perfect solution to typically boring and disappointing holidays

halloween-new years-valentines

i think these are usually the 3 most disappointing holidays of the year. lots of hype and excitement, but usually you end up pulled over for suspected drunk driving (girls are just bad drivers...not me of course), standing in the rain--unable to get into a totally rad party, or being kissed by complete strangers. yes all 3 of these things could and possibly may have happened on any one of these holidays.

THIS YEAR the traditional celebration for these 3 holidays was forgotten.

HALLOWEEN
first thing, one of my bfs, Ash LOVES halloween and I really have had good times with her revolving around halloween, especially when we dressed her up like Cruela Devile. second, my other bf, Lindzi, and I have spent 1 or 2 halloweens at porcupine in our pjs which was right up my alley! so despite the negative attitude i already put out there, i really have had some fun halloweens. this year, i got to do something totally different though.

9 or 10 us did a little road trip
bear lake to snake river to jackson hole to firehole to west yellowstone-all done in two days

at bear lake we stayed at my friend adam's cabin, made pumpkin cookies, sat by the fire, played old records, watched 10 minutes of an absolutely trashy movie (vampires, i think), and then watched a river wild instead.

it was a perfect movie selection to pump us up for the next day. 6 of us went on a halloween snake river run. the temperature outside was about 40 degrees i think and 30 something in the water. i had anxiety the whole 2 and whatever hours down the river...completely terrified that i would tip in this very chilly water. luckily i didn't! katie wasn't quite so lucky. she went over twice and got seperated from her boat for a while. she is my hero. i think i complained more than she did and nothing more than my toes got wet.


the crew-ben-brady-whit-justin-adam-katie


despite the literally FREEZING temperatures, the scenery was breathtaking!


proof it really was freezing. frozen stream dumping into the river!

after the less than toasty river run, we all went to bubba's in jackson for a much needed warm and delicious bbq dinner.
then we headed up to yellowstone. i should probably be vague here, but some people may have got in some very warm water to warm up from the river. i kept a lookout
after the 'hot tub' we drove to west yellowstone (it's about 2:00 a.m. at this point) where 9 or 10 of us slept in a 2 bed hotel room. the tricky thing here was that there were only 4 rooms in the entire hotel that weren't vacant. that made sneaking 6 extra people into the hotel room a covert-op.
it was a fun and different trip. if i go again on halloween, i think i might skip the river though. if i didn't die from hypothermia, i was afraid i was going to die of a heart attack due to abnormal amounts of anxiety...

NEW YEARS & VALENTINES


for both new years and valentines, i went with some of brady's friends up to a yurt in millcreek canyon. you cross country ski into the yurt and it takes about 2 hours. on new years i made the mistake of going fast without stopping, eating, or drinking on the way up. by the time i got there i was physically and mentally DEAD. i don't really remember much of what happened, but i vaguely remember a lot of martinelli's, fire crackers, and an american flag speedo.


brady's pack-mule roommate, mark, brought up a full-on stove and made us all french toast for breakfast. so good!


steve-adam-lauren-katie on the bunks (new years) i think there were 14 of us in all up there


the valentines trip i took a little slower up. good idea! we had a smaller group too. adam-brady-me-caitlin-justin-carly. brady made us omelets in the morning. he actually put 18 eggs in his pack-NONE of them cracked. that's skill


justin's feet missed the floor when he jumped off the bunk and his head hit the stove instead. EEK!


me-brady-caitlin ready to head back down the canyon

for some reason i decided to write this post at oh 1 something in the morning...weird how that happens. it's now 2:57. i know there are super boring, incomplete, and LONG parts of this, but frankly i am too tired to care and if i don't push 'publish post' right now, i might never do it.

more updates (hopefully more interesting) to come...peace