ST. GEORGE

Oh my heck, this was amazing. Uh-mazing. Over the past couple of days I have seen and experienced so many incredible things I feel almost selfish. Almost. I'm too happy for that. But still, I do wish others had a great fall break, too.

My body was a nervous wreck on Wednesday (10/19/16), for I had to perform a poem in theatre, and I signed up to be the first. As said, I'm not really stressed about school, but I still have to remind my body about that. I knew it wasn't a big deal, but my guts disagreed. Anyway, I did it, it went super well, and the rest of the day I was basically just smiling. I carpooled home with a bunch of my amazing friends and told them to see them on Monday. I was going to go to St. George that day.

The drive there was pretty much how you would expect it to be with a 4-year-old in a car for nearly five hours. Not the best part of the trip, for sure. At least it made us all extra happy to arrive to our condo. Which, by the way, was very nice. There even were palm trees, which I love. I was to sleep on one of the beds, but I felt like my host sister needed it more, so I was happy to sleep on the couch.

For our first day in St. George, we went to Zion National Park. And let me just tell you,, I can't tell you. That's how cool it was. We only had time to see a few of the many things there were, but for me, it was plenty. The Temple of Sinawava, the Weeping Rock, and the Zion Lodge, from which I probably liked the Weeping Rock the most. We also saw some insane rock climbers, deer, wild turkeys and real-life cacti!

Friday might had been my favorite day of the trip. We started the day by hiking in a desert-like place, and there were huge rocks with drawings by Native Americans in them. Good thing we didn't run into rattlesnakes, because I heard that was a possibility, eeks. It's also worth mentioning that the sun was burning my Nordic skin real good the whole time; it was crazy hot. In October. On our way back to the condo, we visited the house of a pioneer Jacob Hamblin, and learned about his story, which was quite fascinating. And, we got smoothies from Kneader's, and my no dairy berry was perhaps the best smoothie I've ever had.

Before leaving for our highlight of the day, we went shopping for a little bit with my host mom and sister, but, *surprisingly, I didn't find anything. What was the highlight of the day, you ask? Well, you know it's THRILLER (thriller night). It was absolutely incredible, I loved every second of it. Now, what was this? It was a dance show by the Odyssey Dance Theatre, and we saw it at Tuacahn Amphitheatre. Here you can see a little sneak peek from nine years ago, since it has been going on for strong 20 years already. My personal favorite was all of it. Ok maybe the Curse of the Mummy, Dem Bones, and Children of the Corn. And the Finale, obviously. Ugh, I wouldn't mind seeing it again, if anyone wants to go some year.

The last day was pretty chill, because we were all somewhat tired, so after a short hike to Snow Canyon to see Pioneer names (in the arch of a red rock, written with axle grease that date back to 1881), and climbing to another big rock (I saw a small dust devil there!), we just hung out at our condo, went swimming, ate at the pizza factory, and visited the St. George Temple. The Temple was beautiful, and the people in the visitors' center were all super friendly, and interested about my Finnishness. We got to see this thing they had made about God's plan for His children, which was basically just videos in different "rooms", and it really made me think. About life, about my family, about God, and love. It was beautiful. I really loved it, and it made me feel good. (I tried so hard not to cry, by the way)

Oh boy, was this a good trip. I was tired afterwards, for sure. But it was so worth it.

*not surprising

Sanoin ettei täs kestäis niin kauaa kirjottaa ku viime postaukses, mut melkeen olin väärässä. En ihan kuitenkaan. Tääl on vaan niin paljon tehtävää, ja mul on nyt jo ollu enemmän häppeninngii ku mul on ollu moneen vuoteen. Okei, ehkä toi ei oo totta, mut siltä se ainaki tuntuu. Syyslomalla mä ja mun host-perhe matkattiin vähän etelämpään Utahiin, St. Georgeen, ja mulle oltiin luvattu paljon punasia kiviä ja lämpimämpää ilmaa, ja sain ne x10.

Käytiin joka päivä vähä vaeltamassa, ja näköalat oli upeet. Herranjösses, en ollu ajatellu mitään tällasta sillon ku eka tulin Utahiin, mut en kyl oo pettyny. Se oli niinku ois eri planeetal ollu ain ajoittai. Tai ehkä vaan eri aikakaudel, luonto ja vanhat rakennukset muistutti villii länttä, mitä se vähä olikin. Oli lehmäfarmeja, ja jossain näin strutsinki, kalkkunoi ja peuroi, paljon kaktuksia, joka must ehkä oli kaikkein siistein juttu. Kaktuksia! Kasvaa maasta eikä kukkaruukusta! En ollu tienny et se ois mun ämpärilistalla mennä paikkaan jossa kasvaa omavaraisesti kaktuksia, mut nyt se on jo listattu pois.

Tää matka oli yks parhaimmista mis oon ollu, rakastin joka hetkeä, mut hassu juttu on, miten kova ikävä mul tuli mun kavereita täällä jo viides päivässä, vaik tosii en oo nähny pariin kolmeen kuukauteen. Toivottavasti tää on vaa alkuinnostusta, koska muuten se tulee sattuu ku perkule jos täytyy näil fiiliksil lähtee Suomeen seittemän kuukauden pääst. Aika menee niin nopeesti!