What do you do with a drunken sailor, early in the morning?

This post has absolutely nothing to do with law school.... But I went on this excellent hike with my bro and my sister, and I thought I should write about it. We went up to Mills Flat on Saturday, up in Pine Valley. It's a beautiful hike. We headed out from Luke's house at about 9:00, and then Katie called, said she had just gotten my text and would love to come. So we jetted on over to her house (side note, if Katie ever gives you directions to her house and tells you to turn left twice, she really means right.) Katie just moved in to this really nice house up behind this really ugly white house. Luke and I have decided that the ugly white house is, in fact, a Scientology compound. Anyway, so we collected Katie and headed out on our adventure.

It's been threatening to rain for like the last four days here in Southern Utah, so it's been a little muggy, and Pine Valley was no different. It was a beautiful day, but it was humid as hell. I guess it was good preparation for moving to the east coast. I told Katie it was a good thing it was so humid and we were sweating so much because that way we didn't ever have to stop and pee. Maybe I shouldn't write that on my blog.... Anyway.... While I may have been preparing for the east coast, I did not sufficiently prepare for our little hike. I decided, in all of my genius, that it was hot and I didn't want to wear hiking boots, so I wore my Chacos instead. I also decided, even though it was hot, I was going to wear pants so my legs didn't get, I don't know, cut by weeds? I'm sure I had a really good reason, but I don't remember what it was. Chacos tend to be worn a little loose, so the straps on my shoes were rubbing against my foot. By the time we got back down from Mills Flat, my feet were totally torn to pieces. I have blisters on my heels, my arches, above my toes, that pointy bone above my arches... seriously, everywhere. On the way down, Luke kept laughing at me because I was kind of waddling down the trail. I'm sure I looked a little funny. It was an awesome hike, but my feet hurt. So, if you ever hike Mills Flat, don't wear Chacos. So that's my warning about footwear.

The hike was really amazing. It was fun to get to spend some time with my bro and my sister, and it really was so pretty. There was a fire up Mills Canyon a few years ago, and it's still pretty burned out. There's a part near the top when you are in the burn zone, and you turn a corner and there are all of these purple flowers by the creek. Purple flowers surrounded by burnt wood. There was something almost hopeful, reviving, about it. It was really pretty. We hung out at the top for a bit and ate lunch. Luke's dogs had a ball in the meadow. Chaco (the dog, not my shoes), likes to play fetch, so Luke was throwing a stick for him. Mocco likes to try and steal Chaco's stick. Anyway, Luke threw the stick right into the creek and Mocco and Chaco went streaking after it. We saw them disappear down the hill and then we heard this big splash. It was hilarious.

On our way back down, it started to rain. It wasn't cold, so the rain really felt pretty good. It did make quite a bit of mud though. All of my pants are too long for me to begin with, so once the bottoms got all wet and covered with mud.... I thought for sure I was gonna lose my pants. I didn't though, so it worked out ok. We were all soaked and covered in mud. I'm sure we looked like hell trudging back to the car with three dirty, tired dogs in tow. And a cow. But we didn't feel like hell. I didn't, anyway. I felt pretty damn good about the whole experience. It was a lot of fun. Here are a couple of pictures of us at the top.

It was a great hike, and I had a lot of fun. Oh, and by the way, you put him in a row boat until he's sober. :D