Peeking Down the Rabbit Hole and How Not To Go Hiking...

Hollah!!!!!!! (I answered the phone like that the other day to one of my co-workers and was greeted with extended silence and a then very haughty "why do you talk like that".... like its a regular thing or something. I mean, normally its something along the lines of "Good afternoon, this is Julie!". He's a little touchy though and his sense of humor requires a pair of high-end jumper cables at a minimum. Anyway... Hollah.

I really only have a brief second because I have a conference call starting in exactly 32 minutes that requires moderate preparation. (Yes boys and girls, that would be 6:30 my time. I'm taking phoning it in to a whole new level).

I mentioned in an earlier post that this is open season at work for the months of July, August, and September, all you can really do is put your head down and pray. That being the case, I realized yesterday as I was wrapping up for the day, I've showered twice since Friday. All I have eaten is a bowl of soup in last 48 hours, haven't worn anything but various renditions of pajamas since Saturday... maybe Friday... not sure and was struggling to remember the last time I left the house. Not so much the darkness (though poor DHB might beg to differ) as just running raged and no time! (It is way to early to be hearing the Guess Who in my head). So yesterday when I wrapped up at 3, I spent an hour returning to human form, complete with exfoliant, astringent, and bless my soul... perfume. I then put on matching clothes and decided that some fresh air was in order.

I had heard of a dog park not far from here so I thought that would be a nice way for me to get some fresh air without getting all nasty after my shower and give the dogs some exercise as well. I thought this, because where I come from, more often than not, dog parks resemble a glorified, over-sized back yard. After all, this one is right in the middle of downtown, across the street from the capital building. Take a minute, to share my vision... Me in my white shorts and pretty blue tank top with gleaming, shiny, very clean hair just drying in the sun, leisurely tossing a tennis ball while my two golden retrievers frolic through the freshly cut grass. (yikes.... bad romantic comedy, much?) No fear, I my vision was misdirected and I was circumstantially saved from lameness by the grace of ... well.. maybe grace is not the best choice of words here.

Turns out, dog park in SLC means hiking. Now, I'm totally down with hiking. I just usually like to have shoes on. Maybe a hair tie. Some water is always a good idea, but I don't want to be accused of being high maintenance. Give me the hair tie, I'll pass on the water. It started out misleading. We meandered down ... straight down.... this beautiful paved sidewalk over looking the canyon. It was relatively landscaped with statues and what not. I just figure the big back yard in my vision was a the bottom of the hill. It was paved. How was I to know. So we got to the bottom (from 10th ave to 1st ave if that helps put it in perspective) and saw this pretty little trail. So, we proceeded. Then we found a creek. Curious. Dharma is only normal when she's in water so I couldn't resist. They jumped in. We continued. Long story short, as usual, I ended up diving down the rabbit hole ("Hmmm... I wonder what's around this corner, oh my, how strange is that! Uh oh, I've lost the trail. Um.. I can't get up that hill without shoes on and the creek bank and path are gone. I'll just hike in the stream. Gee, climbing up on this moss covered dam with slippery flip flops seems like a great idea... oh my god i almost died. Oooh, what's that!"

Long story short, I almost fell off a dam and died, I flirted with heat stroke, I cut my foot, my shorts are ruined, I had to take another shower, the dogs smell like a swamp, and it was the absolute best afternoon I've had in ages.

All that said, the moral of this blog, ladies and gentlemen, screw the big backyard, when given the option. Always take the rabbit hole. Always.