(I wrote this to my friend Chad, who is out on his mssion. I have decided to copy and post it in my journal since it is long over due. (My compter can't keep up with y fast typingitherso I'lllet you see what it i looks lik hen it dosn't lt me type.)

Speaking of lack-of-mountains, I went on a camping trip to Goblin Valley for two days. BIG MISTAKE. I went with my neice, Jade. We rode up together and it was time to change the cd after an hour's worth of travel. "Pop in Peter Gabriel, the one with the water droplet on the front cover." I said.

Jade followed my instructions and put the cd in. After 24 seconds of not hearing any music play, I was beginning to wonder if it was playing at all. So I crank up the volumn to 50, and I swear to you, the very first thing I hear can only be described as a T-rex roaring at me through my speakers!!! I ducked in self-defense of the mighty roar, while my neice, who is holding like five cds in each hand, follows through on the same instinct. I punched the off button on the radio panel and slowly lift my head up. My eyes were as wide as saucers and my hands were shaking from the aweful fright. "Are you okay?" I asked her.

Jade only laughs and says, "That scared me!"

"What!" I call out, making her laugh even more.

Oh man, we pulled over to a gas station for a bathroom break, and my knees were knocking together still!

Well, we met up with a few other girls and one guy named Kevin, at the gas station, and once again set off on our dusty journey to Goblin Valley. Along the way, Jade and I were listening to a much quieter version of Peter Gabriel's cd, when the car in front of us had struck a jack rabbit with it's tire! Now, believe me when I say that Peter's music makes me quite emotional, so when this happened, I was discontent with what I saw.

The world outside of my car had exploded into tufts of fur! It was like driving through a blizzard of fur, while the image of the bloodied rabbit tumbles to the side of the road. I dodged the corpse and frowned, thinking, "Oh, that poor animal... But holy cow that's a lot of fur! I didn't think it could just explode like that! I'm SO glad my cat didn't get hit by a car..."

My neice was terribly upset over this, as was I, so I changed the music to something more upbeat and tried to lighten the mood with my winning personality.

Well, the car in front of us was being driven by a crazed forrest ranger named Anna! Anna and I met in single's ward, where she constructed a day of hiking. Now, she was leading me to Goblin Valley, at the speed of eighty miles-per-hour. No... my car's speed is reading eighty-five... now ninety... now ninety-seven... o.O How fast does she plan on traveling?!

My car began to quiver and jolt around on the long-stretching dirt road, and I knew that if I didn't keep up with her, we'd be forever lost in the Utah desert. And if I continued to travel at this speed, I could very well end up upside down and wiping out even more jackrabbits as my car slides off road until finally coming to a stop.

"This all seems very unstable." Jade tells me.

"Yeah, and now that I know what its like to nearly drive a hundred miles an hour, I'm not too keen on doing it again." I reply.

"I think she really is trying to lose us." Jade says.

My mind reels back to the time that Anna had first started out, before we had reached the gas station. Waaaay back to the Orem freeway where she continued to dodge in and out of traffic, then getting off onto an exit that I had to cut people off just to follow her frantic moves. This woman was determined to get to Goblin Valley, forgetting that I was following behind. Of course, when we were driving past the Scoffield Lake, I was busy playing catch up to Anna by cutting off bigger vehicles such as Semi-trucks. Two, to be exact. So many of those roads continued to merge into one, that just to pass someone, I drove on the wrong side of the road just to stay behind her!

Well, I swore she was trying to lose me, and as we approached a small town, I slowed down to sixty-five, which was the speed limit, but that speed demon continued to drive at eighty! "Don't worry Jade, I'm sure we'll meet at the Green River eventually." I told my neice when I had lost sight of Anna's vehicle. However, it wasn't too long when I saw her car pulled over to the side of the road with a police car flashing it's lights. "Is that...?"

"It is." Jade says with a wide grin. We burst out laughing and I said, "It's a shame I don't have her number, otherwise I'd call her up just to laugh when she answers her phone." Grinning, I pull off the side the road and wait until she's already speeding again.

Wow, long e-mail... at this point, you'll just have to print it out and read it when you have time. Ha, when you have time. A-hem, anyway...

We eventually got to the campground and set up our tents. And let me tell you, everyone had one of those rounded tents that block out the wind and are all expensive and what not, while Jade and I used my dad's ... tent... which basically looks like a raggedy, triangular, blue tarp that he found off the highway. -_-' Some of the girls were like, "Oh what a cute tent! That looks really neat!" But inwardly, they were really saying, "Wow, that tent needs to be burned."

After we had set up our tent, I layed awake and listened to one of the few airplanes flying over head, when I heard a beep. Sitting up, I looked for my cellphone and found that every time a plane flew by, our cellphones had power for thirty seconds, then recieved no further signal. It creeped me out to think that an airplane, so high above, could give off such a powerful electrical signal. Just imagine what it does to our bodies. Or maybe it was the mixture of the airplane, along with the radioactive mines that were all around us. There were plenty of signs warning us about them.

Anyway, the morning came and after breakfast, Jade and I packed our hiking packs and climbed into one of the girl's cars to ride with them. Anna walked in front of our car pooling car and asked, "Where's Gena and Jade? I'm sure they'll want to ride up together alone."

I was like..."What! HOW RUDE! We're not some gothic recluses! How dare you judge us!"

But this other girl answers, "They're already in my car, ready to go."

I narrowed my eyes at Anna, who realized her mistake and prayed she was not heard by us. "Oh! Well, then, I guess we're ready to leave."

"Tch!" I mutter, looking to Jade. "Trying to ditch us, now she thinks we're loners..."

At that moment, Kevin bounds up to the car and points out the rabbit blood and fur on the bumper, points, and laughs. I cover Jade's eyes and say, "I'm sure he feels bad for the rabbit, that's just the way guys deal with something sad. Like they have to make it seem funny instead of sad due to them showing any kind of insecurity or emotion."

"I already don't like him." Jade says.

"Yeah, me either." I agree, knowing Kevin to be the kind that never grows up.

Anwyay, we finally reaching the hiking spot, where I took my shoes and socks off and walked over rocks that were hidden by water. And as we climbed over rocks that were above the water and half our size, we put them back on and helped lift each other onto them, turned, and helped others on our escapade.

We hiked for six hours, in what little shade we had. We stopped every now and again when we needed a drink or lunch, or if we just needed a rest. On one of those rest stops, Jade and I sat in the shade, while the other girls sat in the open and in the sunshine. They began to eat their lunch when Kevin showed up. This 230 pound muscular giant stood behind them and listened to their girly talk.

"I was having a lot of cramps earlier, but I took some Midol to feel better."

"Yeah, I know what that's like, when it's my time of month I..."

"Whoa! Stop right there!" Kevin shouts. "I knew I should have ended the conversation at the mentioning of 'cramps', but for some reason I didn't listen. I'm going to go over here and away from that." So he disappears behind a rock face, while the girls laugh.

Knowing Kevin's kind, the mischevious and obnoxious kind, I stood to see if he was up to something. Sure enough, he was picking up little bits of collected snow, and began to crunch them into snow balls.

"C'mon Jade." I said, quickly getting off the rock.

"Where too?" Jade asks.

"Over here for now." I said, moving even further away from the girls.

Sure enough, snowballs were being hurled at the girls, and they began shouting, "Stop it Kevin! That's not funny!"

To my surprize, one of the girls began to shout, "Estrogen! Period!" Sure enough, Kevin covered his ears and groaned a defeat, moving even further into the shadows.

Impressed by this lot, I told Jade, "Jade, I've found a group of nerds we'll get a long with, quite nicely."

Sure enough, we did.

We all managed to do just fine on the hike, until I pulled a groin muscle half-way through. Still, I went the rest of the way, and was ready to go back to camp, but Anna said, "Hey everybody, let's go to Goblin Valley and play on the goblins!"

Everyone moaned and said, "I'm really tired."

I just grit my teeth and imagined roasting Anna over our campfire... but we all piled into the car and went to Goblin Valley anyway. For two hours, they climbed and hiked in search of a cave that simply could not be found, nor white rocks that could not be reached.

In one attempt to follow Anna and the others, I made a death-defying leap over a cliff, just to reach the other side. At the top, I had found Heaven at last! There were five different breeds of dogs, and I got to pet the german shepherd! The whole reason to go on this camping trip was to chase lizards and rabbits. However, with Anna planning our every move, I could not. "Well, try and stop me from playing with the dogs! " I thought. And she did.

"We can't reach the mountains this way, let's go back down." Anna says, making a leap over the cliff again.

"There's a steep hill we can slide down!" A girl says, looking over a rocky ledge.

"Screw the jump, I'm sliding." I told myself as I hobble quickly over to the ledge.

The same girl, who shouted 'estrogen' at Kevin earlier, sat down and looked at her fate below. At that time, one of the dogs came over and sat beside her, as if to ask, "Hey, what you doin?"

"Ew! Don't touch me! You probably have some kind of disease or something!" The girl screams.

Glancing down at the well-mannered dog, I said, "I don't think he's diseased... Just a little dirty, right boy?" I patted the dog's head, then pulled back in horror as I glanced down it's body. The head had hair, but when I got past the neck and shoulders, it's hair was fading. Finally, as my eyes rest upon it's tail with only four hairs sticking out, I was grimmacing and wiping my hand on my pants. "Okay... maybe you have mange."

Well, I slide down after the girl did, and realized I have lost my neice to the crowd of those searching for the base of the white mountain. Knowing that Anna would climb it, if given the chance, I gave up one hour and forty-five minutes into the quest, for my leg was screaming for me to stop. "Hey guys, I'm sorry but I've got to head back to the car, my leg's killing me." I said, turning my back on the group and moving back towards civilization at the speed of a zombie.

I was glad to know that Jade decided to come with me on my trek back to the car, and we sat there and relaxed for the remainder of the evening. The girls eventually met with us and we drove back to camp, where Jade and I set up our tent. We had dinner, and I climbed inside my tent thinking I could just lay there and let the pain subside in my leg, when the girls were like, "Gena, come and join us for testimonies around the campfire!"

"What is this, girl's camp?!" I thought, and groaned as I got up. "Do these girls not know what a pulled muscle feels like!" Well, I sat around for another hour, until someone had called for a bathroom break. Jade wanted to go, and since I know how uncomfortable it is to go anywhere with a group of strangers, I went with her. Yes, Chad, girls REFUSE to use the bathroom behind a bush, so they absolutely HAVE to go to a stinky old outhouse instead. (I prefer the outdoors when compared to this, but that's just me.)

When we return to the campsite, Jade and I are staring in disbelief, at our tent. While we were absent, the dang thing actually got blown over by the wind, and was laying there in a ragged mess, still flapping frantically. I swore at that moment, that the tent must die. However, the girls were smart enough to bring a spare tent, and set it up for Jade and I.

"Do you have a mattress that will separate you from the ground?" One girl asks.

"...No, do I need one?" I ask, thinking a sleeping bag would be enough.

"They keep you from the ground, making it less cold at night."

"Oh." I said, wondering why I haven't learned this by now.

Not only did the girls offer my neice and I a tent, but they also gave lent us sleeping bags to replace our own, thus, giving us the oppertunity to use our old sleeping bags as mattresses. I actually got thirty minutes of sleep because of that.

And in the morning, I was all refreshed and ready to cuss out Anna for losing me some where along the road from Price. (She had our friend Stacy drive this time, for she couldn't afford another $80 speeding ticket.)

Luckily, I knew how to get home from Price, and there were images of dinosaurs everywhere! That made my day. I didn't go to church because my family had Easter lunch at two, while my single's ward started at one. After lunch, we played Cranium, and you know, I had more fun with them than the whole near-death camping experience. And later that night, bless her heart, Stacey calls me and asks if I made it home okay. Awwww.

So there you have it, I've made it home alive, just to face a Yellowstone experience with my family in this upcoming July. My brother won't wait for me either, but I won't lose him on the way up either. That much has been proven. I'm a good stalker. XD