10 pounds later...

Well, since I last regalled you with tales of the firing range, I have been on a bit of an adventure oriented holiday. The most significant chunk of that time was floating down the Colorado River and experiencing about 130 of it while traversing through the Grand Canyon. That was an amazing adventure that included white water rapids, death hikes, rattle snakes, scorpions, and much much more. Some photos of rocks 'n things I encountered on this trip can be found here, in color, or here, in artistic black and white. Anyways, the trip was incredible, and surprisingly to us all I think, the food was really good. Somehow after two weeks on the river the guides were still able to produce fresh veggies and fruits for every meal. Don't know how they did it (nuclear powered cooler is my guess), but the guides were serious cooks and serious eaters and it felt like everyone ate each meal as it was his or her last, I think because with some of the rapids and hikes through the desert we did, it very well could have been. Regardless, I ate way too much given how little excercise I had and am feeling a little sluggish and out of shape at present. The bike beckons.


The second leg of my trip was equally adventurous, although I didn't fully comprehend just how much so until I was in the thick of it. Ostensibly I was in Seattle for a wedding. And it was a beautiful wedding of two beautiful people in a beautiful setting. It was a lot of fun. But the part of the trip I wasn't as mentally prepared for was meeting almost all of my pardner M's extended family. Her mother is 1 of 8 kids or something, and they are not even Irish Catholic or Mormon. No, they are a different breed altogether. I believe sociologists and anthropologists refer to them as Southernous Californicus, but I am no expert. Nice people, don't get me wrong. In fact I have zero complaints about any of them. It is just that meeting that many of one tribe and being instantly and deeply submerged into their reunion rituals for 48 hurs can be quite harrowing for anyone. Luckily I had two good avenues for survival: one entailed latching onto her fun Uncles and drinking heavily, the other involved latching onto the sibling circle of M and her Big Bro and Lil Sis (and taking responsibility for acquiring Lil Sis adult beverages at dinner... a little tip on this technique, boys and girls: when someone is ordering two drinks at a time, in this case a margarita for the youngin and a beer for myself, it is often best if the minor in question does NOT knock over her margarita onto the table and my lap and thereby drawing the attention of the wait staff; you see, subtlety and covertness are usually better tacts in this situation). ANYWAYS, I survived and it was a lot of fun on the whole.


Here are just a few of the shots from the river. If the current career paths for M and I stop working out somewhere down the road, I think we'll take up professional river running...


I mean, if you could guide tours down an amazing geological mystery of wonder and awe, work outdoors (in good weather and bad), and lead hikes to amazing locales like this one (below), wouldn't you seriously consider working for low pay and no benefits?