Desperately Seeking Something to Do

Well...actually, that's a gross overstatement. (Not true at all, really, but it made for a catchy title and I couldn't pass it up.) For someone who hasn't had to work for the last week and a half, things have been surprisingly busy. But I am absolutely relishing in the fact that I a) have no homework, b) no longer have to drive to work everyday until August 1, and c) can now afford the luxury of lying on my floor, simply for the sake of lying there. Doing nothing. For as long as I want.

Which reminds me, after I hiked Mt. Olympus last week and was SO. TIRED. I told a friend that I just went home afterwards and was lying on the floor watching a movie, and how sometimes I just lie on my floor when I'm taking a break, and then she said, insightfully:

"....Why don't you lie on your bed??"

The thought had never really occurred to me. But then when I got to thinking about it, beds are for sleeping. Floors are for lying. If I lie on my bed, I'll fall asleep, duh.

But back to business. For those of you who are looking for things to do during the month of June, here's what I've been up to. You are welcome to steal any ideas. All of them are new and innovative.

1a. Go for a hike (brilliant, no?). If you are considering Mt. Olympus, please reconsider. Actually, if you are looking to be ridiculously sore for several days, go ahead and hike Mt. Olympus, but make sure it's the first hike of the season, so that you're not in hiking-shape, and if you want it to be really great, go when what looks like a clear day actually becomes a very foggy day so that you can't actually see the view from the top once you actually get there and you'll wonder if it was all really worth it (seriously, the fog was so thick we couldn't actually tell if we were at the top. We just think we were.). Especially after you've just hiked 3 miles with a 4,000 foot elevation gain STRAIGHT UP THE ENTIRE WAY with 'switchbacks' that are really just mild curves in the trail. Also, go with someone who runs marathons so that you can feel particularly out of shape.

(Ok, but seriously, the scenery and view were beautiful until we hit the cloud cover, and it was a very challenging hike, which secretly I love and I'm super glad we did it. I would recommend Mt. Olympus, with the only reservation being that you wait a few more weeks till the snow melts, and till it stops snowing on you. Because that happened too.)

 Before hitting the clouds:

The aforementioned fog that should have been a breathtaking view of the valley from the top:

1b. If you've never gone on a night hike, give it a go. Curt and I went up some random trail (let me think....hold on...it's coming....Mill B North Fork Trail in Big Cottonwood Canyon. That's it.) until it got dark and then hiked down in the dark. It's super fun!

Pretty pics before the sun went down:

2. Celebrate the end of the school year!!

(It might be a celebration with mixed feelings. Especially if you worked with people as cool and great as those seen below.)

3. Meet your aunt and uncle's friends at a family reunion and make them your friends! Doug and Cindy are these really wonderful, super generous people down in beautiful Beaver, UT, who offered to take me and a friend (for example, Emily) horseback riding up Beaver Canyon. Doug took me and the fam up a couple years ago at the family reunion and I had such a good time that Doug told me I had to come back. After I waited two years, he gently reminded me that I was due for a horseback ride (read: "MACKENZIE I TOLD YOU TO COME BACK HERE AND YOU HAVEN'T COME YET." It might have been more like that.) So I took him up on his offer and he treated Emily and I to THIS:

It was grand, to say the least.

So far, June rules. And it will only get better. More on that to come at the end of the month, but it involves getting a free 3-week vacation home to Washington, and BONUS getting to see Burke while I'm there. Huzzah! I love free, and I love Burke.