It's a start

See that trail? No? Oh that's right. It's because THERE ISN'T ONE.
Michael had (probably still has) this dream of taking me to one of his favorite places in the world. The top of the world. In Utah. Utah's top of the world. But in order to get there, you have to hike. Not like, "Oh we'll follow this trail and see where it leads us" hike. I'm talking, "Blaze your own path along rock slides, across boulders, and up the face of a glacier" hike. It was so. Much. Fun.

We started off on the 4-wheeler and rode to the end of the road. Now, for those of you who don't know Señor, he has legs of iron. I swear there isn't one square inch on his legs that is not pure muscle. I won't lie. It's pretty hot.
Plus, did you know he's part mountain goat?

Sadly, my legs are not made of iron. Nope. More like sticks and mud. And we all know how well those hold together when put to the ultimate test.

While walking across the side of the mountain, I was amazed at the sheer grandeur of it all. I won't say I was speechless, because that would be a lie. I was having full on conversations with myself just to keep my feet moving. Have you ever gone from 150 feet above sea level to nearly 14,000 feet above sea level and tried to hike? It's not easy. I was sucking in air like I was an allergic asthmatic in the height of allergy season enjoying a full blown asthma attack. Plus, the lack of oxygen may have made me hallucinate. While we were enjoying our lunch (which by the way, Señor made for us. For both of us. That morning before we left. At too-early-to-wake-up-on-vacation-a.m. He's that amazing. I know.) I could have sworn we were attacked by a golden eagle and knocked off the face of a cliff. That didn't really happen though. Before the eagle could sink his talons in my neck, Miguel stood up and scared him away. But not before I could feel the wind from his wings brush against my face. So I suppose there was enough oxygen at the top of the world for me to remember somewhat how things went.

The main reason for our hike (besides the obvious one of spending some alone time together) was for Señor to look for deer. Why can't he look for deer down low like normal people, you might ask? Well, number one, we're not normal. And number two, because the Big Boys don't hang out down low. Duh.

That and the ladies hang out up here, too.

We were within binocular distance from the top when Miguel asked if I wanted to go on, and although I was having the time of my life (I really was. It was beautiful, peaceful and best of all? I was with my love.) I didn't think my mud and sticks legs would hold out on me much longer. So reluctantly, we started to head back towards the 4 wheeler. It's a good thing we did too, because not long after the final decision was made to turn around, my boot broke. On top of Old Smokey. Two miles from our ride. Not to worry though. With my braids, dark hair and impromptu moccasin style shoe, I got to pretend I was an Indian princess who fell in love with a brave white mountain man who had come to offer furs and a bear bacculum and shark teeth to my father in return for my hand in marriage. My father was not satisfied with his offer however, so we were forced to flee in the heat of the day for our lives.
We made it back to my mountain man's palace where we lived happily ever after.