Utah Slot Canyons

November 18, 2015. - Seventeen years ago today I made a commitment to an adventure that was guaranteed to be a whole lot awesome, and a little bit crazy—and my Nicolas has not disappointed!

A week ago we went what I believe they call canyoneering (we just called it fun), and as usual, it was a whole lot awesome and a little bit crazy.

Day 1: Leprechaun Canyon 

Definitely awesome.

We loved Day 1 so much, we decided to stay and  have a 

Day 2: Monkey Business Canyon

Absolutely stunning.

Heading into the canyon.

Squeeeeeeze

And then the guaranteed awesome met the guaranteed crazy, because nothing with Nicolas is ever, how shall we say, unchallenging:

See Nick's foot? Now look way down to the bottom. That's Acacia who just shimmied down 30ft with her hands and feet.

Cayenne is on a ledge part way down, and still not sure she's digging this section. (She loved it once we were at the bottom of the slot.) And here's me, wondering if I'm going to get stuck partway down...

And it was amazing! I'm still 10 feet above Acacia here, and it's so narrow, my shoe is stuck. You can see it all bendy. Thank goodness it wasn't my butt stuck. That would've been embarrassing.

Descending the 500ft to the canyon floor required some ropes and wading through waist deep 40 degree water. So yeah, the "little bit crazy" part lasted a few hours.

We didn't get any photos of the deep pools we had to stand on each others' shoulders to get out of, because we were too busy trying to climb silky mud walls and sliding back into the water.

One more super fun rappel into a beautiful glade at the canyon's bottom.

Cayenne coming down the second half of the last rappel.

Hi Daddy!

And then we hiked along the canyon floor for a while, climbed the 500ft back out, and walked a few miles back to the car. It took us 6.5 hours round trip.

I was sore, bruised and scraped, but felt so alive—as I always do with my Nicolas.

Happy Anniversary my Awesome Crazy Husband!

♥♥♥

Cliff Driving

When we were in Nepal last November, we were on a bus bouncing along very skinny, potholed roads, banked toward massive drop-offs to riverbeds thousands of feet below which has never bothered me before—but then I'd never traveled them as a mother, and never with my kids in the bus with me. So I was the big fat party pooper when, after arriving in a bigger village, I carted my family off the bus and hired a small Jeep to get us to Kathmandu. "Aw Mom! Seriously? And you call yourself a traveler??"

"Yep. I was a traveler for many years. Now I'm a smart traveler."

The week before this particular ride a bus had gone over a cliff, and the same the week after. And in between that one and this one posted below from the Gulf Times, many more. It breaks my heart every time. And the thought of experiencing it horrifies me to the core.

Not saying Jeeps don't go over; they do as well. I was just hedging my bets with its turn radius. And for $25, it was a cheap bet.

30 killed in central Nepal after bus plunges over cliff

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2015

AFP
Kathmandu
A packed passenger bus plunged over a cliff and killed 30 people in central Nepal yesterday, a senior local official said.
Rescuers struggled to recover bodies and help the injured to safety after the bus fell 200m (656ft) off the mountainous road in Rasuwa district, home to the popular Langtang trekking route.
“Of the 30 dead, 29 were recovered from the accident site and one died while undergoing treatment,” district chief Shiva Ram Gelal said, adding that one of those killed was an infant.
“We have sent 35 other people who were wounded to nearby hospitals and we are continuing to search the area,” Gelal said.
Gelal said the cause of the accident was not clear yet. But injured passengers said the vehicle was overcrowded, with people travelling on the roof, he added.
Shiva Acharya, one of the passengers who escaped the incident after jumping from the bus, said the incident took place after the front wheel of the bus got punctured.
Security personnel from the army, police and armed police force were pressed into service for the rescue operation.
Langtang was devastated in the massive earthquake that hit the Himalayan country in April, killing nearly 9,000 people.
As well as destroying more than half a million homes, the quake caused severe damage to roads in the impoverished nation.
Deadly crashes are relatively common in Nepal because of poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving.

All Hallows' Eve

"Mom, if we wait any longer to get pumpkins, Halloween will be over."

Huh? It's already the end of October??


Must be good Mom.

Must get pumpkins before November.

So we did. Success.

Daphne from Scooby Doo

Acacia and Kate were even in the Durango Herald:

Halloween costume creation: What’s your formula?

Invention, expression guide trick-or-treaters

By Katie Chicklinski-Cahill Herald staff writer

Article Last Updated: Wednesday, October 21, 2015 5:13pm

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Steve Lewis/Durango Herald

Friends Kate Zarlingo, 13, left, and Acacia Cofman, 13, will be Nerds for Halloween. The Mountain Middle School classmates are making their costume. “When you make them, it’s more fun,” said Kate, who is the daughter of Alison and Mike Zarlingo. Acacia is the daughter of Kim and Nicolas Cofman.

Enlarge photo

Steve Lewis/Durango Herald

Acacia Cofman, 13, left, and Kate Zarlingo, 13, create their own Halloween costumes Saturday at Kate’s house.

Enlarge photo

Steve Lewis/Durango Herald

And then on the way home from showing houses all day on November 2nd I remembered I hadn't taken photos of the girls' pumpkins. 

*sigh*

Must do that.

So I pulled into the driveway and lookie who got to the pumpkins first.

Yep.

Whoops.