So spring is here...again. God this place drives me crazy! Pick a season, for fuck's sake. We've volleyed back and forth between winter and spring so many times i'm feeling a bit dizzy. and depressed. Oddly enough, about the 14th time spring shows it's pretty face, you just tend to turn a little angry and bitter and disbelieving, and are overwhelmed with desire to kick that pretty face and run like hell, even if running will take you back to winter. At least we expect winter to be a bitch. I mean, damn. I'm all for sunny warm days, but when they're interspersed with freezing cold and snow it just sort of takes the fun out of it. I like feeling that deep relief, of "aaaaaaaaaaah, spring is here. no more cold, no more snow. just birds chirping and god damn flowers growing!!" but no, i have no such sense of security. i'm like a girl who's been cheated on 5 times by the same guy--the trust is just shot to shit. and for the record, once is all it would take for me--how stupid do you gotta be to get cheated on 5 times by the same guy????

Anyway. I get to hike tomorrow with my best friend. I probably already mentioned that, but that should tell you how excited i am. And we're not just hiking anywhere. Oh no, my friends. we are hiking our favorite hike in the entire world, or at least in all of northern Utah. It's about a ten mile drive up spanish fork canyon, then another 10 on a dirt road out to the back of diamond fork canyon, since the front is having major construction done on it, and then the hike begins. it's only about 2 or 2 1/2 miles each way, but the destination? the destination is pure heaven. It's a natural hot spring in the middle of a little river, in a narrow part of the canyon with trees all around and a waterfall...there is also an overwhelming odor of sulfur (a.k.a. rotten eggs) but one seriously has an easy time of overlooking such smells when the other senses are so pampered. It's a perfect hike, not tooooo hard, but a decent workout.

The only real live rattle snake i've ever seen in nature was on that trail. it was so cool. it was about ten yards away, just sitting there rattling at us. i was in awe. I've seen a tarantula in nature too, but that was actually on my least favorite hike in the world (not just northern utah). the tarantula was the only thing that made that a good day. that hike was steep and ugly and lead to a view which is pretty good, but can be attained from so many other places, that i've never felt the need to go back there. besides, it's a favorite of all the faggy BYU students, which i was at the time, so what could i do? Anyway. I do not like snakes, and i especially do not relish the thought of a rattler bite, but it was sure exciting to see it there, so powerful and beautiful in its environment, just daring us to piss it off.

god i love nature. I can't wait until my boys are big enough to really get into that stuff with me...of course, they'll probably hate it just because i want them to like it.