of arches and bucket lists

I'm going on a trip. A wee weekend trip. It is a trip with the main attraction not being a museum or shopping or city-like things. It is a trip which is focusing on the outdoors. You heard right. Nature. Mother Earth will be the main highlight of said trip. This is a rather new sort of trip for me. I love Nature. I think Nature is beautiful. I think Nature is restorative. I think we deny a fundamental part of ourselves when we say Nature is icky or "not our thing". But I like my amenities. I figure I was born in the twentieth century and as such I should always take advantage of indoor plumbing. I like a bed with sheets and a solid roof with a warm-water-capable shower underneath said roof. I also don't love heights or things with poison. So sue me.
     Needless to say, Nature-centered things such as hiking or kayaking or deep-sea diving aren't really my jam. I'm more of a stroller, wader and reader on the beach kind of individual. But sometimes an opportunity comes knocking and you can't say no. I'm going to Moab, people. I'll be journeying with three other girls and the main highlight is Arches National Park.

Obviously, or not so obviously, this is not my photo.
Nor can I promise I will take such a photo.
I will take photos.
Never fear.

Yes, hiking and heights and potential run-ins with poisonous things. But it's a must-do whilst living in Utah. Plus, there are a couple of jewelry stores I lalalove down there because they specialize in Native American jewelry and have the Afton Bowman seal of approval. Besides that, I have my own memories of going there with my Mom in extremely emotional times--either on the way home for summer or back to the Provo for school in the fall. You might think that the real main point of the trip for me is going to those stores. I'd say they're a tie for first. Nature's grandeur being reason .5, which everyone knows comes before your #1 reason.
  No, the tied for first reason is: we'll be staying in a tipi!!!! A tipi that has a bathroom and running water near it. It's a "glamping" service called Moab Under Canvas: the way camping in Utah was meant to be (visit them at www.moabundercanvas.com).

Photos are courtesy of Moab Under Canvas's website. Have to say that first off.
Second, soak it in. Soak that bucket-list-dream-come-true ambience.

You bet your grandma's dentures it is. It's like going on an Old English Safari, without traveling to Africa and the fear of lions. As we were discussing the option, it suddenly hit me: staying in a tipi participating in a glamping-like experience in the middle of the desert is on my bucket list. I have no written bucket list. But if I did, that would be on it.

oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my 

 I love everything about the idea. It's a combination of that Vogue photo shoot with Kiera Knightly on the Savannah and being a wilderness person. Without the inconveniences of either fantasy. I can hardly wait. Now I have to decide what to wear. I get it. It's hiking. But it's also staying in a teepee and jewelry shopping in the granola cum hipster Moab. It's a bucket list item. That's a whole different pay scale than just hiking.