Now, my ward has a lot of rich people in it. I'm not poor, but I certainly can't afford a boat or own a fancy cabin to rent out to other people. But people in the neighborhood can. And they are generous with their goods, which works out well for me. Last year we rented a cabin out in eastern Utah, while this time people "donated" rental cabins--and I think this one was funner.
We went up later in the evening on Thursday night, so I took Friday off. I feel a little guilty about that, but I feel guilty about everything. (I also feel guilty that I showed my mom a spider this week that looked a little bit off, so she smashed it, and lots of little baby spiders scattered. If I hadn't shown her, those poor little orphans would still have a mom.)
We slept poorly the first night because we got there late and people were talking--and in the middle of the night someone woke up screaming. I asked him about it the next day and he said he couldn't wake up, but I still don't really know what was going on.
The next day, there were many activities planned, and I wanted to go to a hiking place. Now, if I'm going to consider myself a trail runner, I will have to go beyond Bountiful and North Salt Lake, so I wanted to do a trail run. But this nature trail we went on was only slightly over a mile, which is tiny, so I ran it twice, then ran up again to meet the walking group. It was a fun little hike, but there were lots of caterpillars hanging from the trees, and they stuck to our clothes. Others called them silkworms, but I don't think they were silkworms because they were hanging from coniferous trees, not mulberry trees. But I'm not an entomologist, so what do I know?
There was a tree with two 90-degree angles on it. I completely missed it the first time I ran the loop, and I didn't notice it until I read the interpretive sign my second time up.
Later in the day, we went to a beach of Bear Lake, where I swam around for a time. When I accidentally swallowed water, I figured it was a calcium supplement from all the limestone dissolved in the lake. But the water was a bit cold, so the group moved to a pool instead--and indeed, my arms and feet became a bit tingly after a time in the cold water. I wanted to backstroke a bit further than I was doing, but I got a little freaked out when my toes could no longer touch the bottom.
I didn't sleep well the second night either--not because of screaming, but because I had a stressful work dream about footnotes. Why do I have to have stressful dreams when I'm on vacation, and on nights I'm already having trouble sleeping!?
The next day I did go out on my bishop's boat, but I didn't do anything in the water. I considered tubing, but I knew I'd be freezing if I did. I also worry a lot. I once read an article that said intelligent people worry more, so I hope that means I'm intelligent. (I say I'm intelligent, when I initially put an apostrophe in the word "means." Smh.)
We were sunburned, but I wasn't as bad, just a little bit on the peripheries of my sunscreen. This is because (a) I wasn't in the sun too long and (b) I wore a shirt. No skin cancer for me, thank you.
It was fun to get a small vacation in a lovely place, and cross a state park off my bucket list. It's also nice to know that unlike most of Utah's water state parks, this one was a real lake.
And I somehow went to Bear Lake without getting a picture of the lake. Phones and water don't mix.
***
(I separated this post so that people who only care about Bear Lake can quit reading here.)
In other news, I'm still trying to get my nephews to be like me, because I'm an awesome role model. I shared some of my seasonal treats with them, such as my America Mix Skittles and my patriotic Tootsie Roll Pops.
I also took them trail running a few times, although they couldn't run the whole time because they get side stitches. On one trail, six-year-old Nathaniel warned a biker that there was a stick in the path that he might trip on. This was right after we met a person I know named Tayson, and Nathaniel said he was named that "probably because he's tasty." He's so cute.
I also wanted my mom to see a sego lily, because she had never seen one, so she came on the trail. She saw one but just barely, as there were hardly any left, even though they were abundant a week or two ago.
We went to the homecoming talk of my cousin Quin. I'm sure it's different for them, but I felt like those two years sure went by fast. And the brother of one of his companions was in my mission. We shared a car for a transfer or two.
The next thing I need to get my nephews to do in order to be like me is to like cheesy 60s sitcoms. It hasn't happened yet. Maybe I can convince them to watch the episode of Lost in Space I watched this week, where a carrot alien turned Dr. Smith into a vegetable. "Ergo, I am a real stalk of celery."
Vegetables are inherently funny. But that's a topic for another day.
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