High Adventure

So this past Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday BikerBob and Jpd (yours truly) got to participate in a VERY cool high adventure trip with some of the other youth in our stake.  To be specific, there were only 6 scouts and 2 adults.  Having a small group enabled us to have a lot of fun.

Half of our group (me, Nick, Nick)

DAY 1

Early Monday morning (8:00 am, which is way too early) the eight of us piled into the leader's van (to give some background; he used to be a Ranger and Helicopter Pilot in the Army and does tons of high adventure things, very hardcore) and head off two hours to our destination, Virgin Falls Pocket Wilderness.  While Bikerbob and I have hiked there several times, this was our first with other people.  When we finally got to the trailhead parking lot, we ate lunch, saddled up, and took off on the 8 mile trail.  This being a high adventure trip we had several challenges to face.  The first and perhaps hardest was getting to know each other, since all but two of us were unfamiliar with each other.  Luckily we all hit it off pretty well.  Challenge two was to locate the first of two dinner caches (extra motivation), which was turned out to be a jar of salsa.  We hoped that the next cache would turn out to be more promising and substantial.

       The second cache did turn out to be more yummy.  I am proud to say I was the one to locate it, underneath a huge slab of rock in a cave underneath Big Laurel Falls.  Included in the second cache were 1) 12 packs of chicken 2)12 Chips Ahoy 3) 12 fruit cups; obviously a treasure to behold.  After cooling off a bit under the falls, our leader showed us how to build a one-rope bridge like the ones he used to build in Special Ops.  With a lot of pulling and a bit of knot tying, you can actually make a very reliable rope bridge.  To put it in use, we made one that ran adjacent to a large log that rested betwixt the falls and the ground.  We actually climbed the log, using the rope as a safety line in case we should slip.  Going up the log was the easy part, going down was a different story.  The slope that seemed gentle at first was now a lot more intimidating going down, but no one fell off or anything so it was a successful challenge.  
      We got our packs back on and hiked another few miles to Sheep's Cave/Falls.  The geography basically consisted of a cave stream coming out and falling one hundred feet or so into a large muddy pit and going back underground.  We decided to go down into said large muddy pit.  While it could have been possible for to do so just on all fours, for safety reasons we set it up as a repelling job.  While the rope definitely helped with not slipping in the mud, most of us got a bit of rope burn on the way down.  Once most of us boys got down, we explored a little and found a really cool cave that was sort of tucked in the side at the bottom.  Unfortunately only one of us though to bring a flashlight, so we couldn't explore the cave as quickly or thoroughly as we would have liked; however, it was still really awesome, with huge cave crickets and fairly large "rooms."  After everyone took a look around we hooked up to the rope again and climbed back out, which was made slightly difficult by a few large mud patches.  Back up top, now that we were sufficiently dirtied, we saddled up once again and hiked one last mile to the falls. There we set up camp, took a nice breather, and got a fire going; with which we heated our delicious meal of packaged chicken and salsa.  By now the sun had set, draping the woods in darkness.  It was then that I got mugged.  That's right, in the middle of a pocket wilderness I got mugged.  Let me explain:


       After dinner I went to clean that pot and utensil that I had used.  After walking a few yards away from the fire, on a trail, I set down said pot and utensil about to wash them.  However I had forgotten the camp soap, so I walked back to my pack to retrieve it and came back to the same spot.  When I got there I heard a strange metallic rattling noise and looking down, I noticed my pot was missing!  Within a few seconds I put two and two together and looked for the source of the rattling.  It did not take me long to spot the pair of eyes and outline of a raccoon at the bottom of the hill.  I paused for a minute in pure shock; this kind of thing only happens in movies, right?!  I would have immediately torn after this thief, except that he was at the bottom of a steep rocky incline.  By the time I managed to get down there he was already gone.  After explaining to everyone at the camp how I had been stolen from, my dad and I searched for the pot, hoping that the thief had abandoned it; unfortunately our search was in vain.

       The next morning we went down to the falls, where we actually went under them.  The falling water provided a refreshing shower to wake us all up.  After breakfast our leader challenged us to built a rope bridge across a pit by our camp site.  While it took us awhile to get it set up, the end product was successful. 

After taking down our rope bridge, we broke camp and headed out a mile or so to the nearby river, where we faced another challenge; our leader wanted us to rig a raft made of our packs, to be used by someone to float across the river.  Not only were our packs going to get soaked, but we also had to put in clothes and our sleeping bags to float it.  But the raft worked well, even though our packs were drenched and sandy.  We also found a rope swing, which we put to good use. From here it was a straight hike out back to the trail-head, which landed us at the parking lot around five o'clock; then we drove about an hour out to the leader's family ranch, where we crashed for the night.

       The next morning we had a nice big breakfast and went out back to shoot shotguns.  I myself have only shot one once in my lifetime, so it came as a surprise when I managed to hit about 80-90% of the clay pigeons.  While I've never been a gun fanatic by any means, I do have to say it was quite fun.  In addition, we got to take his dirt bike and dune buggy out for a spin on their property.  Unfortunately we were not allowed to drift (safety or something like that), which prevented me from executing my Mario Kart skills.

Anyways, this high adventure trip was definitely awesome and we will be doing it again next summer for sure.

A Great Urban Adventure

       So on the 4th of this fine June month I (jpd) had the chance to partner up with my Aunt B. to participate in the "Awesome Metropolitan Event" (GUR) in the city which she lives in.  For those of you who don't know what the GUR entails, the website describes it as "a wild urban adventure. Teams solve twelve clues and complete exciting mental and physical challenges while discovering the city in a fresh way!"  Basically it's a recreational version of the Amazing Race.

       At exactly noon the team were all given their clues.  There were 12 clues, all in the same envelope.  It was up to us as a team to decipher the clues, figure out locations, and choose which ones to do.  You are allowed to skip one, although on the website it states that some clues are mandatory while others or not.  This will come into play later.


      After we figured out the locations, we sprinted 2 miles to the first cluster of challenges.  We got our pictures taken by a friendly group of us "jumping' into a fountain.  It was so hot I was half tempted to jump in for real. Next we went into an upscale wine shop, where in the back we tried to get three corks a piece into buckets.  On our way to the next clue, we had our picture taken with a hobo who was carrying two grocery bags (to complete the picture tic-tac-toe).  

Me and my crazy hair.

Our second challenge took place at a necklace shop, with the requirement being to sort out one wooden bead from one thousand clay beads.  Once we found the wooden bead, we were to string it with six clay beads to form a necklace.

The final product.

  Next we busted down to a Greek Restaurant.  Funny thing about that, both of us were sweaty and I looked pretty wild by this time. We took the side entrance and walked in on a bunch of people who were nicely dressed and enjoying there dinner.  Needless to say, we felt significantly awkward.  Luckily a waiter rescued us by pointing out the challenge table in the corner.  The challenge was to take a picture of one partner feeding the other a piece of Baklava, a Greek dessert pastry.  With my large eating habits, it only made sense for me to do the eating.  This baklava was the best I've ever had (also the only I've ever had).  It  was very sweet with lots of honey and other good stuff.

Om nom nom.

       With the completion of this challenge, we were finished with the first cluster of clues and ran to the next.  Two miles later we found ourselves at a boutique/flower shop.  There our challenge was for one us to ask the other out to prom using a randomly selected accent and emotion.  I got a happy sports broadcaster, and while I gave it my best shot, I didn't nail it.  Fortunately we still got credit.

Me, all sweaty and crazy haired again.

       Next up was the football stadium, home of the professional team which are 10ac's bitter rivals (or so we like to think).  While Aunt B. searched unsuccessfully for office supplies in the gift shop (it comes up later), I went and threw some horseshoes to complete the challenge.

      Rejoined with Aunt B. we raced a few blocks over to the pro-basketball stadium, where we shot some mini-hoops.  Then another block later and we found ourselves on the third floor of a pub/restaurant place which served as a billiards club, where we had to shoot some pool to complete the challenge.

       From there we stopped by a local UPS store to buy basic school supplies (which are surprisingly hard to find in this downtown metropolis) for the charity challenge.  Then we ran (if you haven't figured it out already, we did a lot of running in the extreme heat) to the offices of a NASCAR branch, where we had to fill in the blanks of a common regional anthem.  Luckily we had iPhones to look up the lyrics, since the song was unknown to the both of us.

We then headed to the canal, where we paddled a few meters, around a fountain, and back in a kayak (the cold water was very refreshing to the near 100 degree weather).

Our approximate route.

            We finished up the picture challenge with

1) take a picture with a street sign with double letters

2) take a picture with a car with a different state licence plate

       Finally, we ran 2 miles to give our school supplies to St. Jude's Children Hospital representatives.  While we could have skipped this clue, I felt that since it was for charity we should still do it.  This did end up costing us an hour's worth of time, but it's all good.  So after that we used our last legs to get back to the finish line, with a finishing time of 2 hrs, 56 min.  As I said before, without going to the charity challenge we would have shaved off near an hour of time, which would have most definitely put us in the top 3.  But regardless we still finished in the top 24, qualifying ourselves for nationals (yes, they have a nationals for this) in New Orleans this November.  Besides getting a cool medal for qualifying, we also were the first family team to finish (one member has to be below 18 years of age, me) so we got a cool Car Racing prize pack with some shirts and shtuff.  At the closing ceremonies there was also a speaker from St. Jude's Children's Hospital who told a heart-warming story about her personal struggles with a brain-related illness.

Us with our prize (the city name is blotted out because my dad fears a  hacker attack or something)

Anyways, the Great Urban Race was definitely awesome and worth a 10 hr round trip drive from our residence in 10ac.  Through the scorching hot heat and massive amounts of foot travel Team Nike battled its way to the top 25 earning a ticket to a hopefully cooler November New Orleans.  I absolutely recommend the Great Urban Race to everyone and I look forward to doing another race soon.

12:01 am 7-15-2011

The end of an era began at 12:01 am.  We had snagged tickets via the internet so we got into the first showing.  At our theater, not a lot of costumes, but lots of lightning scars, a few wands, and one cape.

The main difference was the applause when the movie began, and at the big victories including cheering when Molly Weasley took out Bellatrix, and of course at the end.  Forgot what it was like to have audience participation.

Alan Rickman was stellar, with the scene of Snape crying over Lily Potter's after Voldemort's fatal attack particularly moving.
Ralph Finnes gives us Voldemort who for the first time begins to show fear and doubt, even while maintaining his absolute contempt for weakness or love or his followers.
Maggie Smith, who I had worried looked to ill to make it to the final movies, has the most fun as she gets to move to prime defender of Hogwarts, unleashing the stone guardians.

As always my favorites among the child (now young adult actors) are the girls, Hermione and Luna, but even Ron, Harry, and Malfoy have turned into real actors by now, with Nelville finally getting his chance to really shine.   Perhaps the most moving scene that excelled over my reading of the book it as Harry passes out of the castle to give himself up to Voldemort and he walks passed all the dead Hogwarts defenders and we see the children, particularly Ron's first love, dead on the stretchers and Remus and Tonks laid side by side.

Although I would have preferred the final duel between Harry and Voldemort to be in public as in the book, rather than in the isolated courtyard as the movie, the scene still plays out well, as Nelville's killing of Nagina meshes with the crux moment in the duel, turning the tide finally and fatally against Voldemort.

And the cheesy last scene wasn't so cheesy, except that none of the kids really looked like they were 19 years older, (but isn't that what we tell ourselves too?)

U2 in 10aC

Last week we went to the U2 360 Tour concert.

U2 is the band that more than any other has defined my life, "we" have grown up together, so I thought I would wax a bit nostalgic...

It was 1985 and I was working at the outdoor pool when another lifeguard, Sarah Wood, first introduced me to the little Irish band called U2.  At the time, they were pretty much unknown in our little hometown.  (If it wasn't on the radio, most of us didn't know anything. )  At first I found the lyrics about Sunday Bloody Sunday and New Year's Day confusing.  But over the summer, as Sarah continued to play her albums over the loud speakers (the only way we lifeguards past the long afternoons) the music and band grew on me.  Their political outspokeness and Christian imagery fit well with my evolving teenage personality.
The next year or so, the band released Joshua Tree and suddenly U2 hit the mainstream.  Everyone knew the band then, although I think most people still stayed away from the earlier albums.

Then I went to college, fell in love, and then left for a mission.  In the early days of my missionary training, it was songs (sung in my head, rock music was banned for missionaries in the MTC)  like "A Day without Me"
I'm starting a landslide in my ego
Look from the outside to the world I left behind
I'm dreaming - you're awake
If I were sleeping, what's at stake?
A day without me...."

and " 40"
"I waited patiently for the Lord, he made my foodsteps clear, I will sing, sing a new song...how long, to sing this song...."
 
that got me through those long MTC days and lovesickeness.  I remember trying to translate the lyrics of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" into Thai. Then as I went to Fresno and began working with Cambodian refugees songs like "Mothers of the Dissappeared" and "Pride in the Name of Love" took on new meaning.

At the end of my mission (again no rock music for 2 years....) I started seeing posters for the movie Rattle and Hum displayed in the local mall, and was intrigued, looking forwarded to seeing the movie.  People told me they thought Rattle and Hum wasn't that good of an album.  And maybe in the first couple of listen through it was a bit of a change.  But certainly it didn't take long for me to come to appreciate it as a new chapter in U2.  Particular favorites were "Van Diemen's Land:" (I'm always a fan of when the Edge gets to lead vocals), "Angel of Harlem", and  "All I Want Is You."  More on that last song later.

Achtung Baby was shift in a new direction and frankly  I wasn't as enthusiastic about the new direction, but there were still a couple of songs that entered the most memorable song list like "One" and "Acrobat" and "Mysterious Ways".

Zooropa and Pop further went down a path of synthetic pop that I was as not as excited about.  Except Zooropa introduced me to Johnny Cash again via "The Wanderer", which I will always be grateful for.  And "If God Will Send His Angels", "Staring At the Sun", "Please", and "Wake Up Dead Man" are some of the most haunting songs of disillusionment and shaken faith that are out there, made authentic by the band clear formerly heavy faith based lyrics.  These songs spoke to me as my own quest for authentic faith weaved through many dark and turbulent days.

We actually finally got to see U2 live when the PopMart tour came to Salt Lake.  In some ways the concert was really great, but that phase of U2 was not the U2 that I had always wanted to see live.  So I admit really wishing I could have seen them in the early days or at least pre-Zooropa.

With "All That You Can't Leave Behind", U2 came back to their old self, much to my great satisfaction.  This album featured three of my all time favorite songs, especially "Grace", "Peace on Earth", and "Walk On". 

...Grace
It's a name for a girl
It's also a thought that changed the world
And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness in everything...

...Because grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things...

How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb is most remembered as the soundtrack for the then revolutionary idea of the iPod and I know a lot of critics think it is one of the lesser albums, but for me this is actually one of my favorites, for songs like "Yahweh":

...Take these shoes
Click clacking down some dead end street
Take these shoes
And make them fit
Take this shirt
Polyester white trash made in nowhere
Take this shirt
And make it clean, clean
Take this soul
Stranded in some skin and bones
Take this soul
And make it sing....






We went down to Chattanooga to see U2 in 3D which featured this album and this renewed my desire to see U2 live again.   


So I was very excited when I found out that U2 would be in Tennessee on our anniversary.  No so excited when I tried to buy tickets and they were sold out instantly. Unwilling to pay big bucks to scalpers who had snatched up all the presale tickets,  I had resigned myself to having to stand outside the stadium.  But the day before the concert, I went back online to Ticketmaster and found that more tickets had been released, so I quickly snatched them up.  (Then quickly called AM to make sure she hadn't bought tickets as well since she had been looking out for them as well.)

So we got to go, and we had fabulous seats.  We took JPD with us, as he is a big fan as well.  (But he didn't get to go to our anniversary dinner...)  It was a hot muggy nights, the crowd was enormous and the lines for the restrooms were so long that I had to make a scary choice, forego the pregame biobreak with the hope that my old man bladder could make it thru the entire concert without an emergency.  (Fortunately, I could.)

The crowd was fantastic, the band was fantastic, they played a great mix of old and new songs.  Here is the set list:

• Space Oddity (Major
  Tome)
  Even Better Than The Real Thing
  The Fly 
  Mysterious Ways
  Until The End Of The World
  I Will Follow
  Get On Your Boots
  I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
  The Wanderer
  Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
  Beautiful Day (With snippets from the Space Shuttle)
  Elevation Play 
  Pride (In The Name Of Love)
  Miss Sarajevo
  Zooropa
  City Of Blinding Lights
  Vertigo
  I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
  Sunday Bloody Sunday 
  Scarlet 
  Walk On
  
  
  Encore:
  Desmond Tutu Speech
  One Play 
  Amazing Grace 
  Where The Streets Have No Name
  Encore 2:
  Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
  With Or Without You
  Moment of Surrender
  All I Want IsYou

Probably the most magical moments for me, because they not part of any album, and I think pretty unique to the Tennessee version of the concert were "The Wanderer", with Bono's tribute to the Man in Black, "Amazing Grace" and most definitely the last song.


The band had finished, they had taken a picture and were walking off the stage when Bono decided to call some guy up from the audience.  When the guy comes up, I actually initially thought he was drunk because Bono had given him his arm to help him come up and the guy had ignored it, and then he almost fell over the step on the stage.  It is only two days later that I read that the man is in fact blind and I guess had been holding up a sign during the concert saying something like" I'm blind but can play, and Let me play a song for my wife".

Anyhow, Bono gives him his guitar, the man says how nervous he is and then he and Bono start in on "All I Want Is You."  At the time, knowing that he was doing it for his wife, it was really cool, but now knowing he was blind, watching it on youtube gives me goosebumps...

"You say you'll give me
Eyes in a moon of blindness
A river in a time of dryness
A harbour in the tempest
But all the promises we make
From the cradle to the grave
When all I want is you..."

At the end, Bono gives the guy his guitar.

The Gothenburg Art Museum

The next day, I went to the Gothenburg Art Museum before the conference started at 2:30 pm.  I should note that the way you slip when its still light outside is you draw very heavy curtains over your window.  But its still trippy for it to be so light.  I think I typically ate supper at 9:30 to 10 pm and based on light, I would have thought it was 6 pm.

 Outside the art museum.

 Looking down from the steps of the art museum and up the Avenyn.  Poseiden statue in the foreground.

 Its too bad this is blurry. 

 A completely bizarre but colorful picture.

 This kind of reminded me of the Apollo space craft for some reason.

 By a Nordic artist.  You can tell by the dark, solemn colors and the sea.  Below is a picture of the Death of Charles XII, the King of Sweden who invaded Norway, but almost lost Sweden in return.

 Van Gogh.

 I took a picture of this mostly for JPD who objected to our considering having a shiny reflective globe in our yard as cheesy like a pink flamingo.  I will point out to him that apparently its high art.

Rembrandt

Trädgårdsföreningen (The Garden Society of Gothenburg)

After ending my water tour, I continued to wander the streets.  I came to Tradgardsforeningen, paid my 20 SEK and walked into the park.

 Statues lined the outer paths that ran by the canal.

 This maypole was the center of the MidSommar celebration the night before.  But I missed it all!  I sat for about 20 minutes on a bench here and thought, you know, I don't get a lot of time just to sit and do nothing but mediate nowadays.  Too much of a frantic life, not taking enough time to enjoy it.  I'm am glad for this unfettered afternoon.

 Flowers and Butterflies.

 Can you see the bumblebee just leaving the flower/

 I am a huge fan of these purple flowers.  Ours back in Tennessee are much smaller.

This is Gothenburg's (sometimes referred to as Little London) version of the Crystal Palace.  It is a hothouse (greenhouse) mostly containing tropical plants.  Very important in a city that is winter 9 months of the year!

 These lovely roses growing on the side of the Crystal Palace.

 Inside the greenhouse.

 I don't know what these are, but I thought they were the coolest flowers I had ever seen.

 It occurred to me that I had very rarely actually seen lilypads shaped like perfect circles that one sees in fairytale books.  But here were some perfect specimens!

 Aren't bromelids lovely?  If I weren't so good at killing them, I would get some for my office again.

 Back outside.  I was getting pretty tired by now, as I was running on probably 2 hours of sleep over a 36 hour period.  I don't think I could ever make it as a medical resident.

I should note that although it was sunny and a bit warm, it was a pleasant warm, not at all unbearably hot like summer in Tennessee.  I noticed when I got back to my hotel that I had a bit of a sunburn.