Goal accomplished!

I have three weeks until my major birthday, and this weekend I met the goals I have been working for all year! I have visited all 29 counties and all 29 county seats while at the age of 29. Initially, I cared more about visiting just the counties, but later I decided I might as well do the seats as well. (Again, a county seat is essentially the capital of a county.)

In August, my old friend David (whom I first met on September 29, 1993) told me that it's his bucket list to climb the highest peaks in every county, and he still needed to hit San Juan County's high point, so he offered to come with me.

To make a long story short, I ended up requesting yesterday (September 8) off because I had already made arrangements to head down to my last two county seats: Moab (Grand County) and Monticello (San Juan County).

David and I left on Friday evening and spent a night in Price.

Saturday morning, we drove down to Moab. We didn't do much there; we stopped at the visitor center, and we looked in a bookstore, but I didn't buy anything.

Then we headed up to La Sal, where we hoped to find a restaurant, but instead we got sandwich supplies at the town's tiny "grocery" store.

This is the post office, but the store next door looked basically the same.

 Then we drove up a dirt road to La Sal Pass. It was the roughest road my Rav4 has ever been on, but only because I don't like driving on rough roads. I was surprised at the good condition of the road. I did have to ford one small stream. We passed various camping sites, and it was entirely lovely driving through the aspen forests. In two or three weeks, I can only imagine how positively gorgeous it would be.

Then we parked at the trailhead to Mount Peale, the highest point in San Juan County. The weather was mostly ideal for hiking the mountain.

I think these yellow flowers are some kind of groundsel.

I loved seeing the aspens starting to change.

 I don't regret doing the hike, but I don't know that I would say I enjoyed it. Mount Peale did not appeal to me. That may surprise you, since I love trail running. But the operative word is trail. Most of this hike did not have a trail, and it was straight up the steep mountain and talus fields.I only like trails, and I don't do well with steep.

 It was lovely, though. It was amazing to think that this alpine environment was in the same county as all of the red rock desert.

We made it to the saddle of the mountain, and I was a little chagrined when I looked at the ridge to Mount Peale. It was all talus, and I even saw cliffs. I don't do heights, even though it wasn't that bad. I was in physical shape to make it to the peak, but I was not in mental shape to do it, because I was already tired of all the talus and slopes. I could make it all the way, but did I want to? After some time hiking on the ridge, I made the decision that I didn't care to make it to the peak. I sat while David made it there. I knew I would be slow coming down, so I got a bit of a head start back.

(My lack of sleep last night messed with my emotions, so I'm trying to keep my FOMO from making me regret my decision not to go to the top.

You can see David on the top of Mount Peale.

We found a better route to descend than we had gone up initially, and we ended up in a charming aspen grove with a real trail! This was my favorite part of the whole hike.

Mushrooms!

We climbed 2,460 feet, and the hike took about five hours. I was worried about how late it was, and under different circumstances, I might have just headed for home. But I still had to visit Monticello--I had come too far not to visit it. So we stopped there for gas and ate at a restaurant. But I didn't get any pictures in Monticello; it was already twilight.

I must say I had a hard time enjoying my time in Monticello, because I was stressed out about my 4.5-hour drive home in the dark. But it's not like that's the only time in my life I can ever go to San Juan County. I hit it for my bucket list, but that doesn't mean I'm forever done with it.

But I did safely drive home in the dark. Once I hit Provo, a lot of post-game BYU fans got on the freeway. And I was disappointed with how speedy and even dangerous some of those drivers are. You can do better, BYU fans! I arrived home about 1 a.m. President Nelson was speaking at my ward today, but since I got to bed late, I didn't get up early enough for a good seat. I was 30-40 minutes early, but I was still relegated to the overflow in the Relief Society room.

And so, now that the county goal is accomplished, I will highlight the first time I visited each county, and the first time I visited its seat, since I turned 29 last fall. (I visited some of the counties and seats more than once, but I'm only documenting the first visit.)

I live in Davis County, so that was easy. I first visited Farmington on Halloween, when I bought pumpkin dishes from World Market and pumpkin socks from Old Navy.

I worked at the Church History Library in Salt Lake City, the seat of Salt Lake County, so I went there on my birthday last year.

I first drove through Utah County on October 7 on my way to Fish Lake. I visited Provo on January 12, when I had a job interview at BYU.

I also drove through Juab County on October 7, but I stopped in Nephi on a snowy March 15 after an interview in Manti. I was happy to get a leprechaun shake with my lunch.

I drove through Sanpete County on October 7, but I had an interview with a Manti newspaper on March 15. I didn't get that part-time, work-from-home gig, but they told me I could get a job if I moved to Manti. I didn't move to Manti.

I visited Fish Lake in Sevier County on October 7 to see Pando, the ancient, huge aspen grove that's one organism, and I ran along the shore of the lake. I ate dinner in Richfield on June 9 after coming back from Panguitch and Kanab.

I briefly passed through Piute County on October 7 on the way to Fish Lake. On June 9, I ate a popsicle from a tiny store in tiny Junction.

I ate a Dairy Queen Pumpkin Pie Blizzard in Scipio in Millard County on the way back from the Fish Lake trip. I ate a Bomb Pop at a convenience store in Fillmore on June 8.

To get in the Thanksgiving spirit, I visited Plymouth in Box Elder County and swam at Crystal Hot Springs in Honeyville on November 18. I ate dinner in Brigham City on May 24 after visiting Spiral Jetty.

I drove through Weber County on November 18, and I stopped at the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum in Ogden on June 26.

I drove through Summit County on January 11 on my way to the Midway Ice Castles. I ate lunch in Coalville and saw Echo Reservoir on April 19 after an interview in Park City.

I went to the Midway Ice Castles in Wasatch County on January 11. On August 8, I stopped in several stores in Heber to find candy to review, but I didn't buy anything.

On January 29, I had a job interview at the military base of Dugway in remote Tooele County, and I visited the Hawaiian ghost town Iosepa. I ate dinner at American Burgers in Tooele on August 30 after visiting Great Salt Lake State Park.

I drove through Beaver County on February 17. I spent the night in a Beaver hotel June 8 and 9.

I went to the Cedar City Temple in Iron County on February 17 with my friend Susan.

Then we visited the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm in Washington County (February 17).

I went to Panguitch, the seat of Garfield County, for its annual quilt festival with my mom on June 9.

I ate lunch and went to the Little Hollywood Movie Museum in Kanab, the seat of Kane County, on June 9.

I went to the Logan Tabernacle and DUP Museum in Cache County on June 26.

I saw the Wilford Woodruff cabin and ate a gross vegan burger in Randolph, the seat of Rich County, on June 26.

I visited the College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum on July 10 in Price, the seat of Carbon County.

Also on July 10, I visited the community museum in Castle Dale and went to the Cleveland-Lloyd quarry in Emery County.

On August 8, I ate lunch in Duchesne, the seat of Duchesne County, at a restaurant where two people were fighting and swearing at each other and a radio personality did a live radio spot for the county fair.

That same day (August 8), I stopped at the DUP Museum and Utah Field House Museum in Vernal, the seat of Uintah County.

I drove past Flaming Gorge and ate dinner in Manila, Daggett County, before driving home through Wyoming (August 8).

I ate lunch and admired the ward building in Loa, the seat of Wayne County, before visiting Capitol Reef National Park on August 14.

I stopped at the visitor center in Moab, Grand County, on September 8.

And finally, I ate dinner at a restaurant in Monticello after climbing up Mount Peale, the highest point in San Juan County.

I have really enjoyed having a bucket list for myself. It's been a great year.