Monday, August 16, 2010

Grand Canyon Day 2

Okay.  Day two.

For breakfast we had hashbrowns and eggs.  Now, you're probably like, "Why does she keep telling us what she ate?"  Well, here's the thing folks.  I honestly remember what a campsite looked like by remembering what food we had there.

We woke up kind of late so by the time we were packing up the boats, it was already blazing hot.  The night before was also blazing hot, so I don't think I slept particularly well.  We finally got on the boats, but pretty late.  I had new sunglasses (courtesy of Aunt Julie) and a new bandana (courtesy of the mom).  The bandana was pink  which I suppose was fitting since I am Pink Stink.


(Sorry, no party pants that day.  That was before I realized the power of the sun and the importance of sticking to the ultimate sunscreen--long pants!)

As we took off, I was a little nervous because of my mildly traumatic experience from the day before.  But Kevin took us through the first couple of rapids with no problem, so I was back to normal and ready to experience the rapids.  In fact, Kevin never ejected any of us again.  Atta boy, Kev.  Atta boy.

We rocked through House Rock Rapid with no problem, even though we were basically up against a rock wall.  We got through and then turned around to watch Matty and his crew come through.  All of a sudden we saw that someone had been ejected!  It's a pretty crazy rapid and if it hits you wrong...bad news, bears.  We someone what we thought was Tom's head bobbing around along the side of the boat, only to find out later that it was actually Matthew--the oarsman!--who had fallen out.  I guess he just hit a wave wrong and got knocked around and out.  This was one of many times throughout the trip where I mixed up Tom and Matthew.  I have never had that problem until this trip.  People have always said that Thomas looks just like Matthew did, but I just never saw it.  But on this trip, whenever I saw them from behind, I always mixed them up!  Their statures are extremely similar as well as their body movements.  It's ridiculous!  I also can't believe how tall Thomas is!  If you look at the picture I posted on the last entry, you'll see a pic where he towers over me...and while I think he's standing on his toes (his favorite thing to do these days), he is just getting so tall!  I can't stand it!  When I left for college, he was still a little baby and now he's so huge!  In fact, he's getting his license in a month!  Ridiculous!

Anyway, that was the highlight of the day for us.  We enjoyed a delightful lunch featuring a random meat and a random cheese (they didn't have to go together by any means).  There was also a treat every day and if I remember correctly, we had Snickers on 7 of the days.  Aw, yeah.  That's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh, I like it.  The sibs were always doing freaky things with desert...whether it be cookies or candy, they put peanut butter on it.  Freaky deaky (my mom loves saying that).

When we camped that night, I believe we had pesto for dinner.  I was on dinner duty, and the main thing I remember was that grandpa made me put so many tomatoes in as well as a whole freaking bunch of celery.  Who in their right mind even mildly enjoys either of those vegetables?  Oh, and beets...or were they radishes? Either way, I pleaded the nasty on that salad.  Ah, but I love me some grandpa.


The campsite was pretty long and narrow and us kids slept on one end and pretty much everyone else slept on the other end.  Some nights it was good if that happened because we would always end up talking for a long time, especially if Jake was feeling a little crazy.  One night, we were like, "If you were on a desert island and you could only take one animal with you, what would you bring?"  Jake's response, with no hesitation was "A savage."  We were like, "What?!?"  And he goes, "Well, they're barely even human."  (Think Pocahontas).  The kid is legitimately a nut.  It's fabulous.

Hopper: The bathroom.  Because all waste has to be taken with you when you leave the Grand Canyon, we had to set up a bathroom.  Poor Uncle Chris always does that.  It's disgusting and I don't even want to go into details. I'll say this:  the uncovered seat is for #1, and the (thankfully) covered one is for #2.  Now, I know you've never had to really think about it, but I bet you didn't know that your body can go both #1 and #2 at the same time.  That is not allowed on this trip.  You have to jump from one spot to the other, and it's a little harder than you think.  And to add to the struggles, you can't put toilet paper in the #1 bucket.  I had to break a 20-year-old habit on this trip in one day!  You have to actually think when you're going to the bathroom.  Ridiculous.  Aren't you supposed to just daydream when you're in the bathroom?   I can't believe I'm telling you this.  I've got to stop before I 'embarrass myself to the next millennium' Ex:  "I need to use the hopper!  My bladder is about to explode!"  "Has everyone hopped?"  That is, to say, "Has everyone gone to the bathroom?"


That night the hopper was way off yonder and it was so dark I had such the struggle trying to find it.  In addition, you had to walk along the canyon wall, which had many cracks and crevices...full of bats!  Ehk.  Here's Mykel modeling our awesome facilities:




Also, this picture is hilarious, so it should be included.  I like my mom.  Isn't she the cutest? (Also, I spy with my little eye Aunt Julie, mom's identical twin.

2 comments:

Mom said...

That post WAS definitely "freaky deaky"...especially that last picture. Thanks for always picking out the most flattering pix of me:)!! Oh...and by the way, those were radishes you cut up--sorry...those are a veggie from my grandparents generation that somehow I never brought to our table, thus leaving you highly ignorant of all the salad options available...

Matt & Mykel said...

Confession: On my last salad night I told a fib. I told Grandpa I brought up all the vegetables, but I secretly left the celery behind. I think it's yucky too! Always pick it out anyways.

Glad to see one of the photos from my modeling portfolio made the blog - especially my hot shot with the hopper :)