At last I am writing a post about my road trip last summer!! I am going to make it short but just wanted to make sure I write something! So here goes...
Last summer was bittersweet. I was fortunate enough to come home from my first year of college but one of my really good friends was moving half way across the country. Ashley's mom got a great job working for Houston's First Baptist in Texas so their entire family was moving! When I found out I jokingly commented that I would be more than willing to help them drive there...its a good thing I actually wanted to! As a result of numerous things they were unable to take both cars and everything. So Ashley was stuck in Portland with a car! It was perfect! We mapped it all out! Had a binder full of directions for each day! Gas was paid for! And three girls set out on an adventure!
Cassie, Ashley and I took turns driving each day. Because we were young adults we decided that no road trip was complete without a lot of fun! Which of course meant we needed to stop at every Six Flags between Portland and Houston! The first one was in Vallejo California! It was wonderful! At this park we met Jay. I know it is dumb for 3 singles girls to hang out with a guy all day but we were smart about it and didn't tell him where we were from or where we were going. Plus Jay got us to the front of any line...it was awesome! We stayed with Ashley's Grandfather in San Jose for two nights and then departed for lunch with her other Grandparents in Irvine California. After having lunch we proceeded to travel to Anaheim. Here we stayed in a Trendwest Resort called Dolphin Cove. It was right next to Disneyland! So of course that night we went to watch the fireworks at Disneyland! The next day we went to Magic Mountain! Basically the best thrill rides of the entire trip! X2 was awesome! Just ultimately a great day! The next day we traveled to Indio California. Here we took a day off and rested. It was nice to just sit by the pool and relax! However following the day of rest came a day of torture! We drove from Indio California to Santa Fe, New Mexico! What a long day! After that we had another long day driving from Santa Fe to Frisco, Texas. In Frisco we stayed with my sister Hilary. The next day we took another break! We each had friends or family in the area so we split up and did our own thing. It was perfect timing for me because this day happened to land on my niece Alyssa's birthday! We went to see Despicable Me and had a great time just hanging out! Then we went to Six Flags Over Texas. It was fun. I think I enjoyed it the most because of the memories I had from when I went there with my family. Finally we drove to San Antonio and stayed with my roommate Claudia's family. They were so sweet to allow us to stay with them. We had dinner on the River Walk and then the next day Claudia came with us to Six Flags Fiesta Texas. The neat part about this park is that it has a water park. I think this is one of my all time favorite places. I rode my first roller coaster here when I was 10 and it changed my life. Stephanie (my other roommate) drove out and spend the night with us. It was fun to have a little reunion in the middle of summer. After that we drove our last stretch to Houston! When finally in Houston we spent time with Ashley's family and relaxed!
This trip was such a blessing. Not only did we have a wonderful time but it was a great opportunity to share the gospel with Ashley. She is a very strong christian and is curious about the church. I think that it scares her to admit that she might be interested. I gave her a Book of Mormon when I left of college the first time, I know she hasn't read it but I am confident that at some point in her life she will find value in it.
I know that this post would have been 20 times better if I had written it last summer....but I'm lame and didn't...not much I can do about that now. But at least I now have a record of it!
Until later,
looking for another adventure
Showing posts with label adventure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label adventure. Show all posts
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Sunday, July 25, 2010
It only takes one wrong turn to completely change your path
Just over a month ago, my family had a family reunion of sorts in Utah. My oldest sister came to Utah for two weeks with her 5 daughters, which motivated us all to expand the trip! Luckily, we were not all stuck together for the entire trip, different people came and went, when everyone that could be there was there we had as many as 22 people! Including my parents, my oldest brother Brian, his wife Amanda and 3 daughters Emily, Paige, and Isabell, my oldest sister Hilary and her 5 daughters Alyssa, Kaylie, Lauryn, Emma, and Sydney, my sister Helen, her husband Matt, and 2 sons Jacob and Isaac, my sister Sarah, her husband Rick and 2 sons Jackson and Carson and daughter Natalie and me of course! It was a great trip full of ups and downs, but for the most part it was a positive reunion. We were sad that Seth and Ashtyn couldn't be there with us as well, but such is life! Due to the convenience of having the majority of the family in one place, Sarah decided to have Natalie's Baby Blessing while we were there. On the morning of the blessing my Mother and I had a little adventure...
First of all, the condo we were staying in was in Midway, UT which is 45 minutes away from Salt Lake. So my mother and I set out to Salt Lake early in the morning in effort to help Sarah get ready for the blessing and the lunch afterwards. While driving we made a wrong turn. Once we realized that we didn't recognize the place, we debated turning around or not. As we kept driving, unable to decide what to do, we saw a sign that said 5* miles to Park City. Figuring that it was in the same general direction that we intended to go we continued driving. About 3/4* of a mile later there was a sign for "Rough, Curvy Road Next 4*miles" and another one that said "End of State Maintenance". Usually signs like this exaggerate, figuring that we would be fine we soon dismissed any ideas of turning around and pressed forward. Then the pavement stopped, gravel started. Still we kept going. Then the gravel slowly transitioned into dirt. And the switchback turns started. Unable to find any place to turn around, we continued driving. Climbing higher and higher, getting more and more frightened with each corner as the trees shielding the fall disappeared and the chance of hitting an oncoming car increased due to our driving in their lane so as to stay away from the edge, we kept driving. We drove through groves of birch trees, and through the Wasatch State Park, we drove over Empire Pass, we drove up into the clouds, and were ecstatic to see any form of life such as a cottage, or a snowmobile, or even power lines. We had no cell phone coverage, and no one to rely on but ourselves, but we kept going. Finally, we started going down, the number of houses increased, as did the number of oncoming cars. We regained cell phone coverage and we were able to contact Sarah and tell her what was taking so long. We finally navigated our way back to the freeway and made it safely to Sarah's house. And despite the laughter, the fear, the insecurity of not knowing where we were, and all the other emotions we felt while on the drive we managed to find the positive in the experience.
I liken this experience to any other mistake we make in life. At first it is easy to turn around and repent, however, as you keep going it becomes less and less realistic to turn around. We feel like we are too far down the path to ever come back and repent. This is when the mistake forces us to do things that teach us something. As a result of our wrong turn and not turning around, we were forced to drive along an unsafe, long, road, making our trip longer and much less enjoyable than it could have been. We had to do things that we didn't want to just so that we could make it back to the right path, this is the same as when we make mistakes in our life. We sometimes have to confront people, or admit to things that we are ashamed about, but we have to do it in order to make our way back to the right path. Sometimes we even feel like we have lost contact with everyone around us, like we are alone, but let me reassure you that we never are. The savior will always help us, if we but call on him, even in the most difficult times in our life the Savior will be there for us. During our drive we said many prayers that we would be safe and find our way, and even though we couldn't call anyone we knew that we could call on the Lord. And even though we may feel like we are the only ones that have the problems that we have, there is always someone that has been through the same thing. If no one had ever travelled on the road we did, the road would not have been there. However, the most important thing about this whole experience is that with faith, and perseverance we made it safely back, even after our mistake.
Looking back it was a very good experience, even though it might have been hard at the time.
Until later,
Safe and sound
*Estimate, please do not quote me in any court of law, or any other venue in which accuracy is vital.
First of all, the condo we were staying in was in Midway, UT which is 45 minutes away from Salt Lake. So my mother and I set out to Salt Lake early in the morning in effort to help Sarah get ready for the blessing and the lunch afterwards. While driving we made a wrong turn. Once we realized that we didn't recognize the place, we debated turning around or not. As we kept driving, unable to decide what to do, we saw a sign that said 5* miles to Park City. Figuring that it was in the same general direction that we intended to go we continued driving. About 3/4* of a mile later there was a sign for "Rough, Curvy Road Next 4*miles" and another one that said "End of State Maintenance". Usually signs like this exaggerate, figuring that we would be fine we soon dismissed any ideas of turning around and pressed forward. Then the pavement stopped, gravel started. Still we kept going. Then the gravel slowly transitioned into dirt. And the switchback turns started. Unable to find any place to turn around, we continued driving. Climbing higher and higher, getting more and more frightened with each corner as the trees shielding the fall disappeared and the chance of hitting an oncoming car increased due to our driving in their lane so as to stay away from the edge, we kept driving. We drove through groves of birch trees, and through the Wasatch State Park, we drove over Empire Pass, we drove up into the clouds, and were ecstatic to see any form of life such as a cottage, or a snowmobile, or even power lines. We had no cell phone coverage, and no one to rely on but ourselves, but we kept going. Finally, we started going down, the number of houses increased, as did the number of oncoming cars. We regained cell phone coverage and we were able to contact Sarah and tell her what was taking so long. We finally navigated our way back to the freeway and made it safely to Sarah's house. And despite the laughter, the fear, the insecurity of not knowing where we were, and all the other emotions we felt while on the drive we managed to find the positive in the experience.
I liken this experience to any other mistake we make in life. At first it is easy to turn around and repent, however, as you keep going it becomes less and less realistic to turn around. We feel like we are too far down the path to ever come back and repent. This is when the mistake forces us to do things that teach us something. As a result of our wrong turn and not turning around, we were forced to drive along an unsafe, long, road, making our trip longer and much less enjoyable than it could have been. We had to do things that we didn't want to just so that we could make it back to the right path, this is the same as when we make mistakes in our life. We sometimes have to confront people, or admit to things that we are ashamed about, but we have to do it in order to make our way back to the right path. Sometimes we even feel like we have lost contact with everyone around us, like we are alone, but let me reassure you that we never are. The savior will always help us, if we but call on him, even in the most difficult times in our life the Savior will be there for us. During our drive we said many prayers that we would be safe and find our way, and even though we couldn't call anyone we knew that we could call on the Lord. And even though we may feel like we are the only ones that have the problems that we have, there is always someone that has been through the same thing. If no one had ever travelled on the road we did, the road would not have been there. However, the most important thing about this whole experience is that with faith, and perseverance we made it safely back, even after our mistake.
Looking back it was a very good experience, even though it might have been hard at the time.
Until later,
Safe and sound
*Estimate, please do not quote me in any court of law, or any other venue in which accuracy is vital.
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