How Michael Gets Sunburns

Well, I don't really have many pictures of this. I guess my wit will have to carry you through on this one. The week before last we went to the Muhlestein family reunion. That was great. On Thursday we arrived (and that's about all we did, as it took us a while to get there).

Friday we went on a three hour hike (a three hour hike...). Like my commentary suggests, it took longer than that to do, primarily because not everyone could keep up with Uncle Jim, even on his slower speeds. Daddy tried to slow him down by making him carry Macey, Peggy and Seth's daughter and his granddaughter, but he kept up the speed as usual. Dennis commented on how he knew that that would happen, and then the others wouldn't have any excuses. We went down one side of a canyon, went up the other, hike a little bit, went down a little bit and saw a really cool Anasazi pot. It's pretty well hidden from the casual viewer. We had lunch, and everyone drank all of their water at this point. We went back up, over and down, then took a turn and went and saw seven kivas. That was really cool, but everyone was getting really thirsty, as it was hot, so people started to want to leave. Before we left, however, Uncle Jim gave us a brief lecture on the Anasazi. The main point he wanted to leave with us was that the Anasazi, while interesting, were not good people, being very violent, hateful and even canaballistic. We hiked back out and went back to the cabin. Everyone was dehydrated, and even though I didn't get any real sunburns (for once I actually put on sunscreen), I do think that I came down with either severe dehydration or mild heat exhaustion, as I had a headache and was quite naseous on the ride home. Back at the cabin we had Hawaiian haystacks, and I took some medicine and went to bed. Mother took Tanner, Elisabeth and Ruth Checketts and went back up to Bountiful, as Tanner needed to weigh in for football.

Saturday I woke up and found that the very edges of my neck had been singed slightly. We then went to Bluff to see some cool exhibit on the Hole in the Rock-ers. Gerald Lund has a new book out about them called the Undauntables, I think. They were really cool folk. On all of these drives I spent a lot of time with the cousins about my age (i.e. Uncle Randy's kids) and found that they are really cool, not annoying, and have really shnazzy music tastes. One song in particular that has stuck with me is a song from Slumdog Millionaire called Jai Ho. I am finding more and more people who like Bollywood. I have come to the conclusion that I am going to watch the show Lagaan, which I hear is one of the best that Bollywood has to offer. Back at the cabin, we had lunch of Navajo Tacos and then took a nap. In the evening we had a big family history shindig and learned about a lot of my ancestors on my paternal side of my family. We had to cut it a little short as me and my family needed to get home for church. Well, mostly my family. We drove home through the night.

Sunday, as a brief note, I messed up on my alarm and found myself waking up at about ten o'clock. My church started at nine. I decided to, instead, go to Kathryn's ward, which was fun attending with her.

That Thursday (same week, three days ago) was Daddy's birthday and I got to go and get ice cream with Kathryn with Daddy. That was fun.

Friday I cleaned. A lot. I got everything ready for cleaning checks and went north to Bountiful. We had Chinese food and went to bed a little early for Saturday.

Saturday I hiked Timp. We got up at about 4:00, got ready and went to Salt Lake to pick up Dr. Shou and Dr. Tzu (I'm guessing at the spelling of the names) and headed for Timpanookee. It was just light enough that we could see where we were going. It was slightly cool, but I had a sweater on. It never got cold, and soon everyone had doffed their warmer clothes. When the sun came out I rolled down my sleeves and donned my hat so that I looked like a newsie sort of. The only problem was that it didn't really cover my neck, so those parts of my neck that weren't slightly burnt before became burnt. None of my burns were bad though, so I am all right. We got to the top in good time. Daddy felt really tired so he stopped at the saddle and didn't summit with us. George got to go for the first time this time, and he really liked it except for the fact that he started to get a little sick from the altitude. Tanner nearly ran up the whole thing, except for us restraining him. The Chinese doctors did very well, though they were also tired by the end. Once we started back down, George realized he had run out of water. Shortly thereafter, Tanner ran out of water. I was next, then Morgan and then Daddy. And this was before we got even a fourth of the way back down. And it was rather hot for a hike. Needless to say I got dehydrated, as did everyone else. I also got blisters regardless of two pairs of socks, boots and a spare change of socks which I used somewhere on the way back down (testimony of my sedentary lifestyle of the summer). About five minutes above the upper falls, Daddy fell and twisted his ankle. He sent George, Tanner, Morgan and me on ahead, as we were all dehydrated and it wouldn't help for us to be there, and he slowly limped down aided by the two doctors. Can you think of a better way of getting injured on the trail than on the way down with two doctors as your helpers? Dr. Sho had also saved a bit of his water, which saved my father greatly. Mother was at the bottom of the path waiting (I think) with ice water and food. Iwas most grateful for those things, and was thoroughly tired. I also got very stiff and achy joints. I took medicine and went to bed at 8:30'ish.

Sunday came around and I woke up, with much less stiffness, though the blisters are still there.

And there you have it! Hopefully it was entertaining enough to read the whole way through, notwithstanding the lack of pictures. Wait, I do have one! Just, I didn't take it...