Rollin' Rainier

My first time to ski Crystal... The pic says everything if you ask me.

Rainier peepin' out through the low cloud cover from Crystal Mountain

Stead's first camping experience...

Stead told me a while back that he wanted to go camping with us sometime. This initially came as a shock to me because I knew Jordan had no interest in camping. It was kinda like asking Stead to eat seafood, you knew he wouldn't eat anything that swims. So why would you ask him to camp? The only thing I had on my side was the epic pictures we always came back with. Pictures got Stead on facebook, Pictures got stead mountain biking, Pictures got Stead an identical Nikon Camera as Seth Yates, Pictures even got Stead pondering, "how can i put picasa, a windows program on a mac." Pictures were truly the number 1 factor of growth in Jordan's life towards manhood, so maybe Pictures would again have the power to change.

Since he approached me, I felt this could be a genuine movement. So, I began to look for opportunities to get Stead camping, but with the winter season approaching, I knew we'd have to hold out for spring 2009.... or would we?

Stead strolled over one night for a slumber party (actually more like some unemployed college aged kids getting together to talk about the days of the old when being unemployed was legit because you were in school) and asked me where the sleeping bag was. I reminded Stead there was a futon downstairs well equipped with a soft mattress and blankets. He was convinced it was ridden with Spiders... probably because he had seen one spider earlier in the day, and he didn't even see it in the basement. But, rather than accuse Jordan of this weakness, I instead encouraged the sleeping bag slumber. This would warm him up for the real thing.

What I didn't know, is that Jordan thought this WAS the real thing. I leave the room for 2 minutes to brush my teeth and when I return, a picture request. As you can see below, Pictures were starting to turn Stead into a camper.

notes wouldn't let me flip this pic :(

Notice the beautiful camping environment, no tent (only a three level house to provide shelter) no sleeping pad (only 6 inch thick couch pillows) and no signs of nature (only an empty computer chair looking on). Jordan was truly roughing it. In his eyes, he had done it... he was camping.

Rob and I intervened as quickly as we could and reminded and encouraged Stead that although this was a good first step to sleeping in a sleeping bag, an activity that would prepare for camping, this, in fact, was not camping.

He exclaimed "are you kidding me? what's this bag rated at anyways temperature wise." I told him 15, to which he starkly disagreed, and i starkly raised my eyebrow. Since he was in a bag that was rated to keep a human body warm at 17 degrees below the temperature that water freezes, he was envisioning himself camping in the Utah outskirts, it was as if he was in the Alaskan woods in his mind.

Of course, we told him, this is no adventure, only training. To that he rebuked us and showed us adventure by him sticking his hand out of the sleeping bag (because remember, he was sleeping outside of the city gates of Narnia, where the pines sung with the breeze of the wind, and the snow fell like forgotten confetti.) Of course, it was adventure to stick his hand out into the cold (heated room) Note the brave pic below.

wow, a hand... notice the moisture wicking cotton longsleeve :)

So in the end, pictures HAD changed Stead. They convinced him that he really had been camping and they ultimately made their way to facebook (as all of stead pics, and i do mean all of them end up) Stead had won. He had been camping in the ice and snow, and had pics to prove it.... Maybe next time we'll try using my desk lamp as campsite lighting instead of the overhead room lights, one step towards more adventure.