Mountain Climbing

Maybe you guys from out West will think this is funny.

Yesterday I was at my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Mark's house here in Utah. They live on the side of this mountain that is not as tall as the others around it. I thought, "Hey, I like hiking. Maybe I'll just climb up it really quick before dinner."

Did you know that air is less dense in the mountains? Everyone knows that, but it really does affect how you breathe. I was dying. I literally collapsed about 2/3rds the way up. It was really embarrassing, but at least no one saw me or heard about it before I posted it online for everyone to read. It really felt nice after, though, and before the long trek back down (it's much easier to climb up than down) it was really tranquil just sitting on the side of the mountain, watching the sun set on the valley. I could get used to that.

This one (below) wasn't taken on the mountain. One cool thing about Utah are the gigantic flags that are milling around. They're huge and absolutely make any sane person feel like serenading the mountains with patriotic songs.

Utah!

I came out to Utah about 2-3 days ago. It's amazing how many people I've seen and how much I've done since then. First off, if you don't know, I haven't been here in 12-13 years, and a lot of my cousins out here I haven't seen since then. It's been really great catching up with everyone and sort of meeting them for the first time as an adult.

Perhaps some of you Chicago/Elgin folk have noticed that I don't look much like my cousins and uncles out there. As shown . . .

The Akemann Crew

Out here, it all suddenly makes sense. For the first time, I'm standing around with a group of guys and I feel like I look like them and other people can tell. Also other things, like quirks and habits I've noticed in Mom but not really in myself because of the gender gap, I see in "man form" in the relatives.

But with the good similarities come the bad. Out here, we are pack rats. Today I helped clean my grandma's house. It's a very gradual process. I worked with my mom and my two aunts for eight hours, unloading junk from the basement. I have never seen anything like it. We threw out two truckloads, a garbage can, and an SUV's worth of trash and didn't make a dent. While we accomplished a lot, it's almost awe-inspiring to see how much we didn't accomplish in the grand scheme of things.




Word to the wise:
Never allow someone with Foster blood to have three basements. Note that the lineage may be disguised as Akemann, Balzotti, or Gleave blood, but the gene is dominant and very dangerous.

*Note- This picture was taken at the dump, not the basement.

So that was today, but it's been mostly fun besides that. Saturday I went SCUBA diving in a hot spring where my cousin and his wife work. There wasn't much to see, but the experience itself was really cool. The hot spring is in the middle of this random desert valley. It's basically a mound of limestone that was once overflowing with spring water. Then someone blew out a tunnel in the side with dynamite and now it's a 60-foot hole in the ground, filled with a constant supply of warm water. It was pretty neat.