A change of plans

Have you ever had a dream, a real, warm, fuzzy dream? One that makes you smile in your sleep. Nothing particularly spectacular about it, but one that just gives you a sense of calm? That’s the kind of dream I was having when our 4am alarm went off one June morning. My wife and I had a flight to catch from San Diego, our home, to Colorado that day. I sat up sleepily in bed as she exclaimed “oh my God they cancelled our f***ing flight! ‘Please proceed to the counter at the airport. Ughhhhhhh’”. She lamented and let a huge groan out into her pillow. “Let’s just do what the email says, hopefully they can get us on another flight” I said. We both already had a sinking suspicion that we werent going to be getting on a plane today, but neither of us wanted to jinx it. So we both got out of bed, loaded our luggage and climbing gear into the uber i scheduled for us the day before, and headed to the airport. After arriving at the airport, we quickly learned that United was canceling thousands of flights accross the country, a “domino effect” the man at the desk described it. We stood in the customer service line and I asked “how far of a drive is colorado? Is there anything along the way we could climb?”. I was desperate. I had been working months of overtime with no PTO for a big project at work. we had big plans to stay in nice Airbnbs and hotels in Boulder and denver. We were going to see our favorite band at Red Rocks, and indulge in my favorite beer, coors, straight from the source. Not only that, for months we had been practicing building anchors and swapping leads on a makeshift belay station i made in the garage out of two bolts and my squat rack; we were going to attempt our very first multipitch climb.So. We both pulled out our phones. “Well there’s vegas? Maybe we could stop there and climb and stay in a hotel?”. “Actually”, Sam replied, “we could stop in zion too it’s like right off the 15 in Utah, there’s that wall there people like to climb a lot”. She showed me her phone, Namaste Wall. Beautiful red sandstone. After a few more minutes of delibiration, we realized there’s a realistic chance that our replacement flight for the next day would probably be cancelled and that our whole trip would be ruined. Not the kind of couple who’s scared of winging it, we wasted no more time and said “screw it. Let’s rent a car and fly back on our original return flight.” After a shuttle ride to the rental terminal at the airport and some haggling with the salesperson, we hit the road on what Google maps said would be an 18 hour journey.I can’t quite pinpoint what we were feeling at the point, a mix of dissapointment and excitment, a lot to process, but we knew we were in it together. After stopping for all the standard road trip provisions, a few bathroom breaks, fast food, gas, and flying down the familiar 15 freeway through Sin City, we arrived at Zion’s Kolob Canyon entrance. After parking and subjecting a nice older gentleman to the plight of our day, he sympathized and pointed us in the direction we needed to head. Only a few hundred yards into our approach I was taken aback. Wow. Having almost exclusively explored the granite of the Sierra nevada my whole life, the over hanging walls, the red dirt against the green leaves, and the quiet of the canyon all blew me away. It was magic. It was better than I could have dreamed of.My wife and I worked our way up the canyon and found ourselves giddy and awestruck by what we found. Namaste Wall, completely void of another living soul. Fueled by 4 hours of sleep, 8 hours of driving, and some taco bell, I began the lead climb up the wall. The wall, deceptively overhung, made the pump set in quickly. I fell, she caught me, everything was fine. I continued my ascent up one of my most memorable climbs I’ve ever had. Powerful, juggy climbing, just my style. I chuckled at some sleepy bats hidden in some holes on the wall. It was a magical afternoon, sans crowds, with my ride or die at the other end of the rope.As the sun got lower in the sky, we decided it was time to take our leave. Hiking out, bats filled the air, and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was the same ones I saw in their little homes on the wall. The silence of the canyon was broken only by the hauntingly beautiful hooting of owls and the earth under our feet.With the sun still warm, I took my shirt off for the last bit of the hike out, I felt free. I felt unencumbered by fear, deadlines, and cancelled flights. Everything was falling away in the best way possible. We took what could have been a terrible day, and turned it into an incredible one. When we reentered the trailhead parking lot, I laughed at the kids being lightly scolded by their mom for throwing rocks around and hitting things with sticks. The sun was officially setting and the sandstone walls glowed. We sat on the trunk of our rental car with a cold beer and a soggy leftover taco. That’s when it hit me. I dreampt about this place the night before. Not one for spiritualities, and having a slight distate for anything that skews “woo woo”, I teared up. The realization washed over me with a flood of emotions. I hid it from her for a minute. I contemplated how crazy I sounded in my own head. When i couldnt hide it anymore, i broke. “Babe” I told my wife, “I know this is going to sound crazy, but I was here last night. We were supposed to be here today.” Overcome with one of the strangest feelings I’ve ever had, and with my wife staring at me puzzingly, I stopped to collect my thoughts for a moment. I finally let it all out: “The glowing sandstone, the sun I felt on my back, the kids playing in the parking lot, the animals. I’ve never been to a place like this, but I definitely dreamed about it last night…and I was so content…. the happiest I had been in a long time… warm… and then our alarm went off”. Being so out of character for me, she knew it was hard for me to share, I could tell by the look on her face. She smiled softly, put her arm around me, and rested her head on my shoulder.We repacked our gear and drove off into the night; No particular place to stay and broken plans. Happy.