The Adventures of Kinky Reggae: A Vagabond for Beauty

Our second day of vacation began on the Riverside walk to The Narrows at Zion. It was so so cold! Needless to say, we did not venture up The Narrows beyond the walkway, but it was still a nice two mile walk. Mom found several rock formations that looked like noses, and I enjoyed seeing what the area looked like when I wasn’t running through it at night. Our next stop was the Emerald Pools. I pointed out the crack in the wall that is Behunin Canyon, and my parents seemed impressed that I’d rappelled out of that tiny crevice. I even felt kind of awed looking at it from that persepective. My mom has bursitis and can’t do any intense hiking, so that was it for Zion. Our next stop was Bryce. I was really excited about our stop at Bryce because my dad made reservations at the famous Ruby’s Inn. I’ve driven by there on my other visits to Bryce and wished I could afford to stay there. It was even nicer than I imagined! And inexpensive, since it was the off-season

I COULDN'T go to Zion without doing a canyon. Luckily, an acquaintance (now friend) of mine just moved up there for a job. We made plans to do Keyhole , a short, easy canyon. We met at Deep Creek coffee for scones, and then Felicia surprised me by playing tour guide for my parents and their friend. She took us to see petroglyphs and some other beautiful sites outside the main canyon. Finally, we stopped near our canyon and suited up. It's an easy canyon, but cold, so we needed dry suits. We got plenty of stares from the cars driving by, and I kept laughing as I thought about what people must be thinking. Maybe they thought we were escaped inmates, or perhaps that we were sent to clean up some biohazard. Although this canyon was fun and easy, I learned three important things from Felicia: 1. Triple clove hitch 2. Pay attention to what you hear. After you rappel into a pool, if you hear the water sloshing over the side, investigate and see if it's another rappel be

A few months ago, a friend of mine posted a link to my Facebook and said, "Here ya go, little traveler." It was a link to an article about the Kanarra Creek Narrows, near Zion. I thought, "How have I never even heard of this??" and added it to my list of places to go. This weekend, I had my chance; a few hours to hike before meeting up with my parents at Zion. It was just as beautiful as the pictures in the article. You hike along a creek, then through the creek up a beautiful set of narrows. There is a sturdy ladder going up the first waterfall, which is much scarier going down than up. I had heard the water could be waist deep and brought a wetsuit, but everyone I ran into said it was only ankle deep. I felt like a dorky over-prepared hiker, but soon realized what was going on. Most people were turning around after the first set of narrows, not realizing there was a second set. This is where the water got deeper, and it was SO cold. I turned around at the thir

The past several days have not been very interesting, but at least I'm keeping up with it! Day 4:  Give $20 to a non-profit of your choosing. I am going to do this when I get paid. In the meantime, I make monthly contributions to Minneapolis Public Radio. :) Day 5: Take 5 minutes of silence at noon. I used this time to pray for the ex's ex. I still want to throw up every time I think about her. Maybe I should just pray for that to go away? Day 6: Look out the window until you find something of beauty you had not noticed before. I did this on the way to and from work. I noticed a sign outside of a strip club in Maryvale advertising an appearance by Sir Mix A Lot, and I laughed so hard. Does that count? Day 7: Give 5 items of clothing to Goodwill This was so difficult! Not because I hate parting with my possessions, but because I gave away everything I could before I moved. But I still managed to find five things. Day 8: No bitching day This was a fun one, because

Reading Nadia Bolz-Weber’s book for small group has made me homesick for the faith I grew up in. I grew up in a wonderful LCMS (Lutheran Church Missouri Synod) congregation. These people had community down, and our families had been attending this church for many generations. It was a really special place, and I never heard any talk about homosexuality being sin, or women not being equal to men, or evolution being a lie. Then, I went to an LCMS college. At first, I bought into what my theology professors were telling me. I flirted with fundamentalism. But Rob Bell’s book “Velvet Elvis” changed everything for me, and I stopped attending Lutheran church. Since then, I have bounced around and ended up at a Mennonite church. But Nadia’s book has made me realize there are parts of me that will always be Lutheran. Baptism and communion are mystical sacraments in the Lutheran church. When I take communion, I don’t believe it is purely symbolic. I believe the true

Paula, my college roommate, came to visit this weekend. Paula and I have been through some stuff (okay, a LOT of stuff) together. I was going to go on and on about all the things I love about her, but I realized I've already done that on this blog , many times. So I'll just talk about what we did. Our weekend began with happy hour at Gallo Blanco , followed by my birthday celebration at Mabel's on Main  in Scottsdale. Amanda insisted that a canyon was not enough of a celebration, because that's what I would have been doing that day, anyway, so I chose Mabel's because, according to the New Times, they have the best Old Fashioned cocktails in the Valley. They New Times didn't lie. They made them with Buffalo Trace bourbon, which is my second favorite bourbon. So honestly, a lot of the night is a blur, but I know I was really loud and had a lot of fun. I was really happy with the random group of people that showed up, and I hope they all enjoyed themselves, too

Saying goodbye to Paula this morning totally sucked. Luckily, I had lunch with Rachel and Jenna to look forward to. After a delicious meal of homemade mac and cheese, Rachel said, "So, uh... you guys wanna go for a walk around the block?" "Um, sure..." I replied. I was confused. Judging by Rachel's tone of voice, this was supposed to be code for something, but I obviously wasn't smart enough/cool enough to know what. I figured I'd just act like I understood and I'd find out soon enough what she REALLY wanted to do. Because she definitely had a mischievous sparkle in her eye. Maybe she wanted us all to hula hoop naked in the sprinklers again? Jenna wasn't afraid to ask. "Ok, what are we REALLY doing?" she said quietly so the husbands wouldn't hear. "Nothing, just going for a walk. Why, what did you guys think?" And we all laughed and laughed because she really did just want to walk around the block and leave the kids

Our small group is currently reading Pastrix, by Nadia Bolz-Weber. She's the pastor at the House for All Saints and Sinners, a Lutheran church in Denver. She's also a total badass and I want to hang out with her. Her church's website has a suggestion for things to do each day during Lent to make it more holy . I'm going to attempt to follow it. We'll see how it goes... I'm pretty awesome at starting things and not following through. Here's a summary of the first few days. Day 1: Pray for your enemies. My first thought was, "What enemies?" I spent most of the Ash Wednesday church service contemplating this. (Well, until the kid in front of me puked everywhere. Then all I could think about was not breathing through my nose.) I finally decided that my only enemies are the people who protest outside of Planned Parenthood, people who think you can pray the gay away, and John Boehner. So I prayed for them. And it wasn't really that hard. B

I've been thinking a lot about karma. Lately, it seems like the "bad guys" have been winning. I would like to present three break-up scenarios. Scenario #1: Couple is married. Guy decides he wants a divorce. Refuses counseling. A few years later, girl finds out he has moved back to his home state with a former coworker that the girl was suspicious of during the marriage. She appears to have a ring on her finger. Guy is manipulating women and getting exactly what he wants, while the girl has had to mourn the loss of the things she hoped she'd have right now (marriage, kids), rebuild her life, and start over in her search for a husband. Scenario #2: Girl moves in with her high school sweetheart, who turns out not to be such a sweetheart. Girl leaves him after he gets violent with their dog. She takes the dog and moves back in with her parents. She is left in charge of finding renters for the condo and the responsibilities that come with being a landlord. All this

A few months ago, I thought, "Hey, wouldn't it be fun to do an easy canyon to celebrate my birthday and invite all my friends who have never done a canyon?" At first, everyone seemed enthusiastic. And then people started dropping out. And then the weather called for cold and rain. Me, Kristin, and Jason eagerly monitored the weather, crossing our fingers for good flow in the canyons. And more people dropped out. And so, the morning of, only one new friend remained: Amanda. Out of all my friends, she is NOT someone I'd expect to enjoy canyoneering. Let's be honest, canyoneers have a bit of a masochistic streak. I've seen someone wearing a shirt that says, "My dream vacation is your worst nightmare." That about sums it up. And I am fairly certain that Amanda does not have this sickness inside her. Nevertheless, she showed up. And she didn't waver, even when plans changed from El Cap to Shake Tree to Parker. Even when we got out of the car