flock of magpies would fly away, circle around and head back.

It was a wonderful trip. The wolves were amazing, but the best part was of course, the proposal and agreeing to marry my awesome boyfriend. I was shocked that he proposed, which made it even better. He even talked to my parents without me knowing and planned everything in secret. I still say, "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" every time I think about it. Boyfriend is great and we have a lot of fun together and of course, we love each other very much, even though its sappy and gross. Oh! And to clarify, I am still going to call Boyfriend, Boyfriend even though he is my betrothed. On occasion, maybe I'll call him Boyfriend Level 2, or BL2, since that sounds cool ...

Twelve Days of Date Night

The last couple of posts have been kind of downers. Way too many feelings. I'm going to avoid that this time.

Last September Boyfriend, who is amazing, started date night. He text me one day and said, "Do you have plans for this day (random day in September)?" When I said, "No." He said... "OK. We're going on a date." 

Thus, date night was born! We had so much fun on his impromptu date that we decided to make it "a thing". In this post, I'm going to list the dates we've done and my feelings on them. No! Not feelings, thoughts. The things I think. Some of these things were just passing one-time goes, but others are still around! So, maybe this post will come in handy on those days when you can't think of anything else to do with your special someone and give you some great date night ideas. 

September (Inaugural DATE NIGHT!)

• Paint Nite
• Cedars of Lebanon 
• This was one of my favorite Date Nights. It went so well! Paint Nite is incredibly fun and I recommend it to anyone. Frequently, there are Groupons for this that are two-for-one. You should get one! 
• Dinner this night was great too, if you haven't been to Cedars of Lebanon, you should check it out. It's a little pricey, but worth it. 

October

• After we made date night a thing, we decided we would switch months and that each month must include, 1) a new place to eat and 2) an activity neither one of us has done before. 
• I can't remember what we ate this time ... I'm kind of sad about it. We did a terrible job keeping track of all of our dates night ideas. I do remember our activity though, we went to Color Me Mine on 25th street to paint ceramics. This worked out doubly well for me, since I forgot to pick up our pieces until December, so I gave them to Boyfriend as a Christmas present. 

November

• In November, Boyfriend was in charge and he decided to combine dinner AND our activity.
• Brewvies in South Salt Lake. While I had a lot of fun and enjoyed the movie and the idea of being able to enjoy a meal and a drink in the theater, it is poorly executed. The food is waaaay overpriced. We paid $9 for a gross salad for me and $11 for chicken fingers for Boyfriend. Neither one of us finished our meal. I hear the Movie Grill in Ogden does a better job -- roomier seats, better environment, etc. So, we may check that out. 

December

• Zoolights and Blue Iguana
• I loved Zoolights! This is an annual thing, go this year if you get the chance! The animals were much more active in the evening, we heard the lions roaring and ...other stuff. It was cold but fun! And, the night ended with a bang! I was running around and turned and almost ran right into my ex-brother in-law and parents in-law. It was terrifying. I don't recommend that part.
• After Zoolights we went to Blue Iguana. I broke the rules here. Blue Iguana was already one of our favorite places to eat. We hadn't been there in awhile and I thought it would be fun to go. We love their food and they have good vegetarian and vegan options, though I mostly pig out on the chips and salsa. 
• I'm pretty sure after dinner we went to the Christmas lights in Temple Square and I tricked Boyfriend into going to City Creek so I could try on dresses for his cousin's wedding. 

January

• This time Boyfriend piggy backed off the fact that we were already in SLC for Comic Con. 
• For dinner we went to some fancy Mexican place. I really wish I could remember the name, but I can't. They had great rice and I ate cheese for the first time in a long time because I was sick of Boyfriend complaining about it all the time. 
• After dinner we went ice skating at the Gallivan Center. Initially, I thought this was a great idea and would be so much fun! But, it turns out that Boyfriend is a really, really bad ice skater. It was still fun. We made it around the rink ...at least once. Probably. 

February

• I, um, can't remember where we ate this time. Sometimes, I suck.
• For our activity we went and saw a documentary about Humpback Whales at the Clark Planetarium. Now, you may be thinking this sounds really lame, but .. it wasn't. It was awesome. Boyfriend and I are both nature nerds though, so we are biased to like nature-nerd documentaries. 

March 

• I wrote about March before when I got my tattoo.
• For lunch we went to Zest in downtown Salt Lake. It was good but not great. I'm not sure I would recommend it. It was a little too hip for me. I'm not that hip.
• For the activity, I got a tattoo. I don't recommend repeating this either. I love my tattoo, but if you plan a secret date ... maybe don't plan it around the other person permanently marking their flesh unless you know them really well ;)

April 

• I had been planning something else for awhile, but when I heard that Cirque du Soleil  was coming to Salt Lake, I jumped on it.
• For dinner we went to Eva's Bakery, a little shop with some really good food. We discovered them at the farmer's market, where they sell their bread, and decided to visit their location. 
• After dinner we went to the show, it was called Varekai and about Icarus.  

May

• This is the month where things started to go downhill. 
• Dinner was at a place called Stoneground. Someone that Boyfriend works with recommended it. It seemed OK in the beginning, but it was awful. We got pasta, which cost about $20 a plate and was nothing special. And, the service was bad. The waiters were cold, distant and rude. In the hour or so we were there, no one even came back to refill our water. 
• After dinner we went to Off-Broadway Theater in Salt Lake. I'll admit, I had wanted to see a play here, but five minutes after the Revengers started, a spoof on the Avengers, I wanted to leave or gouge my eyes out. It wasn't funny. The characters over acted and the jokes were dull. I hated it. 

June

• June was another bomb. I wrote about this in La-la-la-goooon. 
• Boyfriend got sick, we ate at Arby's. That is really all I need to say. 

July

• July wasn't exactly bad, it just wasn't great. The food was good, we went to a Mediterranean restaurant that  was fast casual. then we went to Shakespeare in the park. The acting was actually pretty good for community theater, but we couldn't hear anything because they had no sound equipment. We left at intermission. 

August

• After three months of crappy-ass dates, I knew that we needed to pull out of this rut. I bugged asked everyone at work for good ideas. I had tossed a few things around, when Kent pulled up the aviary. He wanted to take his daughters, 6 and 2, to see the birds. I thought this was a great idea and so I based date night on plans that a toddler had. 
• It turns out, the aviary is awesome. We both loved it. Like I said earlier, we are both nature lovers, but I don't think you have to be to love it here. We saw itty-bitty baby quail and heard some swans having a rap battle. 

• For lunch, we went to Even Stevens sandwiches. The food was awesome! We are planning on going back later this week! There are so many things to try here and they have sandwich and beer pairings, my favorite things combined. 

Go do both of these things on your next date night. August was a win. So, the pressure is on next month for Boyfriend and the official start of Date Night: Year Two. 

Sometimes, I'm a butt head

Lately, I've been a bit of a butt head. Shocking!!! Because usually I'm so calm. Some of it is probably due to stress and being over-tired from work and school. Some of it has started to come up as Boyfriend and I move forward. I'm going to write about some of it here so I don't keep it bottled up, it's called "processing."

So, what does being a butt head involve?? Mostly, a lot of jealousy, snippishness and insecurities poking into my daily life, causing a ruckus. Some of these fears are leftover from my past and my horrendous marriage.

When I was younger, I never worried about people or families accepting me. Of course I didn't get along with everyone, but for the most part I assumed it was a given that people should be nice. My ex-in-laws and ex-husband destroyed this notion pretty quickly. My ex-mother in-law makes Professor Umbridge look like a doll and my ex-husband makes Sauron seem saintly.

In the short year I was married, I had never struggled with myself so much. It felt like nothing I did was ever right, I was constantly apologizing for offenses my mother in-law engineered, beating myself up and comparing myself to others.

During my marriage, when things were bad, my ex-husband used to tell me no one else would love me or know how to "deal" with me. He would ask rhetorical questions like, "Do you honestly think if you divorce me your family will still love you? If they know what you're really like?" I believed him. I was so scared and embarrassed. He had turned a marriage, where everything is shared, into a blackmail, hostage situation.

Believing him for a second was a second too long, but this went on for months until in December 2013 I realized I didn't care what he did anymore. I was exhausted. Even if no one loved me, I was still moving back to Utah. To be alone, to be whatever. An old boss had offered me a job so I knew I wouldn't starve.

Of course things turned out much better than this. After I left my ex made good on his "threats" and constantly messaged my family and friends to tell them how I awful I was. He mostly showed them what a jerk he really was.  My family supported me. They were thrilled and my mom said she's never been so happy as when I left him.

And, for the most part, I'm fine and moving on.

An example of a Boyfriend joke,
 drawing dinosaurs on the dressing room doors while I shop.
He is both funny and cute.

But, every once in awhile, and with stress more now than before, I find my old insecurities and gun-shy tendencies creeping up -- what if Boyfriend's family doesn't like me? What if I can't do anything right? What if he wishes I was someone else? What if I mess everything up?

During these times I again find myself apologizing for everything and beating myself up for being too fat, too ugly, too dumb, too silly, too clumsy, too much of everything awful. And it isn't just with Boyfriend. It hurts my relationships with friends and my own family.

Boyfriend is really great, but not perfect. He does his best to help me, but after awhile my insecurities start to affect us and chip away. Instead of laughing at his jokes and spending the day snuggling on the couch, I snap because of little things and start a fight or apologize and start crying.

I want to let us, be us without the past rearing its ugly head. I want to be able to learn from my marriage and let it make me stronger. To be fair, in a lot of ways it has. My friend Kent says that I could write my own relationship book based on the good things I have learned from the bad things I went through, and maybe he's right. I just need to implement what I've learned instead of reverting.

My goals are going to be focus on the small, good things that are going on right now. Take time to rest and not be overrun by school and work, when I get tired I'm more likely to do poorly (I think this is universal, right? Tired = grumpy).

Counseling isn't out of the question but it isn't an option I want to pursue right now. I had some really good help during and after the divorce and I don't think I need to go back right now. I'm going to be more mindful and maybe download an app or something, and of course listen to Katy Perry.

I'm a firm believer that there isn't anything Katy Perry can't fix, so I'm going to listen to her songs on repeat, especially Love Me, from her Prism album. Because, duh.

Eventually I want to be as happy in life, as Kitty is in this ray of sunshine!

New Insights and New Projects

This post may be a little too introspective for most people, and that's OK. Skip it!

I had a talk with my ex recently. It was dumb to respond to him, but sometimes I'm dumb, so I did. It's great. After our "discussions" I'm usually pretty grumpy and ready to stew. He was really bad at a lot of things, but reminding me exactly why I am happy he is my ex has never been one of those things.

I made the mistake of telling him that we weren't ever going to be friends, but we shouldn't be enemies, which was clearly wrong. Here is a summary of his response: I have not been thinking about what you think/feel about me in the slightest. You got what you wanted and I have been trying to avoid any trigger that would bring you into thought. I have come to terms with my actions, my past inability to see truth in others*, and knowing that I have no control over others' actions toward me**.

So, just as I was starting to bristle at his self-righteous response I realized something... he's right, "You got what you wanted".

I got what I wanted out of this, and more. Yes, it sucks having someone you were married to hate you, but that's small change in comparison to the trade off. The trade off for me being, I don't have to spend the next 60 years in a miserable marriage, so why would I feel bad or guilty now that I got out of it?

I got out of a dangerous situation before permanent damage was done for either of us (i.e. kids!), I got to move back home, be close to my family. I got to find a great job with amazing people and eventually find a great Boyfriend who accepts me just as I am. So, yeah, despite everything else, even the really shitty times, and anything else that might be said, I got what I wanted and I'm really happy with where my life is.

One hundred percent moved on isn't going to be an overnight thing and maybe sometimes I'll still be a little bit bummed, but I'm moving forward from 1) Yes, having gotten exactly what I wanted and 2) being happy with those choices and where they have placed me.

And, that brings me to my next point!

New Project

For awhile, since I stopped cooking a lot, I have been struggling to find purpose for my blog. As much as I love complaining about ... well, everything ... no one is getting anything out of it, not even me.

The book! The book! 

I'm going to be redoing this blog soon, as part of a personal branding project for school. I'm going to be adding a personal portfolio and professional profile as the main website and this blog will be sectioned off as a smaller part of that. I will also do a better job of breaking it off into different subjects and highlighting areas of interest.

Anyways ... As part of this refocus, I decided to sign-up for an online non-fiction writing course and to buy a step-by-step writing guide to keep me on track and give me some purpose. I'll try to keep a regimen and work at a regular pace with a set schedule as I develop some personal essays.

I was inspired by my former professor and friend Becky Jo, who went to writing workshops and created some really wonderful blog pieces, and later published essays, based on her personal experiences. As I said, mine will be clearly marked! You can skip the sappy stuff.

As I go through this process, maybe people will continue to not get something out of these posts. But, for now, I will and that is really all I care about with this project.

*he means me
**he means me

Food & Wine Extravaganza!

This might be my longest post ever. We went to the Park City Food & Wine Festival this weekend and it was a ton of fun, not the event itself ... but being with Boyfriend.
First, I want to write a short review of the event itself and why we felt it was lackluster. Then, I will catalog everything that happened when we there.

Park City Food and Wine Festival 2015

Last year the event was hosted at the Canyons. The setting was wide open, there were vendors spread out across the field and an assortment of food options. This year it was at Deer Valley.

Despite how much I love to complain,
I will not complain about the view up there.

To start, this instantly put us at a disadvantage. The rooms at the Canyons seemed pricey last year at ~$200, this year it wasn't even an option to stay on location since the rooms started at $300 (THESE ARE THEIR SUMMER PRICES). So, instead of staying on location, which was extremely convenient last year, we had to find a hotel downtown and ride the bus up to the Montage.

The event itself was cramped and poorly organized. The staff was not very helpful and the organizers had split up the vendors, so that half of them were up on the veranda and the other half were down on the grand lawn. The vendors themselves we nice, but the food was much more limited. Instead of having additional food from Park City, the hosts brought in more of their own. There was the Deer Valley Montage kitchen and the Montage kitchens from their locations in South Carolina and California. It is the Park City Food and Wine festival ... not the Montage food festival.

Because it was so out of the way and so spread out during the event, this year palls in comparison to last year's event. I wish I could say better things about it, since we HAVE been looking forward to it all year but, sadly, we were both incredibly underwhelmed.

Now, I want to move on to telling you about the good things that actually happened to us while we were there, or maybe not even good things. Just ... things.

Getting There

Like I said, getting to the festival this year already presented us with a challenge. This becomes even more difficult if you do not prepare in advance.

Transit Center!

We thought it would be fairly simple to ride the bus from our hotel to the main transit center and hook up with the Deer Valley connection, which we did. Unfortunately, the Deer Valley connection was the wrong bus for Montage Deer Valley. So, we rode all the way up and then back to the main transit center so that we could hop on the Empire line to Montage Deer Valley. I don't know if that is a check against them ... or us.

The Main Event: The Toast of Park City

After we checked in to the event and got our wristbands, we headed out to the veranda and were a little surprised to see only about five wine vendors and Whole Foods as the food vendor (even though the hummus they were serving was delicious). We were frustrated and grumpy when we saw the event was split and we had to wait in another huge line to get to the bigger part of the event.

We look so nice! I spilled coffee on
Boyfriend's other shirt ... so
we bought this really nice one! Win-win!

Here is the part I don't understand-- they had everything blocked off. We weren't allowed to use the stairs and we were all being herded into one elevator, even though there were another five available. Event staff was everywhere and we had to dump our wine out before heading into one of the hallways, and we still couldn't get on our own elevator or head down the stairs. Is it snotty to say that if I'm paying $175+ per ticket, I expect a little bit more? Better organization! Better service! Let me hold my wine while I wait in line!

Lastly, I would like to complain that the event, which went from 2:30 to 6, had last call at 5:50 and I'm certain they stopped pouring before then thus not grasping the concept of last call ...

Getting Fed

Delicious! 

The majority of the vendors were fairly accommodating. More than that actually, they were great and friendly, even if for them that meant when they took the bison out of the bison taco they were really just handing me an itty-bitty two-inch tortilla,  with a smile!

Except ... for this one guy and his crew. They were making barbecued pork sandwiches with pickled onions on chibatta buns. When I inched up and requested a vegetarian one, he looked at me dismayed, exasperated and just flat-out confused before yelling, "It's PORK?!?! You just want some onions???" I nodded and said, "Yeah! Just onions." He rolled his eyes and about 15 seconds later a girl brought me a pickled onion sandwich.

Honestly, the most annoying part of this whole exchange was how funny Boyfriend thought it was. For the next hour he would randomly reenact the scene and yell out, "It's PORK!" then start laughing.

Wrapping Up

Laying in the shade. That lady in the picture
yelled at me for wearing white to a
wine tasting.

After an hour or so, we were ... um ... tired. We needed a rest. So, I found us some shade, which happened to be directly behind the High West Distillery tent, to take a nap in. I didn't notice that every single person ordering a drink from High West had to look at me sprawled out behind the tent...until some very friendly gentleman started laughing, took a picture, gave us a thumbs up and left. 

By the time last call came around, I think we were ready. I felt good. Not too full and not really that drunk. I think the "not too drunk" is the one good thing about there being less vendors. I was able to pace myself, take that small napping break and feel OK. 

Getting Home ... 

Getting home was the best and worst part of the evening. We took the bus up to Deer Valley, as their website advised. Somehow there was a disconnect ... the buses stopped running at 4 p.m., meaning no bus would be coming to take us back down the mountain. Additionally, we lacked cell phone service so we couldn't call anybody.

Driver John! So nice! Such a great
driver too!

Our friends! Whose names I do not know. They
were also very nice. I would hitchhike with them
10 times out of 10!

So, what did we do? We started walking and stuck our thumbs out along the way. Actually, Boyfriend did since I'm not a huge fan of interacting with strangers. We'd been walking about ten minutes and our group had grown by two, we started talking to two girls who faced our same dilemma, when finally I stuck out my thumb. I was sick of every single car (with only one person in it!!!) passing us by. 

I don't want to sound vain, which is hard because I am, but the first time I stuck my thumb out a guy stopped. It was great. Like magic. Probably coincidence ... but I'm going to take the credit anyway. 

The guy who picked us up was really nice. He had just finished trail running and was actually just in town for work. I've never hitchhiked before, but ... since it was a great experience I'll probably look into this as a more regular form of transportation.

As soon as we got back to the hotel, we went to bed. It was only 6:30, so we woke up at 12:30 and now our sleeping schedules are incredibly off-kilter.

I'm not sure if we will go to the festival again if it is at Deer Valley next year. Though they have other events that I would like to check out instead of the Toast of Park City. Maybe we will do a stroll or something. 

I ran into a door during our
"be wide awake at midnight" adventure
because I refused to turn on the lights.

Hiking, Fireworks and Freedom!

Happy 4th of July everyone!

This morning Boyfriend and I did something pretty much unheard of. We woke up and left the house before 7 a.m., on a weekend!

For like ... a year, I have been promising Boyfriend I would take him to the Uinta Mountains -- an area in the northeastern part of the state with hundreds of miles of hiking trails and high mountain lakes. Since it is only a ninety minute drive, I was really slacking for not having taken him there yet.

I'm so glad we finally went! As soon as we entered the forest area Boyfriend declared that it, "looks like Yellowstone!" his favorite place in the world and that, "it's super close to us!" So, I think we'll be spending a few more days up there this summer.

We hiked to Island Lake, starting at the Crystal Lake trail head, we were looking at about a seven-mile round trip trek. For the most part the trail was pretty clearly marked, at one point we came to some low cliffs that we could see the lake from. We decided to scramble down to the lake from there and save ourselves some time.

After some intrepid adventuring through the woods, we came to the lake. Except, it was the wrong lake. We left the trail and completely bypassed our turn to Island Lake, ending up at Lake Weir. So, efficient as we are, we added about another mile to mile and a half to our overall trip.

When we finally made it to Island Lake, we stopped for maybe thirty seconds and then in an anti-climatic turn of events just headed back down the trail. My family was spending the day at Mirror Lake and we wanted at least an hour or two to hang out with them.

Unfortunately, somewhere along the way we entered a time warp:
time warp (noun)
1. any distortion of space-time
2. (General Physics) a hypothetical distortion of time in which people and events from one age can be imagined to exist in another age
3. an illusion in which time appears to stand still

For us, it is that first definition. We had been going at a fairly quick pace and made almost no stops, we both thought we were on the trails two and half to three hours. We were shocked when we got back to the car and saw we had been out for almost five hours! If you are thinking it was our ill-conceived detour that led to this massive amount of time lost, then you're wrong. The best fitting explanation is a supernatural, wibbly-wobbly time warp. We are looking into contacting the History channel to discuss our experience.

Aside from the space-time inconsistencies, it was a wonderful day in the mountains. I love that Boyfriend, who is getting his master's in environmental law, loves the outdoors as much as I do and that we can spend so much of our time enjoying it together. He's pretty great. If he could keep up with my fast pace for the duration our hikes he'd be pretty much perfect.

Tonight, we are going to hit the trails again, though a much less intense version, and go to the foot trails to watch the fireworks shows.