Baldy: It's A Mountain

This one will be short and sweet.  The pictures will do all of the talking!  Or is it that they will do most of the writing?  Well, whatever there is more of is what they will do!

Our second trip to Glorieta, NM brought us to the edge.  A few of us had an idea.  An idea of triumph and greatness.  Some might have said we were out of our minds, but we would not be deterred.  It was our chance at glory!  We were going to hike to the top of a mountain…no big deal!

By the time we started there were only two of us left.  I don't know how we lost the rest of our group so early.  What I do know is that it was tragic, sad, and a great excuse to make fun of everyone who backed out.  We missed them dearly, but we had to go on without them.  We had 10 miles of hiking to do and our loss couldn't hold us back.  

We set out early in the morning with only our determination, two Powerades, a few bottles of water, and some snacks (don't worry mom, they were healthy snacks).  The funny thing is we really didn't know how far we had to go or how long it would take.  All we knew was we had to be back in time for soundcheck.

This was just the beginning.

When we first set out it seemed as though the hike would be easy.  The trail seemed pretty tame.  It seemed like a relaxing afternoon.

X marks the end of easy.

Thinking we were bound to be close, I was feeling good.

We took a break around the halfway point.

I think this is around 3/4 along the way.
That city looking spot towards the right-center is where we started.

Could we REALLY say we reached the top without climbing this tower?

No, we couldn't, so we did what any law-abiding citizen would do.
We climbed it!

Remember that city looking spot?  We almost cried when we remembered that we still had to walk back.
It was worth it, though!

Not only did we make it back from the elevation of 11,000 ft.* in time for soundcheck, but we actually made it back in time to shower a get some food!  This was definitely one of the best days of the summer!

*We started at around 7,500 ft.  None of this changes the fact that we found a ranger trail used to drive trucks to the summit.  WE COULD HAVE DRIVEN!!

Painting Rocks

I can remember moments in my life when I said good-bye to different seasons of my life.  Often, when saying bye, I was also leaving behind an entire world in and of itself.  Those times have long since passed, and I've learned to never completely say good-bye to any one part of my life.  Why?

Because it's usually the things you write off that tend to suck you back in (feel free to say something such as "preach it!").

A few years ago I worked at a camp playing in the band and leading Bible study.  We started our day around 7:30 am and usually wrapped up with our staff meeting around 11 pm.  Seeing as we didn't really have much time to ourselves during the day, we typically took a little time to get stuff done.  That meant going to bed between 12 and 1 am.  When it came time to say good-bye to that life I was ready.  I was really, really ready!

That's why I found it so odd that I started my summer off as a "guest artist" at that very same camp!  I stepped off of the plane wondering how in the world I had ended up here.  How and why was I back at camp?  It didn't really matter once I found out that I really only had two 30 minute jobs to do each day.  The rest of the time was mine to do what I wanted!

Camp without all of the responsibilities?  I'm in.  Especially when we walked out of evening worship each night to look at this!

One of the best parts of the trip for me.  Not having to be involved in every facet of camp also meant not having to eat every meal in the cafeteria!  If you've never heard of Harry's Roadhouse you need to buy a plane ticket to Albuquerque right now!  Not only have they been featured in magazines and food shows while becoming a hot spot for celebrity sightings (apparently, those happen every other week of the year except for this one), but they have pretty good food.

Suggestion: Close your eyes, point to something on the menu, and order it!  You won't be disappointed.

I said bye to camp, ended up saying hello again, got excited about a slack schedule, then the apparently inevitable happened.  After a few days spent eating at restaurants like Harry's and going to Santa Fe for the day, I started looking for something else.  I wanted to be involved in something.  Next thing I know I'm…

...painting rocks with these rocks...

...playing, and losing, my first round of Phase 10 with some kids...

...helping set up the most elaborate domino train EVER...

...and refereeing a few games of air hockey.

Stay tuned!  Today is a double header since I forgot to publish this last night when it was finished.  Whoops.

Ummm, sorry

It has been far too long since my last post.  Am I sorry?  Yes!  Do I have an explanation?  Well…sort of.  Do I have a plan of action?  Indeed.

Now, I myself have never designed a website.  I did, however, used to work at a store full of people who talked about how easy their website was to do.  How long could it really take?  Well, I'm here to tell you that it takes longer than one would think.  Maybe I'm picky, or maybe I'm just plain slow when it comes to…hmmm…well…anything that most people seem to do fast for no apparent reason (personal websites included).  As slow as it might be going, I am in fact starting a website.  I don't know when exactly it will be done, but the both of you will be the first to know!

So, I've decided to return to a place of balance.  A place where I can work on my site AND blog!  Now, you might be asking yourself, "What about all of those weeks of Mr. Scoop's life that I missed?"  

Have no fear!  Over the next 4 or 5 days I will be posting on here with stories that stick out from the past 8 weeks (it's been a busy summer).  I know, I know.  It may seem a bit too generous for me to give you an apology in the form of reading assignments, but I guess that's just the kind of guy I am…classy! 

What can I say?