Hardcore, Again I Say Hardcore

This weekend we took a trip that gave a new meaning to the word hardcore. 

Entry: hardcore
Function: adjective
Usage: "You're not hardcore unless you live hardcore."
Definition:  Kind of like what hardcore used to mean, only more so.

As you can see, there is a new meaning to the word hardcore.  But you might be wondering how the word came to mean something even more hardcore than it used to.  Well, let me explain.

We took a trip on Friday and Saturday to Arches National Park.  We left Friday afternoon and returned a little over 24 hours later.  In those 24 hours we packed in so much stuff that the very meaning of hardcore was not able to describe what we did, so it had to expand.  In those 24 hours there were about 8 hours of driving, 8 hours of hiking, 3 hours of sleeping and the rest of the time was divided between eating, using the restroom, hunting for a campsite, watching Jared and Emily fail at communicating, learning about cryptobiotic crust and considering the impact of silence.

We started with a midnight hike to Delicate Arch.  I've done this multiple times before, but this time was the most amazing.  The moon was so bright, and the arch was absolutely beautiful.   Robyn's photography skills captured the arch very well.

The next day, after getting to camp at about 3 AM we still wanted to get an early start (because the number of passes to the fiery furnace is limited) so we were at the visitor's center at 7:30 AM.  We ventured into the depths of the fiery furnace where we discovered that Robyn and I were the cutest couple.

But Jared and I were a close second.

We then ate lunch and again ventured out on another hike to landscape arch.

It was amazing, but by that point, the hardcore nature of our trip was catching up to me.  Having hiked twice as many hours as I slept, I was about to die.  I felt like Frodo and Sam as they crawled to the top of Mount Doom.  I almost crawled back to the car.  Luckily, I was not accosted by Smeagol or any equivalent enemy.  I can just imagine how difficult it must be to have your finger bitten off after a journey like that.

Anyway, I made it to the car.  I sat down and within minutes drifted off to sleep as we began the journey home.  My dreams reflected the fun that we had.  I was with great people.  I had seen amazing beauty in nature.  It was truly hardcore.  But I guess it's true what they say (and by they I mean Jack Black), you're not hardcore unless you live hardcore, and the journey of the arches was way hardcore.