Summer adventures abound

Where have I been?

A little bit here:














Antelope Island, SLC, UT. I'm quickly developing a fondness for this place, some pretty good ST and beautiful scenery.


And here:




















Yellow Fork Trail, Oquirrh Mountain area UT. Nice and steep. However, it's a shared trail with horses - which combined with rainy weather can lead to copious amounts of horse poop and mud getting jammed in SPD pedals - hence the 'turtle' action in this pic.


And here:




















Peek-a-boo Slot Canyon, Escalante UT. My first attempt at canyoneering. Ever. Gorgeous, but this trip was a bit scary for me. Looking forward to another attempt at climbing around in slot canyons to see how I fare.

And, very briefly, here...




















Another nice shot from Escalante, UT at the Spooky slot canyon entrance...


I do feel compelled to write about my summer adventures, but when it comes to writing my stories, I find myself driven to the outdoors rather than the computer screen. So I give to you the ADHD method of documentation. That's right, PICTURES! And thanks to my good friend, Jared Hargrave, video.

When I take the time to slow down a bit, I'll do a better job of telling you about where the good stuff is; because trust me - I'm finding it. In the meantime, surf my links.

Today's lesson, "B"

It occurred to me this weekend while peddling up switchbacks on Antelope Island, that this season, all my favorite things start with the letter "B."

1. Bikes
2. Beers
3. Boy (Jason, of course!)
4. BBQ
5. Beauty

It makes for a very nice mantra as I'm plodding along through life.

Staying Alive - with Mike

I've blogged about Mike before. He's part hero, part funky but mostly a good excuse to party like a chicken with your head cut off. Literally.

I wasn't going to miss Mike the Headless Chicken Festival this year. Too many years had passed since I had stood in the square outside city hall to "celebrate a long history of open minds."

The air in Fruita was a sweet mix of Russian Olive trees, desert dust and cheap beer, but the festive vibe of hundreds of people gathered for disco influenced line dancing with a man in a chicken suit was the perfect backdrop for the eclectic experience this town is known for....It was good to be home.

I sat back and reminisced with Sally, my talented aunt who is one of the founders of the festival and the hired guns behind the artistic themes for each year, trying to guess how many Peeps would be consumed and how the festival has grown. Stopping buy Mike's Store, I made sure to pick up a Mike Wear tank top with the official USDA Funky Chicken Grade trademark stamp.

My camera did not make the trip this year, so I was forced to try and capture the evening with my trusty iPhone. The results, not as I'd hoped.

But even if I did have a commercial grade camera at my side, this is an experience that could never be captured with a lens. This trip is a must do.

And if you are going to venture to Fruita to celebrate Mike, do yourself a favor and take your bike to experience the best mountain biking in the west. Or go see my friends at Over the Edge Sports and rent one. You'll be glad you did.

Good memories come from bad ideas

There are two phone calls I look forward to every year. The first is my dad calling to sing me "Happy Birthday." The second call is my dad calling to ask me if I'm going to take my small sedan to Jeep Safari Weekend in Moab, UT.

While the first call is obvious, the second deserves explanation. You see, I'm the poster child for the phrase, "There's a time and a place for everything. It's called college."

To demonstrate. In the spring of 1997, I loaded up a couple of my Utah buddies, copious amounts of Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer and headed to Jeep Safari Weekend driving one of these:

Not one of these:
Which was no big deal for the portion of my journey that was from Price to Moab. Where I began to have troubles was when I used the 1985 Toyota Camry to negotiate jeep trails in Moab. After three days of driving from trails, to campsites, to town; I knew I had scraped bottom, but was otherwise not concerned about the state of my car.

After said weekend of testing my mad sedan driving skills, I went back home to Colorado. I was enjoying sleeping in at my parents house when the door burst open and my dad entered the room. "What. In. The. Hell. Happened. To. Your. Car?!"

I mulled it over, decided to come clean and then found out that the undercarriage and suspension had sustained over $1800 in damage and I was lucky to have made it home in one piece.

Now, every Easter weekend, on Friday, my dad calls me. "So. You heading to Jeep Safari this weekend?" and we laugh about my adventures as a college kid.

And you know what? It never gets old. That phone call is as important and joy filled to me as the happy birthday song I get every year in Feburary.

Inspiration from the Sun

A week after being on the White Rim trail, I'm still reminiscing of the sun on my face and the dirt in my teeth. While at times grueling and quite often cold, I would jump at the chance to hop on my bike and do the trip all over again (and again, and again).

I am inspired when I'm in the mountains, but this trip was exceptional. My riding pace often put me in position far behind the rest of my fellow riders, but far enough ahead of the support vehicles, that I was alone to take in the beauty of my surroundings and merge my body and mind into the ride. With skies as far as I could see and snowy mountain tops in the distance, I whispered to myself, "It's good to be alive."

Joy and excitement were accompanied with muscle fatigue and the worst case of ass pain I have ever had to negotiate, but it was all part of the experience. By coaxing myself through the tough stuff, I was able to mark my milestones of accomplishment....Riding a majority of the trip, climbing big hills and weathering the cold.

After four days of being surrounded by amazing friends and making new ones along the way, Matt, Arikka, Jared, Jason and I were all riding in the truck back to our car. We climbed, then coasted the rolling hills with big smiles on our faces while Eddie Vetter sang to us about the "Hard Sun."

At that moment that Jason said, "There are credits rolling behind us right now."

It was perfect. The perfect ending to the perfect trip...which provided me inspiration for this.





Photos Courtesy: Jared Hargrave, Jared Anderton, Adam Tolman, Arikka Fullmer, Matt Walker, Dave Hert.
Music Credit: Into the Wild Soundtrack

Ego is my copilot

Next weekend I'll travel with my bike and gear to tackle the White Rim in Canyonlands National Park.

It has been almost two years since I've seriously ridden a mountain bike. In fact, last weekend I took my new Specialized MTB for its christening run and succeeded in also providing the bike with it's christening crash (my new body mechanics are seriously messing with my center of balance --- clumsiness ensues).

I know my legs are not at peak performance, but I'm going on this trip anyway. I've had a couple of friends ask me how I'm going to ride 100 miles of trail when I am admittedly not quite ready.

The answer is this. I'm counting on my ego to keep my pedals going in circles while we ride along the desert floor.

I live to succeed and am powered by the drive to win. However, if I am not able to ride the entire length of the trail, I will take comfort in the fact that I have challenged myself to ride farther than I've ever ridden before.

My new challenge - Bikram

I made a strict promise to myself at the beginning of the year to find a physical outlet for both body and mind. To find a place where I would be able to challenge myself without feelings of inadequacy and competition.

I have found that challenge. It is Bikram Yoga.

It is not the relaxing, bendy yoga. This is 90 minutes of focus or die yoga in a 105 degree room with 40% humidity. It could be described as a breathing exercise consisting of 26 postures done in the same sequence.

I'm using it s a tool to reconnect my mind with my body and bring back the flexibility I have lost from the new hip replacement. My body still feels very foreign to me and it's important that I be able to feel more of the transitions it is making.

While I am still easing my way into the practice I have learned a few very important lessons. After completing a class, I feel completely cleansed and giggle at the way my body oozes steam as I walk outside on a cool morning. I had my first yoga religious experience through Camel pose a couple of weeks ago which sent tears streaming down my face...Now when I reach in to Camel, I smile and my entire body fills with joy and satisfaction. Most importantly, I have learned that a cluttered mind in this environment makes the practice impossible to complete and that lack of focus will bring waves extreme nausea and dizziness over my body.

It's 90 minutes of discipline, but at the same time it feels like an escape. I love the similarities to the dojo in that everyone in the room is stripped of our careers, houses and material things and for the class we are merely students.

While I'm there, the only mandate is that I dedicate the time to myself and that is the kind of challenge and activity that makes me dig deep and get to know myself better. And I'm really liking how it feels to dedicate this time to me...

Search and you shall find

I love the Interweb!

Plagued with solving the puzzle of figuring out how many plastic playpen balls will be needed to fill the kiddie pool we are using for a treasure hunt at work in a few weeks, I was once again reminded that Google is the provider of all things info.

I found this. An online calculator that will show you how many playpen balls it would take to fill an apartment.

YAY!

From desired packing density, to number of balls to cost to fill the room. While not nearly impressive as the amount shown in the diagram - I now know that I need only 200 playpen balls to do what I need to do.

Random - yes. Useful - yes, yes! And to boot, the cartoon that inspired the development of the calculator - also fun.

Check it.
Cartoon courtesy: xkcd

Hey Smart Ass!

Yes, still playing with the bathroom.

After waiting at home while Jason made four trips to the tile supply store and a lot of me just staring blankly at the wall, I was bored. And when I'm bored, I get feisty.

Jason, "Draw me a picture..."

Dani [shrug], "Ok."

My smiley guy with the 'hee hee' comment resulted in the paper and pen being taken away from me, but we both got a good chuckle out of it.

Built to last

This is it.

Left leg upgrade is now complete. It was January last year when this adventure began. I think of the whirlwind of emotions, complications and victories that have filled me since my decision to have the hip replaced and I'm finally able to look back and say, "Yup, I'm glad I did that."

However, with great upgrades, come great responsibility.

The other day while driving to the grocery store I noticed a man struggling to limp across the crosswalk in front of my car. I silently reminded myself I have been given a remarkable opportunity that freed me from my battle with pain - I need to not take it for granted. But I have, because I know I can do more.

So I'm writing this note to myself...

Dear Self,


Push more! Stop talking about all of the activities you want to do and DO THEM. Finish building the foundation you need to overcome your fear and get back into the activities you love. You have the green light to do whatever you feel you can physically tolerate, so get out there and hit it. You are stronger than you think and are not going to get hurt again. If you don't - you're letting it all go to waste.

Thank you,
Ms. Back-to-Badass-Dani

The frosty side of SLC

My back's a bit tired and the left side of my ass is frozen from the inside out, but I found the cold, quiet of the evening a much needed end to a busy day.

From opposite sides of the driveway come the sounds from Jason and I with our shovels...

Scrape, ka-thud.
Scrape, ka-thud.
Scrape, ka-thud.
(Pause, stretch, switch)
Scrape, ka-thud....

I looked up to see the tops of the trees and the mountain behind seemingly glimmering from the reflection of the clouds and city lights. Amazing. It's the beauty and quiet of a snowstorm that slows me inside a bit. I'm cold, but I'm calm and that's what I really need.