there and back again: a trip to the great salt lake

My alarm went off at 4:40am on a Friday that I didn't have school or work. Yeah, sometimes bad things happen to good people. Fortunately I have the most excellent taste in alarm ring tones and "walk through the forest" roused my drowsy brain in a pleasant and natural way. If I hadn't been in a queen sized bed with a heated home and down comforter and cushy pillow and bedside lamp and closet and tv and dvd player and running water...well, I just might have been convinced I was waking up in a forest.

Alas, no.

But that's how the adventure began! Yes, my Lindsay-friend and I came down with a serious case of the Bagginsies. bagginsies: a word i just made up referring to the mental state resembling that of the hobbits bilbo and frodo baggins, who were desirous of adventures. Now that I think about it, I was the one who really wanted an adventure and Lindsay was my faithful and supportive Samwise Gamgee. i can think of no greater compliment for a person. 

I picked her up around 5:16am, helped her choose a few things, dumped a bunch of stuff in the back of Sneaky, failed at getting gas but then succeeded at getting gas, and almost turned onto the offramp of the freeway. Ah, the success of our adventure was imminent.

The purpose was to see the Bonneville Salt Flats at sunrise and snap a few pics of my gorgeous Samwise rhymin' time. I have never been to those wide expanses of whiteness and ever since I saw Bill Nye demonstrating some sort of science principle on them during my 7th grade science class, I have wanted to go. However, my information regarding everything was completely wrong. To explain all the things I didn't know would make me feel bad, so suffice it to say that the sun rises at 7:26am, not 5:54am. you all think i'm a moron. it's ok.

So Lindsay and I had a grand ol time driving in the dark, talking about our favorite words huckleberry, prudence, badger, foible the time she almost ran out of gas, the fact that the kid I liked in high school has suddenly became completely attractive and how we'd both date him 1 point for high school me, letter writing techniques, a bush that looked like a wolf, how I have managed to grow up and control my reactions to things did you know me in high school? yikes, the fact that we could have still been sleeping, how long it had been since we washed our hair, when Lindsay had to dress up as a brine shrimp in 4th grade and had little pingpong-ball-eggs attached to her costume, the many admirable qualities of Nicholas Hoult and other similarly interesting topics.

Finally I realized we weren't going to make it to the Salt Flats. We pulled over, looked at the snow coming down sideways my forecast had told me it would be sunny... and seriously considered bagging the entire thing. What was the point? Our adventure had failed. I had reached the base of the volcano in Mordor and couldn't face the hike up on those steaming rocks i mean really? My Samwise sympathized, consoling me and understanding the burden I carried. And then she picked me up and said, "I can't take these picture for you, but I actually can take these pictures for you!" ok, not at all. and that was terrible. But Lindsay was encouraging and willing so I kissed my fingers goodbye, wished I had little hobo gloves, and went out into the cold.

*disclaimer: i have found that choosing between pictures is what i can only assume picking a favorite child is like. so... i didn't. and there are a ton.

What a beautiful friend I have.

And just to prove that I was actually there:

The morning ended with us in a Denny's/Flying J bathroom washing the clay off of our boots in the sinks. Then we got unlimited hot chocolate, read each other's letters, had a very attentive waiter named Ace, and drove home wondering what our lives would have been like if we grew up in Tooele. 

peace and bilbo

rrw

ps. don't forget to mark how you feel about this post and/or bacon below.