Yesterday Kierstin and I trekked out to Tooele Utah for the Lantern Festival. It’s an event that travels across the country and embraces what so many kids have dreamt of since Disney released the movie Tangled.

We joined ranks of people battling the wind with blankets, cameras, and tripods. At check in they handed us lanterns and little packages with all the s’more necessities.

We headed to the far end of the field and joined a fire pit with two women who had road-tripped from Phoneix for the event. We dropped our things and headed back to the check-in booth when we noticed my lantern was torn, with no luck in a replacement we went to see the vendors. The lines for each food truck stretched too far for our impatient personalities but we did discover how it seems that everyone is able to capture the “perfect moment” as they realize their lantern.

I always wondered who drew the short end of the stick and ended up snapping a photo instead of realizing their lantern into the sky. But 30 minutes into our evening we had already captured the moment in front of a green screen (unlike most people, we were unwilling to pay the $20 for a digital picture of the fake moment).

We reluctantly left the protective tent and headed back to our fire pit… where wrapped ourselves in blankets and huddled together.

It didn’t take long for our chocolate bars to be devoured, the gram crackers followed, and by the time we started in on our marshmallows we were joking about just giving up. The launch was still about three hours away and from listening to people who were at the festival last year the chances of it actually happening were growing slimmer by the minute.

We laid down and placed our bags to the North  of our head to try and block the wind- I know it sounds like we are being such babies but this morning I see trees that were blown over into major roads, my house lost power, and my patio furniture is in the gully behind my house.

At about a quarter after seven, we packed up our things and left. We had been so excited for the event but really from laying a few inches apart for hours and talking about everything that has happened, planning two trips, and laughing about how ridiculous the whole thing was we were both more than happy to leave.

Once we got back to the road we passed hundreds of people who were still piling into the event. We ended up at Zupas (typical) & it was honestly one of the best nights I’ve had in a long time.