Let me tell you a story.

First of all, Friday night we had a bridal shower for my roommate Heather. She is getting married on April 7th and we're all very excited for her. We had a little party, just us roommates. We dressed up in pink and black to match the theme colors, and did crazy hair and makeup just for fun. We ate lots of food and played a game, and watched Heather open presents. And then we went to Hollywood as dressed up as we were and rented a movie which we were too tired to watch. We pulled three of our mattresses into the living room and had a little slumber party. Quality roommate bonding for the first time ever. It was really fun.

In the car on the way to Hollywood. Me Kayla Kimberly.

Saturday we had an amazing day and it got up to probably about 60 degrees. My roommate Dawn has two bikes that she just got out of storage so after a morning of trying to fix the bikes, we went for a bike ride at about 2:00. I met my friend Mike for a date at 3:30. That night Kayla and Brittany were taking a trip to Bear Gulch, as they so lovingly call it. So Kimberly and I, not wanting to be wusses, and looking for a genuinely good time, decided to go with them.

We left at about 8:30 after takeout dinner from Bajio. We drove about 45 minutes to get out to this remote park. This is where the story really begins.

So it's completely dark -- all we have is our cell phones for light, which by the way didn't get service. The road up was windy and dark, so it was a little creepy already. The snow hadn't melted yet, though we thought it would have because of the nice weather. Oh altitude. We linked arms and stepped over the curve to go down the embankment that went to a path through a big tunnel/pipe underneath the road, that would supposedly take us to bear gulch. I take one step over the curb and sink in up to my knee. We all laugh, and I climb out, take two more steps and sink in up to my thigh. Kayla comes back for me to try to pull me out, but she sinks in too. I thought I was really stuck, but after a few minutes, I wiggled my way out.
Me stuck in the snow.

I decide to walk on the packed down snow (duh), and we make it down to the opening of the tunnel. The tunnel is this huge metal pipe, tall enough for us to stand in and just as wide. We can see what we only assume to be snow on the other side because it is a lighter black than everything around it. We're standing on the edge of the tunnel with our cell phones out trying to see what's inside before we go through it.

Brittany: Did you hear that?
Kayla: Yes.
Megan: What did you say?
Brittany: There's something in there!
Brittany and Kayla: OHMYGOSH THERE'S SOMETHING IN THERE! -- take off running and screaming back up the bank to the car.

I turn around and run up the side of the tunnel along the brick wall that supports the road. I figure if I'm on the side of the tunnel, I have the wall to grab on to for balance. Not even 10 seconds later we all stop, realizing there really isn't anything in there. At least nothing that would want to chase or eat us. I look around to see that Kimberly is not behind me as I had thought, but about 10 feet away with Brittany and Kayla. In turning around to run, Kayla had sunk in to the snow, Brittany had toppled over her and Kimberly had bumped in to them both. I was off to the side by myself. We laughed a little bit, but wasted no time booking it back to the car and getting in and locking the doors. Once we realized we were relatively safe, we all laugh at how funny that must've looked and how scared we got.

Brittany: Guys, I really thought I was going to die!
Kayla: What did you guys first think when we said there was something in there?
Kimberly and Megan: Bear! "Bear" Gulch!
Kayla: Oh. I'm kind of embarassed to say what I thought.
Brittany: Me too.
Kayla and Brittany look at each other: We thought Sasquatch.

Me stuck in the snow again. Horrible picture.

It is a few minutes before everyone realizes that I had run off away from them. I'd like to think that it was so that if there was a bear, I could gain higher ground and possibly a weapon while it attacked my roommates, and then I could beat it off and save us all. Or if it was Sasquatch I could woo him with my womanly wiles and persuade him not to kill or eat any of my roommates. But no. And I tell myself that I ran up along the side (30 degree angle to the opening of the tunnel) for stability, and hopefully a faster getaway. And that was part of it. It really was. But seriously, I ran off to the side because I figured whatever was in the tunnel would go for whatever was in it's direct line of sight, which was NOT going to be me. And when I think back on it, it was a triple decker of my roommates. So basically I cowardly ran off to save myself and left my roommates to be eaten by a bear or carried away by Sasquatch. But I tried to explain that in doing so, I hit my wrist against the brick wall and got the worst injury out of all of us (They scraped up their hands when they fell onto the icy snow) and that should make them feel a little better.

So the next night over dinner, Dawn redeems me... well sort of.

Dawn: You know what Kimberly and I realized?
Me: No, what?
Dawn: You thought you were saving yourself, but really, it would've gone after you first.
Me: Why?
Dawn: Haven't you ever seen the Discovery Channel? When something attacks another animal, it always picks the sickly or slow ones in the herd -- the one off by itself.
Me: It's true! So really, I was sacrificing myself to save you guys! I was drawing it away from you! I'm a HERO!
Dawn: No, you're still a coward.

Kayla stuck in the snow trying to pull me out.


So in the past weekend I realized that when I think I'm going to die, I make sure to save myself first. See? You never know until you actually think you're in mortal danger. I bet you would do the same thing, so don't even judge me.