Lake Powell

Alas, it is yet another Tuesday so I'm going to try and update before I begin drinking too heavily.
Last week ended well. On Thursday we did a full day of weeding, which was actually fairly therapeutic. I didn't know I would receive so much pleasure in killing things, even if they were only plants. It was hot and I got pretty badly sunburned because I'm an idiot and did wear sun screen, but the worst part was the bugs. We all came out with about a million bug bites. Its not even mosquitoes, they were just dusty-weed-bugs. With only five WWOOFers we make painstakingly slow progress, but after we were done for the day Danny ordered some type of mechanized weed pulling things, so those are due to be arriving soon. As I said, Saturday was Danny's birthday, so on Friday we didn't actually do any weeding because it had rained and the bugs were just too bad, so we cleaned the house and packed up to go to Lake Powell. Also, another friend of Danny's drove up Friday, so our number grew to 7. We left the house about 7 for a 3 hour drive, so we didn't get to the campsite until at least 11:30, but we didn't pick one until after midnight. Obviously, it was dark outside so we couldn't really tell much about the site we had picked, only that it was closer to the main road than we would have liked, but it seemed far enough away from other people that we wouldn't disturb them. As we unpacked we started drinking. Music was also being played. I am an old woman and was exhausted, so I went to bed about 11 I think. Danny and I took an adventure up a nearby mountain/hill thing, and I'm not sure if 11 was before or after we got back.
Anyway, on Saturday when we got up we discovered that everyone haf continued to party straight until dawn. Swimming and kayaking was involved. Upon waking we also discovered that our site was actually much closer to other people and later in the day we found out that several of our neighbors had contemplated leaving at some point in the night. Oops... In short, I spent my saturday swimming, laying in the sun, and jet skiing around gorgeous cliffs and views.
Several of us, those of us who stayed up the whole previous night drinking, also stayed very well lubricated/drunk all of Saturday. Due to various reasons, I was again exhausted on Saturday night and I PTFOed before dinner was even done cooking. However, everyone else only partied until about 12 or 1, so I didn't miss out on too much. Danny and I woke up around 9 on Sunday and after finding that there was no edible food to be found, we went out to a nice breakfast at a small restaurant over looking the canyon and lake. I bought donut holes for everyone else, although they were still all asleep when we got back, but they were greatly appreciated. It was about midday at this time and everyone was still just kind of getting up and slowly moving to leave, so Danny and I took a legitimate adventure up a very large butte/mesa. I have pictures. It was incredible. And the wind was so strong that if I was any smaller I might have actually been knocked off my feet.
I felt kind of bad, but by the time we got back everything was already packed and we pretty much just went ahead and took off. Once we got off the main highway I rode in the back of the truck with the dogs and a Scotsman, and the views were once again fabulous.
For some unGodly reason we started drinking again once we got back to the house and we were all completely gone by 11. So Monday was a recovery day for the weekend and Sunday. I've also officially moved into Danny's room with him, so thats been interesting to say the least.
Today we worked on the cabin a bit, but I had to go to town in the afternoon. However, I did finally get my new debit card, so hopefully my bank woes are over. Here are pictures:

Lake Powell from the top of the butte/messa. On Sunday it was a bit overcast.

Another view from the top. If I could tag this I'd show you our campsite. 

The butte/messa from half way up. 

There are several drops and severe inclines not very visible in the picture

From the ride back.

As of Now

We're embracing our tendencies to get trashed on Tuesdays, so yesterday we began drinking around 6 to kick off our Trashy/Tanked Tuesdays. Last week at Walmart we bought 2 inflatable swimming pools and put them on the roof, so we spend the evening playing roof top beer-pong and sun bathing until the sun went down. The sun sinks below the canyon about 6 or 7, but it doesn't actually get dark until 8:30 or 9. I really love these long days. Anyways, we got real drunk last night so we didn't work today. In fact, we really haven't worked much this week. We started late on Monday and on Tuesday we started late again and I had to go to town with Danny, so by the time we got back we made lunch then pretty much started drinking. We eat really late here. For the past week we haven't even been waking up until 10 or 10:30, which may or may not be my fault, so we don't get started until at least 11:30. We take lunch at 3 or 4 and even though we stop work at about 6, we still don't eat until 11ish. Some nights we haven't eaten until past midnight. It doesn't bother me, seeing as we're all used to this weird schedule, but Its going to be strange when I have to eat at normal people times again.
Here are the plans for the rest of my summer as of now:
I leave here July 6th, however my mother leaves for Colorado July 8th, so I will be doing daughterly duties the 7th. My entire family will be gone as of the 11th, so from then until I leaves for Maryland the house will be mine. I will be implementing an open door policy, although Sybil will be living with me for that time, so if you don't like her, which means you probably don't like me anyways, you're not welcome. During that time we will be having a HP Premiere marathon, with a different movie every night. Drinking will be involved. Sadly, on the 16th Zeke and I will be making our way up to Maryland to spend the rest of the summer. I will probably stay a night in Knoxville to break up the trip and to see people.
Thats all I can think of right now. This Saturday is Danny's birthday so we're going camping on Friday and spending all day at a lake on Saturday. I've also made him promise to take me to Arches and Canyon Rim National Parks, so I'm looking forward to that as well. Tonight we're making soup and watching Pulp Fiction.

The Hangover Day

Apparently Tuesdays are our party nights, because once again we got super drunk this Tuesday. Since I'm still recovering from my horrible hangover last week and the thought/smell/taste of alcohol makes me want to vomit, I didn't get too drunk, but its hard not to drink when everyone around you is taking shots. Fuck, I totally should've failed D.A.R.E.... Well anyway, we woke up late on Wednesday and decided that taking a hike would be way more productive than working. It was.
First we went to this place that was pretty tree covered for being in a dessert. We took more of a "walk" than "hike" to this old cave that Danny found a few years back. Basically it has Anasasi paintings and pictographs that are 3000 years old. It was incredible. Everything was in such great condition. I obviously wanted to touch them, but having grown up in art museums I figured that was probably a bad Idea.
Next we drove to this old hill that was an Anasasi midden (trash heap). There were pottery shards everywhere. My pockets were completely filled by the time we left. Apparently there's a $750 fine for every artifact you take out of Utah, but if I say I found them all on private land then its ok, I think. I also wondered what the Anasasis would think about people going through their 3000 year old trash.
After we took a drive to Monument Valley. Danny had never really been there, so we weren't quite sure what we were getting ourselves into. It turned out to be just a very long off-roading trip, but the views were great. We discovered that no roads go into the valley, just around it, which I guess is kind of nice. Unfortunately our drive was very long and very dusty, so once we got back to the house around 10 my allergies had began to pick up. I pretty much went straight to bed after dinner, a shower, and watching the Scientology episode of South Park. A good part about living with foreigners is that you are obligated to show them all about American culture in the most efficient way. Tonight we're going to watch Pulp Fiction and we have very serious plans to watch the South Park episode on Mormons, a necessity seeing as we're living in Utah.

3000 year old cave drawings.

Towards the middle there are some really amazing hand prints, but I thought I got a better picture of them than I actually did. 

I'm so tired of taking pictures, they never come out how I want, but I don't know if me or my camera is the issue.

But those are the Abahos Mountains

(I turned 180 from the last picture)

This is Monument Valley and the mountain range is the Sleeping Ute, which is in CO

A Very Good Weekend

When I woke up on Saturday there were blueberry pancakes and bacon cooking. I should've known it would be a good day. I woke up at 10:30, and around 12ish some of the guys and I went on a hike just around the back of the property, aka our back yard. The hike was about 2 hours or so, but we saw some really great things. There truly are ruines everywhere, so we saw a bunch of pottery and old cooking ware, and an old house in a cave. I can never seem to find very interesting things. I mean, I touch and pick up plenty of shit, but none of it is particularly unique or interesting. I did find a really beautiful type of lily though. Another thing is that every time I see something and want to know what it is, about 80% of the time Danny doesn't know what it is either. I need to start carrying guide books with me when I hike. And band aids. I've already gone though all the band aids I brought with me.
After the hike we just got ready to go into Moab because we had plans to go to the Moab Rodeo! Its an hour and a half drive to Moab, and we brought the dogs, so it wasn't very pleasant either. About an hour in Danny suggested that we go to an overlook that was about 45min out of our way, but was really neat. I would have been happy to just get to Moab and get out of the car, but thankfully I agreed and we went. The view was absolutely spectacular. I'll post a couple pictures, but they don't give the reality justice. We were easily a mile above the ground overlooking canyons and gorges and the Colorado River. I simply, or rather very unsimply, could not fathom how any of it had come to be. We stayed there for at least an hour, all though we could have stayed all day. Every time you'd turn a corner a new perspective on the landscape would appear and you needed another 15min to take that in.
Eventually we got to the Rodeo, and I honestly had no clue what to expect. At the beginning there was a big tribute to America with several songs and flags and shit, so I promptly took that time to go to the bathroom. A stadium full of patriotic Mormons probably wouldn't have appreciated me not standing/saluting to the flag and such. There were probably about 200-300 people there, so it was bigger than expected, but not huge. It really had all the typical rodeo stuff. Barrel looping, calf tying, and, of course, bull lassoing. Although that was great, the best part was between every different "act" kids from the crowd came and did different things. As creepy as the whole Mormon thing is, they base everything they do around their families, which are huge. So we also got to see kids try and catch greased piglets and which kid could stay on a terrified sheep the longest. Great fun was had by all.
As to be expected, outside the Rodeo arena there was a "carnival," because what is a Rodeo without a carnival? It was probably smaller than the Bellevue Carnival, but just as sketchy. We rode a few rides, and while they were fun in themselves some extra excitement was added by the unpredictability of the brake and locking systems.
We'd all been looking forward to Sunday all week because we were finally going to Cortez, CO to make a much needed Walmart trip! The drive to Cortez is another 2hours in the opposite direction of Moab and we werte challenged to fit 7 people in the cab of a pick-up. While we drove the back roads 2 people sat in some lawn chairs in the bed, but once we got on the highway we all had to cram inside. It was tons of fun... On our way to Cortez we went to the Hovenweep National Monument. Its basically a couple thousand year old ruines of an Anasasi city. Even though it was cool, it was really fucking hot. For all the hikes we've been on I never wore jeans because of the heat, but then my legs got all torn up. So I finally decided to wear jeans for a hike and I was incredibly uncomfortable. Another example of myself just never wearing enough clothing.
We finally got to Cortez around 6, and even though I've left the south, there were still no restaurants open that late on a Sunday. Our only option was Wendy's, and Jesus Christ it was good. I only wish I had had the sense to get a Frosty. Walmart was good. We filled 2 carts with food and it will still probably only last us about a week. The ride home was just as uncomfortable as the ride up, I'm just glad we didn't bring the dogs this time. Once we got on the back roads and everyone had enough room we broke out the PBRs and did some legitimate drinking and driving. Obviously, Danny (the driver) wasn't drunk and was totally fine to drive, but it was still odd to be handing a driver a beer. Although it held us up a bit, the funniest thing that happened was getting stuck behind a herd of cows. Herd animals are just so stupid, so rather than run out of the road they just kept running ahead of the car. I thought it was incredibly funny, but after about 10min I think I was the only one still amused. We got home, put up groceries, and since we had bread I was finally able to make a PB&J. We also broke out the boxed wine,  which has been "aging" on the counter for a while. For working on a vineyard I have drank far more boxed wine and beer than legitimately nice wine. I'm currently in the process of getting Danny to change that. However, last week I did introduce everyone to sweet tea, which was received incredibly well. Here I am, out West just continually breaking boundaries and stereotypes. Of course, we immediately found that sweet tea drinking can be immeasurably bettered by adding whiskey to the mix.
Today I became a cave creature and worked on plumbing under the house. I got satisfactorily filthy, although the brambles and tumble weeds stuck beneath the house were really fucking annoying. Right not I'm basically sitting at the kitchen table watching everyone make dinner. I should probably go help, but let's be real, I'm more help by sitting here than actually attempting to help. I'm sorry this is so long and boring, but at least you all are aware of my every waking moment for the past three days!

 These pictures are kind of pointless, but they at least show the gist of the scenery.

 NBD, just a few 1,000 year old houses.

COWS!!! IN THE ROAD!!!!

(I don't know why this excites me more than the ancient ruines...)

All My Decisions Are Good Decisions

Well, on Tuesday night we started drinking early. It was the first time we all were really drinking since the festival, so we began to take some shots. Then beer. Then more shots.
By the end of the evening four of us decided to take a drunken hike. A lot more really good decisions ensued.
On Wednesday I had obtained several more scratches/bruises on my legs and I had a hang-over that kept me in bed all day.
The End.

Desert Rocks Music Festival

On Friday we went to a music festival in Moab, and lots happened.
Actually, I'm going to go take a shower before I write this because I'm having trouble thinking of words right now...

***TIME***

Where should I begin... Danny has a RV that we took up to camp in. The festival was Bonnaroo style, but way smaller. We got there, dropped off the RV and traded cars with the Brits so we could go to the store. The store was incredibly exciting, however I discovered that my debit card is no longer working, so even though I was in civilization I could not restock on anything. We also got 10 cases of beer that held 30 beer each. Once we returned to the festival we began to drink. We got very drunk. We headed to the music area maybe about 10 or 11. On the way there somebody decided to take a short-cut, which was directly down a cliff. My inner-mountain goat does not come forth when I am drunk. I ended up tripping and tumbled, literally head over heels, for a bit. I now have a 4in scrapey-scab thing on my left arm. The music was good, but it was a lot of reggae and jam band type stuff, so definitely not my favorite. We actually didn't stay for too long because Liz, one of the Brits, was incredibly trashed. Me and two others went back with her, and the walk that should've taken about 10minutes took 45. Then I went to sleep.
On Saturday I basically woke up and sat in the sun all day. Yes, I am sun burned. At this point its less of a burn than rather a dark red, leathery splotch all over my body. My freckles turned into almost browny-purple spots, so as you can imagine, I look pretty fucking good right about now.
Here is reason #5 why my Molly should've come with me, for if my Molly was here I would not have done molly. On the bright side I didn't smoke any pot this weekend, however I did smoke some Spirits. But anyways, the molly wasn't actually that bad and I quite enjoyed myself. It was similar to being drunk, but I was just very happy. Actually, I was already drunk so the effects of molly may be nothing like being drunk, but whatevs. Do I regret doing molly? No. I was apprehensive because I figure if I can't handle weed how the fuck am I supposed to handle anything considerably stronger? But I took the plunge and I was fine. We ended up staying until about 2 or 3. We made it over to the rave tent and sat on a cliff with an incredible over look for a while. Oh, and at the cliff I fell again and scraped my knee. As the night wore on it got colder and windier. By the time we walked back we were walking through a full on dust storm. It was cold, windy, and it sucked.
We got a late start home on Sunday and 3 of the 4 Brits left, which was a bit sad. However, on our way back to the ranch we stopped at this super weird petting zoo. The petting zoo was awesome, but around it there was just weird touristy stuff. oh, and it was all on the side of a giant rock formation. Thats important/why anybody goes there. But at the petting zoo I got to pet some cool deer thing, a bison, a watusi (the African cows with the giant horns), a camel, and an ostrich! Ostriches are super weird. They're heads move super strangely and it hurts when they eat cheerios from your hand.
Very soon after leaving the zoo, some part of the truck, which was pulling the RV, broke. The truck could still drive, but it wouldn't shift so the RPM was way high. At least, I think that was the problem. They used a lot of car part words I didn't understand. We made it back safely though. Once we were back i basically just went to bed.
I feel like something else happened too.
Oops.

 Our camp site. 

A way better view than at Bonnaroo...

We were at a music festival, so we needed a flag. 

The Brits provided one of Wills and Kate. 

It was perfect. 

Pictures!!!!

 Above are pictographs that are over 1,000 years old. We saw them on a hike we took last Wednesday.

 A gorge we climbed through to reach the waterfall.

 View on top of a mountainy thing looking at the front of the canyon.

View from mountainy thing looking further into the canyon.