What To Do When You Are Bored This Summer Volume 2

   So, maybe I'm doing too much of the "volume 1, volume 2" thing but it's not like there's any better way. I mean, this method still works. But I'm not going to blog forever about repetition. I'm blogging about actual stuff worth reading. Surprise. But anyway, I should probably start on everything else to do this summer. 

5. (Continued from last time) Go to water parks!

It's really fun, especially since, I mean, it's Arizona and it feels like the surface of the sun on any regular day in the summer. So go enjoy yourself! Get wet! Have fun! I advise to do that in the night time so it's cooler and still really fun. If water parks are too expensive, use your own swimming pool or ask a friend if you could swim in their pool (or something like that...)

6. Try some other arts and crafts!

Really! If you are bored, draw! Buy some modeling clay and make mini figures! Sew! I don't know! Anything to get your creativity up!

7. If you have tried everything listed above and still can't seem to keep yourself occupied, try some "educational websites".

If you noticed, there is no exclamation point after that suggestion. That's because I'm trying to keep technology suggestions to a minimum. Because there's the whole world to explore and people just sit in front of their computers or use their phones for hours on end. Find something educational but fun, like Cool-Math Games. Find the website. Should pop up soon. Whatever.

I think that's it unless I decide to put more but I think that's mostly it so, questions, comments, sarcastic whatever, comment board is somewhere down there, hence the implied arrow pointing down. Other than that, thanks for reading,  people of earth and intergalactic space! 

What To Do When You Are Bored This Summer Volume 1

   So! Sorry about the late post and all, but I've been busy enjoying my summer (I've swam every day since Wednesday) and I guess this post is to help you enjoy your summer too. If you feel like you have absolutely nothing to do, here's some things that might help.

1. Read!

It's my favorite hobby (after annoying my dad) and you should try it too. I've got some good series so see below. 
      - Eragon
      - Warriors (get the first series. There are like thirty           books in the series so it's not for slow readers)
      - The Guardians of Ga'Hoole
      - Maximum Ride (this is a really good book series. Try             it!)
      - Leven Thumps (some people like this series, some people         don't but, hey, everyone's different)

2. Do some crafts or other things

I tried making bracelets out of parachute cord, or paracord and that is really fun, but you still need adult approval because you fuse the paracord with a lighter. But it's still fun anyway. See picture below.

Sock Monkey with half of a paracord bracelet

A full paracord bracelet (made by me!)

3. Go to summer camps! 

I mean, even summer school is fun if you really are bored but they're pretty cool as long as you put your mind to it (gah! I sound like my dad now...). Or just plan a quick one-day vacay to wherever (usually somewhere you can drive there and back and still have time to do things that you want to do). Just an idea! National Parks/Monuments and State Parks are fun to take a quick trip to. All in all, this tells you to get out of the house, people of earth and intergalactic space! 

4. Just do something fun!

Honestly, I can't decide what you want to do this summer. It's up to you! Sock Monkey says so! Get outside! Swim! Hike (maybe not in Arizona...)! Anything! Can't say anything other than that! Getting near the end so any comments, the comment board is right there (see below) so... yeah. I guess I should be done so, thanks for reading! 

The Adventures of Sock Monkey, Odus, and everyone else who comes along Volume #10

   Basically, my vacation with Sock Monkey is drawing to an end, so I will give you the stats of the whole trip. 

Total miles: 1715 mi. (One thousand seven hundred fifteen! That's a lot!)

Total time: 10 days and 12-ish hours

High point: When I played in the waters of the Virgin River in Zion NP or when I went on the Jeep tour in Monument Valley

Low point: Umm...honestly? Didn't have any low points. None. Zip. Zero. Nada. Goose eggs.

Annoying point: When I stepped in the underwater pothole (still irks me!)

Best meal: Really? Umm...the lunch that I ate in Mesa Verde in the car (it was two boiled eggs and two pieces of bread with butter)

Hottest part: The hike to Delicate Arch (felt like hiking on the sun!) 

Coldest part: The drive to Chapin Mesa Archeology Museum (driving through a cloud! Seriously!)

Souvenirs: A stone arrowhead necklace, a ironwooden owl, a souvenir coin, some hiking stick tokens, some postcards, and some pins

Weirdest part: When I met that kid from my school in my class (yeah. My status: AWKWARD!) 

Most sock monkey-ish moment: Everyday. Every time. All the time. 25 hours a day, 8 days a week

Driest moment: The hike back from Delicate Arch with no water

Wettest moment: When I stepped in the underwater pothole (again) 

And that concludes the adventures of Sock Monkey, Odus, and everyone else who comes along! Back to the regular posts, now! Thanks for reading, folks! 

The Adventures of Sock Monkey, Odus, and everyone else who comes along Volume #9

   Almost done! Two more days to go and I will be done with all the adventures of Sock Monkey, Odus, and every one else who comes along (for now, of course... just have to wait until next vacation)! Let's get going, people of earth and intergalactic space! So, my mom woke me up five o'clock in the morning Arizona time, six o'clock in the morning Utah time and told me to hurry up so we could get to the Angel's Landing trail on time. For all the readers that aren't hiking fanatics or outdoors-y people, go search up "angels landing" on our helpful friend Mr. Google (or whatever search engine you have). Also, a word to the wise: If you don't like heights, please, whatever you do, don't hike this trail. Look up the picture of the trail online and you'll thank me later. Trust me. Oh, here's a picture that might help the visual.

Anyway, we caught a shuttle to the park entrance and started on the trail. It took two hours to the top, not the last half-mile stretch, which is the hardest part. Just a fun fact, my family met a man who climbed to the top of Angel's Landing in one hour. One hour. That is the definition of well-trained. He said that he had been training for seven months. Pfft, and I trained like, a week, all of the time combined. But I digress. We were accompanied on the way up by a group of kids from a college called Wesleyan which is in Connecticut, if I'm not mistaken. The hike up is very strenuous and very uphill (refer to picture above) but is rewarding at the top where you can see everything below. My mom and I only finished about half of the last stretch before I suggested we turn back because of too many people and a few other reasons. Afterwards, it was easy heading back because it was all downhill from there. We met up with my dad, who had packed up and checked out for us, at the hotel and after my mom and I went back to get something he had overlooked, we drove down to Lake Powell and checked into our hotel. After a while sitting around doing nothing, my mom got me to get in my bathing suit and I promise you, I went to more bodies of water to wade in than the whole entire summer so far. I went first to Lake Powell (quick word to the wise: always wear your sandals unless you want your foot to look like a burr-cushion) and waded until it was too dark, then I went to the first swimming pool, but that one wasn't heated and was way too cold, so we looked for the other swimming pool. That one had a jacuzzi about half the size of a regular swimming pool. So, all in all, I waded/swam in three bodies of water. My mom ordered pizza so my dad and I got out of the hot tub and ran back home to shower so we could have food. I guess that just about sums up that night. Sorry for the lack of Sock Monkey photos, because Sock Monkey was strapped on to the back of my backpack to prevent him from falling when we hiked and I didn't bring him to the lake because he could get wet (and water + sock monkeys = disaster) so he stayed mostly out of harm's way (not really). I must get going so if you have anything to say, comment board is below so check it out. Other than that, I'm mostly done so thanks for reading! 

The Adventures of Sock Monkey, Odus, and everyone else who comes along Volume #8

   And the adventures shall go on! My mom insisted that we leave early in the morning to hike in the Narrows (still in Zion) but we still got there a little later than planned. We got off at the shuttle stop called the Temple of Sinawava and took the Riverside Walk to the start of the Narrows.

The waterfall in the beginning of the trail.

Just saying, if you don't like water, don't hike this trail. Please. It's wet. Very wet. As in walk-through-the-river-and-step-around-underwater-pits wet. Yah. That wet. Supposedly, 60% of the trail is in water and the rest is on some dusty path, but you can see the path because of the water dripping off of other hikers' shoes. The canyon got narrower and narrower until the river was all shaded and colder than the beginning.

The Narrows. In Zion.

A word to the wise: Remember the fact that the Virgin River water comes from springs and snowmelt (I think) and around 50º Fahrenheit. Let's just say it's cold. Afterwards,  we had to turn back. I didn't want to but my mom said the trail is 8 hours one way. That means that if we hiked nonstop, we would get back at about 4 AM. So, we turned back and got back to my dad who didn't hike very far down the trail. I had my moment of awkwardness for the day when I met one of the kids from my class. That went well. Soon afterwards, I stepped into an underwater pothole. My first step took me from ankle-deep to knee-deep and from knee-deep to thigh-deep and from thigh-deep to waist-deep before I realized it was getting deeper and deeper. I got myself soaked but I can laugh about it now, I guess.

The pothole is that blue-green section to the bottom left

It was pretty windy on the trail on the way back, hence the picture below.

Sock Monkey is flying!

Also, I got Sock Monkey a hiking stick (see below)

His own personal hiking stick!

We saw plenty of stupid moronic people feeding and petting squirrels and ignoring the signs that are everywhere you look! One more time, people of earth and intergalactic space! DON'T FEED WILD ANIMALS! That is, unless you want to have 8 fingers by the end of the day. Your choice. (I suggest the finger-keeping is better than getting the warm fuzzies from petting a squirrel that could carry rabies)

And this little fella tried to unzip my bag and steal my food...

But I digress. My mom tried to get us three spots on a ranger program called "Ride with a Ranger" and she succeeded. We took a ride to a bunch of different places that the regular shuttle didn't. We learned about geology and how there was water seeping through the rock and other geological ka-booms. In a sense. The ranger signed my mom and my Junior Ranger packets and we headed back home. I mean back to the hotel. Never mind. Whatever. Again, we stopped by the same grocery store and bought some food and ate it at the hotel. Now I guess I should be done so, yet again, questions, comments, anything, all accepted so please say something. Thanks for reading, people of earth and intergalactic space!

The Adventures of Sock Monkey, Odus, and everyone else who comes along Volume #7

   I guess I must continue on with the adventures. Moving on now! In the morning, after our hot breakfast, we started off to Zion NP. On the way there, we drove through a tunnel that was so long, I stopped wondering where the end was after about the twentieth light from the holes in the wall. But that's beside the point. We stopped by the visitor center (after a few wrong turns along the way) and my mom got a Junior Ranger booklet because she wanted one, and I got a Junior Ranger booklet for my cousin in the UK. It took me three days to finish the whole thing. Three days. My cousin better enjoy my gift now. (Just kidding!) We decided to "take an easy hike" and went for the Emerald Pools, the upper one to be exact. The lower pool was super easy. The middle one? Eh. The upper one? No. Not really.

The Lower Emerald Pool

The Upper Emerald Pool

Afterwards, we stopped under the bridge that led to the trail and I played in the water of the Virgin River for a while. After I was done playing, my mom and I headed back to the visitor center via the shuttle system that took you up and down the park. We checked into our hotel in Springdale and stopped by a supermarket to grab some food. The hotel didn't have a microwave so we had to microwave the food and eat in the grocery store. Well, I guess I should be done so questions or comments or whatever, comments are accepted so feel free to send (almost) anything!  Other than that, I guess I'm done so thanks for reading! 

The Adventures of Sock Monkey, Odus, and everyone else who comes along Volume #6

   Now, on with the adventures! So, we left our hotel in the morning and headed for Capitol Reef National Park. We stopped by the visitor center to get a Junior Ranger booklet for me and my mom (since she wanted to do it, too) and then headed off into the park to go see stuff. What kind of stuff, you ask? Rock-formation-and-old-cabins-from-seventy-years-ago stuff.  The river flowing behind the visitor center would have been more fun, had there not been this weird black sludge-y stuff that was somewhat like tar. I stepped in it and I still can't fully get the stain off my shoes. The ranger couldn't identify the stuff. Let's just say it is weird and super disgusting. The cottonwood trees were letting their seeds out and the cottonwood seeds looked like (*gasp*) cotton. We decided to do the scenic drive, and I admit, it was worth it. Just don't forget to bring your camera.

Sock Monkey at Capitol Dome at (shock) Capitol Reef

Afterward, while my dad napped and my mom and I waited for the ranger program to start, we decided to go hike on a trail outside of the Ripple Rock Nature Center,  where the program was, and my mom and I needed the program to get the badge but we had a good hour or so to kill, so why not go hiking? The trail was rather steep and uphill but really nice. My mom thinks she saw a skunk, but when we asked the ranger who was running the program, she said it could be either a badger or a marmot. We clarified that it was a marmot when my mom and I got our Junior/Senior Ranger badges. Other than the skunk-ish marmot and the fact that it was super-duper-uper-shmuper windy, the trail was rather nice. If anyone wants to know, the trail is called the Fremont Gorge Trail and has some really good views. Twenty minutes before the ranger program, my dad walkie-talkied (is that even a word?) us and, in short, told us to get our bums down to the nature center. We then sprinted (if it's possible to sprint down a huge slope on a windy day and not fall flat on your face) all the way down the trail to the nature center.

Sock Monkey at Ripple Rock Nature Center

I found this lethal-looking thing outside the trailhead. And kids have access to this...

Found this fella outside the visitor center. Closer..

The ranger program was about geology and was pretty good. The ranger, who's name was Cinimin, talked about the layers of rock and then let us "play" with an interactive model of erosion.  She had us kids put little plastic barn animals on the pan of soil, and then let us do certain erosion - like forces. We did wind (didn't do much) and rain (also didn't do much) and then a river (a little more) and then I got to do the flash flood in which I got to pour a good five gallons of water on to the model (which was starting to look rather beat up). I made a really nice canyon with Dead Horse Point because one of the plastic horses fell into my newly created canyon. Get it? Yah. A slightly lame joke but, whatever. Anyway, after that, we (my mom and I) got our Junior/Senior Ranger badges and headed to the hotel. The hotel, called Red Sands Lodge, is epic! Maybe it was the indoor pool. Or it could have been the horses that we fed in the back. Or it even could have been the breakfast that led up to this review. Who knows?

Horses. At Red Sands Lodge.

Anyway. I guess I'm done so, questions, comments, etc, the comment board is a click (or finger tap, depends on the device) away! Go ahead! Try it! I must finish soon, so thanks for reading!