I’ve been procrastinating writing this post… because this is one of my favorite places and days of all time and I don’t know how to put it into words. So I’m just going to tell some stories.
It started the night before when we decided we wanted to be “those cool people.” You know the ones… the ones that stay out crazy late at the parks and take awesome lighting shots of the night sky. Well, I found out I’m not really cut out for those shots. Mostly for the fact that I had a small baby on me who I thought was going to be eaten by one of the psychotic supersized jackrabbits we had seen on the trails earlier. I digress.
We waited until dark and scoped out the perfect arch to make the magic happen. I didn’t know the fear that would overtake me as we walked along the pitch black trail. Then my husband pointed to where I needed to walk to, it was terrifying. The picture makes it look like it was dusk but I assure you it was not!
Trying for a few star pictures I heard howling off in the distance. We didn’t stay long. On our way back to the car down the trail, lit only by the flashlight on our dying cellphones, at one point we made a wrong turn and completely lost the trail. It dawned on us, here we were, deep in a cold and dark national park with lions and tigers and bears (just go with it), no one within earshot, and no cellphone reception to call for help. It was probably only a couple of minutes until we found the trail again, but to me, life as we knew it was over. Once we found the trail again, thankfully it was smooth sailing until we got back to our car.
Having just lived through a somewhat terrifying situation, we got in the car and typed in the address for the AirBnB we were to stay at that night. To add to the eerie-ness of the night, when we were close to our destination, Google maps had us turn down a dirt road into a deeply wooded area until we came upon a clearing with a couple small human-sacrificing wood shacks. I mean houses.
As we were approaching the home it was mostly silent in our car… “Is that an alter?” I finally asked J. We kept driving. “Does that sign say no trespassing” J asked me. We kept driving. “Are those old rusted carnival rides?” I asked J. We kept driving. “Is that a clown?” I asked J.
We check into a hotel.
I’m glad we made it out alive because the next morning was one of the best days of my life! The hikes were breathtaking and the time spent together was magical. I love these crazy two so much.