Weekend Update

I have neglected my blog over the last week or so, so I thought that I would give a blanket update of my life in a single post:

Salsa!
I started a Salsa dancing class with Lisa on Thursday night. I've been wanting to take some dancing lessons for a while so when Lisa invited me to join her it seemed like a good opportunity. Ideally, I'd prefer learning to salsa with a girlfriend rather than a sister, but I'll take what I can get. I rode my Harley to the first night of class and I can safely say that I was the only one there wearing combat boots. Believe it or not combat boots are not the ideal shoes for learning to Salsa. I may have to dig up a different pair of shoes for next week's lesson. Unfortunately, I'm going to be dancing solo for my next two lessons. Lisa snuck off to Hawaii for a couple of weeks leaving me without a partner.

The Phone
It is inexplicable, but I have spent over a dozen hours on the phone with Rosey over the last 4 days. It's particularly strange because both of us claim not to be 'phone people' and yet we can't seem to hang up. On Thursday night we talked for 5 hours until nearly 3 in the morning. Saturday night (after talking twice earlier in the day) we talked for three hours until 2 in the morning. It's a good thing that Rosey has a good cell plan with free nights and weekends :)

Gaining a Roommate
On Thursday night as Rosey and I were discussing her plans for moving to Salt Lake I brought up the idea of living together. On the one hand it seems terrifying to move in so quickly, but on the other hand neither of us could imagine living apart once Rosey lived out here. We didn't arrive at a conclusion on Thursday night but after letting it simmer for a couple of days we decided on Saturday for sure that Rosey will be moving in with me when she moves out to Utah in July. I know it's a little crazy but we just decided that we wanted to have an adventure and that we were willing to take a risk.

The Visit
I will be flying out to Alabama one more time in June to visit Rosey before she moves out here. I fly out on Friday the 16th of June and come back on Monday the 19th. The plan is to rent a Harley on Saturday and spend the day riding and camp overnight in some place that I can't remember the name of right now :) On Sunday we will return the Harley and switch gears to riding non-motorized bicycles through Northern Alabama. Sunday night and Monday we will probably just kick back and recover from our weekend adventure.

The Move
Rosey is planning on moving out to Utah in mid-July. The plan is that I will fly out to meet her in Alabama and then we will drive back together. I'm planning on taking a week off of work and turning it into a mini-vacation. We are going to hit Big Bend National Park, Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands National Monument and Guadalupe Mountains National Park on the drive back. I'm excited, it should be a lot of fun!

The Book
When I wasn't on the phone with Rosey this weekend, I was reading, "Hyperspace" by Michio Kaku, one of Rosey's favorite books. It's a physics book that provides an introduction to higher dimensional space. It can be a bit heavy in parts but it has been a really interesting read for me. One of the things that I really like about Rosey is that she challenges me intellectually. My brain feels like it actually needs to work to keep up with her :)

Stuart Falls
Although I spent most of the weekend in a lethargic state in protest of the cruddy weather, I did manage to get off my ass on Saturday afternoon to go hiking with Owen and Kim. We hiked out to Stuart Falls above Aspen Grove in Provo Canyon. Stuart Falls is one of my favorite hikes. Last summer I hiked it several times a week to build up my stamina for hiking in Glacier National Park. I also snowshoed it several times this winter. I had dragged Owen out to Stuart Falls on a previous occasion, but this was Kim's first time ever. It was a pretty good time even though we were hiking in cold weather and a slight drizzle for part of the hike. I put some pictures up here.

Timpanogos Cave
On Monday I was invited to spend the morning and afternoon 'celebrating' Memorial Day with my friends Dale and Bethany. We did a short hike up to Timpanogos Cave and went on the cave tour. Despite having been through the cave on numerous occasions before I still always enjoy it. Although I have to say that the tour guide that we had today was not really the best. She wasn't horrible, but she just wasn't as personable as some of the guides that I have had in the past.

I hiked most of the way up and the entire way down with one of Dale's two kids on my shoulders. It amuses me to carry extra weight when I hike now considering how much weight I've lost over the last year. I could've carried both of Dale's kids at the same time and still would have been lighter than the last time that I hiked up Timpanogos :) Here are some pictures from our hike.