A new arch

Whew! It has been a very busy time of the semester. I only have two more weeks of classes, and then I'll have a week of finalizing all my papers and projects. I'm feeling good about two of my classes. Another one I'm not feeling great about. But things will work out; they always do.

Lately, I've been having a hard time sleeping. Before the time change, I would go to bed at 11 and wake up at 8. To maintain that schedule, I've been trying to go to bed at 10. But it still takes me until 11 to fall asleep, even though I was maintaining the old schedule. And this week, sometimes it has taken almost two hours to fall asleep! I really don't know what variable has changed!

It's especially bad when I have those times when I wake up in the middle of the night and am awake for two hours. That's been a common occurrence for me for years, but usually I don't have trouble falling asleep when I go to bed. It's frustrating. I put a lamp by my bed so I can now read when I'm awake without getting up.

Anyway, I was really happy that all the snow melted this week so I was able to get back on the trails. 

On Wednesday, I wanted to go, but I had lots of homework I had to get done during the day. So after class, I decided to put fresh batteries in my headlamp for a short run on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. That trail is always busy, and there's always people taking wedding photos near the trailhead. I thought I wouldn't have to worry about people taking pictures in the dark.

But I was wrong! I think they were filming a movie! There were all these tents and lights and people wearing scriptural costumes! But once I got past them, I had the usually busy trail all to myself. 

It is fun to go in the dark, but I don't know if it's safe enough to go on a super long run. For one thing, it affects your depth perception—the shadows make the world look like a 3D movie. And spiders' eyes shine like glitter, so you see all of them.

I go on that trail pretty frequently, but only this week did I learn that there's an arch in the area! When I read descriptions of where it was, I knew that I had passed by it before, but I either didn't notice or didn't pay attention. So I decided to go check out the arch for myself. You take a little side trail that takes you down below the main trail with its overlooks. 

And I could see the arch from a distance. Before I knew it, I was right below it.

Then I had to climb up the hill to get to it. There was no trail, just steeping on the native grasses on the steep slope. 

I inched my way over to the arch and delicately perched myself on the conglomerate outcropping. But I didn't sit next to the arch itself, because I am terrified of climbing. But rock climbers would have no problem.

Now, this was one of those terrains where going up is easier than going down, so I continued going up the hill to get back to the main trail. And I found it a little scary. Regular hikers and climbers would probably have no problem with it, but I had to go up on all fours so I wouldn't slip. At one point I stopped for a long time and said a prayer because I didn't know where to step. But I got the courage to keep going and eventually made it up. How satisfying! It was fun to see someplace new. But getting there was tricky, so I don't know if I'll go again.

The whole mountain is conglomerate and looks the same, but I enjoyed seeing some more sandy layers in the Wasatch Formation. My vague understanding is that these mountains were formed from rivers off the Uinta Mountains around 50 million years ago. 

Once I made it back to the main trail, I heard a big boom from the gravel pits beneath the shoreline. And as I rounded the curve, I saw an enormous cloud of dust. Once I passed it, the rest of my run looked hazy.

In other news, I must say I have appreciated all of the gratitude posts. I just love seeing all the positivity. Isn't Thanksgiving a wonderful time?

Yesterday I was able to make sauerkraut soup using our own apples. (I made it with cherries this summer.) It's a simple soup with an enjoyable texture, and it's not nearly as weird as it sounds.

Back in the spring, our elders quorum president asked me to teach an elders quorum lesson in April, before COVID shut everything down. But then they asked me to teach today's lesson on Zoom. My last calling in the YSA ward was EQ teacher, so it wasn't really new. I feel like my ending was awkward, but I'm probably overthinking it. And now I've been called to teach the 15/16-year-old Sunday School. I'm nervous about that, especially since school is taking up so much of my mental energy. We'll see how it goes.

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Pumpkinundation roundup is a little sparse this week, since I didn't have as much time to go get things this week.

The Maverik Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie is pretty typical for this kind of cookie. 7/10.

Even though they sell this year round, I still got this JJ's Bakery Apple Pie for Thanksgiving. It seems so cheap and fake and trashy. But I still love these! It might just be nostalgia. 7/10.

Talenti Gelato Layers Pumpkin Pie consists of pumpkin gelato, pie pieces, and brown sugar sauce. The pumpkin gelato is fine itself, but the pie pieces and brown sugar sauce really provide delightful textural and flavor contrasts. 8/10.

The Banquet Turkey Meal was better than I remembered. The potatoes aren't great, but the turkey is decent. Sadly, the best part might be the peas. 6/10.

And my parents bought this mix for Krusteaz Pumpkin Spice Pancakes. The mix can also be made for breads and cookies, which means it isn't great as pancake batter. They don't cook as nicely as other pancake batters. I really like the flavor, but it's loaded with sugar. 7/10.