All at sea again
And now my hurricanes have brought down this ocean rain
To bathe me again
My ship`s a sail
Can you hear its tender frame
Screaming from beneath the waves
Screaming from beneath the waves

All hands on deck at dawn
Sailing to sadder shores
Your port in my heavy storms
Harbours the blackest thoughts

I`m at sea again
And now your hurricanes have brought down this ocean rain
To bathe me again
My ship`s a sail
Can you hear its tender frame
Screaming from beneath the waves
Screaming from beneath the waves…

All hands on deck at dawn
Sailing to sadder shores
Your port in my heavy storms
Harbours the blackest thoughts

All hands on deck at dawn
Sailing to sadder shores
Your port in my heavy storms
Harbours the blackest thoughts

All at sea again
And now my hurricanes have brought down this ocean rain
To bathe me again
My ship`s a sail
Hear its tender frame
Screaming from beneath the waves
Screaming from beneath your waves
Screaming from beneath the waves
Screaming from beneath the waves

Finished another Hemingway and I gotta say that I’m hooked. I really never understood why his books were so important but I have found something in them recently that I love.

With this book in particular I made several parallels with the main character Thomas and where my life is at right now. While I was reading this book I kept picking out bits and pieces that would completely define some feeling I have had that could never really pinpoint but now here it was right in front of me and someone had written it down years before. It’s hard for me to explain it exactly but I really identify with many things in this book for some reason.

Hemingway describes everything in such a simple way it can only remind me of my past lives and the adventure buried within.

Went to see Infected Mushroom last night and I’m pretty tired today. I think I ended up going to sleep about 4am?

The show was fantastic with all kinds of craziness going on. I think going solo was a little weird but whatever, I’ve been places alone before. Ok, just kidding it was totally fucking weird going alone and I wish someone I knew would have showed but I was bound and determined to see these guys cause I missed em both times before.

So instead of being bummed out I just dove in tranced out with all the other freaks but it just wasn’t the same. They played all kinds of stuff from a bunch of their albums and with the three warm up DJ’s it was quite a journey by the time it ended and was surreal for me in a general sense. I will probably go some more shows sometime but not alone. It’s just too much.

Friday night I had nothing to do really so I decided to just hang out on my balcony and was lucky enough to have a storm blow right by. I took about fifty shots or so and just happened to capture this one. I’m pretty happy with it ’cause I’ve tried to capture lightning before but as you can guess there is some luck involved.

Here is an update to this post. It seems that we have huge lighting almost every night and this has lasted the last couple of weeks so naturally I decided to catch a few more pics. I posted a few below but you can see some of them here.

Okay, Levi, Taylor and myself spent the entire weekend looking for the hole in Jackson. We never did find it but we did find a canyon I think only the locals use, catch some cutthroat, see a black bear, play guitars in the rain, get our bear box rattled, see old faithful, laugh a bunch, take some photos and see a whole ton of cool scenery.

This was another fast trip, hey what can I say the weekend is only so long and we could only spend one night. We left Saturday morning early enough and arrived in Jackson early afternoon. As soon as we hit town I cut off some jackass for a parking spot that wasn’t three miles from town and we walked around looking for a burger. Apparently if is hard to find a good old fashioned burger there as most of what we saw was fine dining. Hmmm, maybe we just were not looking in the right spot but the last time I was in Jackson Hole (Twenty years ago) I found plenty but oh well, times change. We ate at a BBQ buffet place and then stopped by the best and most natural place in any town in Wyoming, Idaho or Montana for some directions. The fly shop. After greasing the gears with some money spent on overpriced flies we had directions to a camp spot that was right on the water. I love being a fly fisherman hehe.

After setting up camp the boys spent the night playing the guitars while I fished then we met up for a great campfire that cooked our tinfoil dinners and kept us warm from the rain that stopped and started more times than I care to mention. We didn’t take much so we enjoyed what we had more than usual. For dinner a some hamburger, carrots and potatoes cooked in the fire. Breakfast was some fresh fruit and mixed nuts with cold water to wash it down.

During the night there was some incredible noised which I can only describe as something large trying to get whatever was in the neighbors bear box. I think my heart was pounding pretty good as I laid awake listening to all this happen at some odd hour. I must have been exhausted from going up against the six pack of New Castle because I eventually went back to sleep.

The next day we all decided it would be worth some extra driving to head north, instead of south towards home, and travel through Yellowstone to see a bear close up and whatever else. This worked well as we saw a large Black bear as soon as we entered the park and continued on most of the day from one attraction to the next. We eventually ended up back home late Sunday night.

I had a great time at Lake Powell over the 24th. It was one of those trips that things just come together and ends up being almost magical at times. We found a great camp spot, the weather was perfect and everyone was happy.

Levi and I left for Kanab a little later than we wanted but it worked out fine. The drive down was pretty painful, at least to Beaver because we had just done the same drive two days before. After we turned off the main highway it got a lot better because the scenery was incredible between the turn off I-15 and Kanab. I didn’t realize it had been so long since the last time I drove that road. There is great fly-fishing, Bryce, Hole in the rock road and a ton of other stuff in this area and I suddenly wanted to stop and see everything again.

We met up with everyone and spent the night in Kanab at the RV park Lindsey’s parents own. They were nice enough to let us crash on a good piece of grass next to the road, which was perfect. We left early the next morning and met up with Hal at the Antelope Marina. I think the first bag he passed up to be loaded on the boat was a giant bag of golf balls, which completely confused Ken and I but he quickly cleared it up by saying, “Don’t worry, I brought a driver” I think I laughed about that most of the trip.

As soon as we we’re loaded and underway I felt some solace. I know I’m a little hard to read at times but this was more that just fun for me, it was the first time I was able to breath in six weeks. All of a sudden I was separate from my disaster and left to feel a little joy. The rest of the trip was more or less a continuation of this with no real drama, perfect weather, and a whole lot of sun.

It was weird to be at the other end of the lake, we usually launch from Bullfrog, but I liked it. The canyons were not as narrow and it left huge expansions to be seen close to sunset that were incredible. We still made Rainbow Bridge and Dangling Rope for Ice cream so it was a good mix of old and new. Also worth noting is the huge cliffs we all jumped off, vista golfing, Cooper all grown up, Lexi’s poor lips, and my new nick Levi Senior. How’d that happen?

That’s right, it’s like Independence Day but more conveniently wrapped for the masses. Since the 4th of July falls on a Sunday someone decided that the celebration should take place a day early. It’s a little confusing, but ill get by.

The real meat of this post is the trip JR and I took, which was a hike up timp to watch the fireworks from on high. We left sort of late but it ended up right, almost no gear we took the minimalist approach. Only the t-shirts on our back, a bedroll, some water and a last minute sandwich from Maverick we headed up the mountain in the Scion. For some reason we took the drive up Provo Canyon, the longest approach but eventually ended up on the Timpanooke road that skirts along the frontside of Timpanogos. It was really rough for the Scion, I have some regrets about taking it up there but we still made it far enough. At one point we were all but crawling across the rocks and decided it was too much so I ended up backing down a long section of the road in reverse, always fun, to let an oncoming truck pass. The truck ended up being some of JR’s friends from high school who later text’d him asking if we were insane or not. Anyway, we eventually parked the mighty Scion and walked the rest of the way.

It felt strange and uncomfortable having the old backpack strapped to my back again after so long, like an old habit forgotten trying to be mastered again it soon felt good as new as we walked up the road and then into the brushy trail. We were completely taken back by how green it was and how incredible our surroundings were. I suppose from the late rains, the earth around us was absolutely teeming with life. I had a difficult time walking because I was so busy looking around while we tried to keep our pace.

We picked a ridge to hit before dark, which was quite a ways a way, and headed out. The hike ended up being about six miles but well worth it. We soon found ourselves on a wind beaten ridge that over looked the valley below. Hiking the last bits under the close watch of the sunset we made camp and quickly found our sleeping bags as it was freezing. At almost nine thousand feet we hudled in our bags and watched the sun disappear, then the meager fire works until almost midnight.

Later on we were awakened by rain and decide to hike back out rather than stay but it was okay. Hiking through the valley at three am as sureal and proved to be a wonderful experience for the both of us. Also, we felt fortunate as we noticed the lights from the poor souls who had hiked the summit and were no doubt scrambling down in the rain and lighting further above.

OMG, France is so gay. I think the commentator nailed it by saying “France has the engine of a Mercedes but rides like a dune buggy”. I can’t believe how much talent they have and derrrr-whammy, no win! Oh well I guess. I had high hopes for them ever since Zidane head butted the entire country of Italy but really didn’t see much going on until Henry came out but by then it was too late.

Also just a tip for head coach Raymond Domenech, if you happen to have Thierry Henry on your team… you may want to bring him in. He NEVER belongs on anyone’s bench especially after playing 72 minutes of leader-less, dull soccer. I think the line from the headlines rang true here, “Not too late to change the game but too late to score”

Sad…

Boo yeah, Mexico did not win!

Okay, I will say that Mexico played really well but for some reason they were not my pick for the game. I think it would just be rude to beat the host nation during the opening game!! I think all things considered that game could be counted as a win for South Africa and I hope it felt that way to the host nation. Why, because they are rad that’s why.

Also, if you think the goal that was taken away from Mexico should have counted… check the rules baby. I didn’t know it either but you need two defenders behind the attacker and it’s usually the keeper. So in this case the keeper was in front of the play and so whammy, offsides! Josh Southwick had to explain this to me and of course I argued but he was right and after reading up on it the the official actually made a very good call as this situation was very complicated. Well done sir.

Okay, I have been really looking forward to watching the world cup again since it’s been short years since the last one. Yes, it’s time again to put all other aspects of life on hold and turn our attention to the beautiful game.

With all the world watching, I’m hoping the US can do better than last time! One cool thing is how much more public the cup is this time, we have noticed all kinds of major advertising and things for it.

I love seeing soccer grow in the US!