Monday, January 12, 2009

Family day trips

Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day in Las Vegas. Clear blue skies, tons of warm sunshine, 65 degrees...as my friend Kale would say, "a Chamber of Commerce day!" So, the STQ family took a little day trip to Red Rock Canyon. Not nearly as far away as when we went to Death Valley (I still haven't blogged about that), but it was fun.

I don't know how many of you know this, but Las Vegas is a valley. A valley as in, surrounded by mountains. And to those of you Colorado folks, YES, real mountains! There are even a couple of 13'ers within two hours of our house. Now, the difference between Colorado mountains and Nevada mountains is that we have no trees on ours, but if that pine beetle has its way, you'll be there soon! :(

But I digress...

We went to Red Rock Canyon. There is a very interesting visitors' center and then a 13-mile scenic drive with about 7-8 locations where you can park and go climbing and exploring those big red rocks. If you know Chase, you know that climbing rocks is right up his alley. If anyone had allowed him to bring his pick axe, he would have done some rock-hounding too, but we're just mean like that. So, we climbed rocks (ok, some of us did and the sensible one stayed at the bottom to observe for insurance purposes...), hiked trails, looked for snakes and generally had a great time.

At the end of the day, Chase ran pretty far ahead of us, and when we rounded a corner, we saw an amazing sight. Chase was on the ground holding his bleeding knee and a group of teenagers was tending to him with their first aid kit.

Teenagers.
No adults.
Tending to an 11-yr-old who just fell.
With the FIRST AID KIT they brought.

Now, maybe I'm wrong, but I cannot imagine a situation in which I, as a teenager, would have thought of a first aid kit, much less brought one along when I was going hiking with my friends. Be honest...can you? And I'm an adult (and a mother) now, and I didn't have a first aid kit with me! After thanking the boy with the kit profusely, I asked him if he had been a boy scout at any time in his life. His comment was, "Nope, I'm just a Mexican. Mexicans are always prepared for emergencies."

So, the moral of this story is, make sure your hiking group includes at least one Mexican, and you'll be safe from all boo-boos.

Amazing...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did you bust out laughing when he said that? I would have. sounds like a great kid. That is why I love teenagers. They really are funny little people.

KristenWiley said...

Hello!! Thanks for the comment. I love your blog!! Good luck with the book!!! I am a book worm, and my mom still swears I will someday write a book (And pay back her tution money....) Whatev. Can't wait to hear how it goes!!

Oh, and seriously who does carry a first aid kit anywhere?? I would be way more concerned with the important things, like Is there a place to eat on this trail? And the ever important Will I have enough reception to check my e-mail?? You know, the things that matter most. :P

Miz C (and Burton) said...

The "youngsters" of today never cease to amaze me. The majority of them are absolutely great kids. My life is so blessed by the association with my College Crazies group at church!

Would I have taken a first aid kit on a climbing expedition? ROFL...cathye....climb.....silly, silly girl!