The Curious Incident of the Ravens at Mid-day-time

HeLLLOOOO, Spring. Nice to see you. You make me so happy inside.

This past weekend, Joe and I got to go on a really fun camping/hiking/jeeping trip with my Uncle Dave, Cousin-in-law Mark, his 7-year-old son Caleb, Tom, and Lauren.

We left Wednesday night in Stella with Tom and Lauren in the back, while White Trash heroically carried Dave, Mark, Caleb, and seven peoples'-worth of gear. We got to Canyonlands (about 5 hours southeast of Provo) around midnight and therefore just set up our sleeping bags out under the stars. Which would have been awesome, except that it was 43 degrees. I didn't sleep too well because Joe and I had brilliantly decided to zip our sleeping bags together because then we could snuggle and be warmer, right? Well actually, it just made it so that we couldn't utilize the mummy bag feature of draw-stringing the top tightly around your head to keep cold air from coming in. The next morning warmed up real nice though and Joe made his famous Chambers' McMuffins (which don't, in fact, have anything to do with muffins. Or Mc.) of sausage, egg, and cheese on a hamburger bun for everyone. Next, we headed toward Elephant Hill with one goal in mind: TO FULFILL MY LIFE-LONG DREAM OF DRIVING STELLA OVER IT. Or at least that's been my dream since I got Stella 15 months ago. Well I am happy to report that my mission was accomplished (I only stalled like >4 times. Way less). And Lauren didn't die. Win-Win.


We then set up our campsite at Devil's Kitchen and went exploring in the rocks and cliffs nearby. I am always so amazed at the view, every time I go. It is so surreal and pictures just don't do it justice.

Well, when we got back from our little exploring adventure, there was stuff scattered all around. Lauren's bag was all opened up and spilled out on the ground, the paper towel roll was peppered with holes, and, alas, the 7 lb. bag of Black Forest gummy bears was being FEASTED UPON BY A MURDER OF RAVENS! I think "murder" is the term used to describe a quantity of crows, but it is fitting here. Even though we thought we had adequately sealed up all our food, it seems we neglected to read the posters at the visitors center which warned of ravens being very aggressive and able to unzip bags and knock lids off trash cans to find food. It was a sad, sad moment and the gummy bears were sorely missed.

I made taco soup adapted from Pika's dutch oven recipe for dinner and it was a big hit, although I later regretted putting so many chili beans in...

Friday, we jeeped over to the joint and hiked from there to Druid arch. It ended up being an eleven mile hike and I was exhausted afterward, but it was beautiful. For dinner, Dave cooked up canned soup buffet. It's amazing how hungry you get camping and I'm pretty sure we finished most of them off.

Saturday we went on a short hike and then jeeped over to the confluence (where the Green River joins the Colorado River), and then saw newspaper rock on our way out of the national park. The 5 hour drive home wasn't bad at all, as the weather was overcast and a bit rainy. Driving home in an un-air-conditioned car mid-day in the sun would not have been fun.

Overall, it was a really fun trip, and it was so fun to take Joe there and hang out with Tom and Lauren, Mark, Dave, and Caleb.

Yay for camping!
Yay for Stella going over Elephant Hill!
Yay for the rat poison we injected into gummy bears and left for the ravens!

Ok just kidding about that last one... we forgot to bring rat poison so there's no way we could've done that. Only imagined it fondly.

Peace.