Zions: Petey & I

Petey's family invited me to go down to Zions two weeks ago, and I went. Ob...viously.

First of all, we didn't camp because the car was too small to pack a tent, sleeping bags, pillows, etc. and still fit five people. So we just rented a motel in Hurricane. A terrible motel. The Travelodge. *shutter*
When we first walked inside the motel, it was as sweltering inside as it was out, which was probably 96-102 degrees. We cranked the cooler as cold as it would go and settled in. Petey's mom told us to wear shoes when we walked on the floor, and after discovering our feet were slightly blackened from walking across the room, I obliged.  When we went to bed, we kicked off the comforter and liner (because apparently cheap motels don't wash those, just sheets) and slept under the sheets. I couldn't sleep because it was still hot in the room, the mattress was harder than a rock, and my pillow was forcing my neck dangerously close to a 90 degree angle. I managed to doze off a few times, only to wake up with half my body numb, thus requiring me to turn over. I also couldn't sleep because at about 3:00-4:00 am, the temperature in the room dropped to the "meat locker" setting. We're talking igloo-dipped-in-liquid-nitrogen cold. I thought that everyone else in the room liked the temperature setting, so I grabbed the liner and covered myself, making sure to avoid putting it on Petey.
First thing in the morning, Petey's mom mentioned that her whole body was numb and sore from the mattress. The rest of us, disgruntled, agreed and muttered about not sleeping well. Someone piped up and asked if anyone else thought it was cold, and we all burst out yelling that it was indeed FREEZING. Turns out, we all thought the others liked the temperature, so no one turned it down. Petey got the worst of it, because she was a whole 3 feet away from the monstrous, clankity cooler all night.

I see Kelsey Barker one day wearing
this hat.

We went down to our free continental breakfast and ate a feast of toast and cereal. Cheerios, to be exact. It was a poor excuse for a breakfast, and that's coming from someone who ate nothing but cornflakes and toast for breakfast for a month in New Zealand. We packed up our water and headed off to Zions. Mocking the town of La Verkin, we soon arrived in the splendid red rockiness of Zions. On the shuttle up the the Narrows, there was a woman wearing a hat with butterflies attached to it. Don't worry, I sneaked a picture. And not to be awkward, but our legs left pools of sweat on the seats because it was just so hot.

This is the squirrel I wouldn't leave alone.

While in the Narrows, I tripped. And as soon as I trip, I can't stop falling after that. At one point Petey and Sara thought it was a good idea to take a small rapids section to get back, and I ended up falling and whacking my shin on a rock. Earlier I landed square on a pointy rock. I couldn't sit for a week.

Petey's mom is awesome.

When we were all done hiking, chasing squirrels, and sweating out our internal organs, we went to dunch/linner. When we left, Petey and I had to rip ourselves off the chairs because we had stuck to them. I'm pretty sure I lost more than a few layers of skin that day. Later that night, because we couldn't figure out what else to do in the hoppin' town of Hurricane, Petey and I went and saw Captain America. We bought a large pack of strawberries, vanilla bean dip, and Dr. Pepper, stuffed it in a small backpack and sneaked it into the theater. It was fabulous. The movie was fabulous. But I felt that an usher was going to come in any moment and rip the strawberries out of my hands and kill me. Luckily that did not happen.

That night, we attempted to sleep. I switched pillows with Petey's mom and attempted to sleep. I sat in my sheets sweating profusely until I finally got up a few hours later and turned up the cooler. I woke up an hour later, sweating again. I felt awkward getting up again, so I just sat there wishing it would turn on. Just when I was about to crack, Petey's older sister threw off her sheets and stomped to the cooler, cursing quietly under her breath. I slept after that.

In the morning, I was sung happy birthday to and presented with a Hostess cupcake housing a single candle. Petey's older sister wanted to take my picture, but I didn't have pants on, so I awkwardly scrambled to put pants on while she waited with a camera. On the ride home, I kept using the excuse "it's my birthday!" to get away with things. Mostly just poking Sara or Petey. I'm sure they hate me after this trip.