All of the Things in a Feeble Attempt to Catch up this Blog

I'm just gonna come out and say it - this is probably gonna be a really long post. But that's because I haven't posted in a really long time and I have this thing where, when I get the bug to blog I feel like I can't just pick up and start new - I feel like I need to go back and review what's been going down so that my blog goes in chronological order. Maybe it's OCD, or ADD or CBS or NBC but either way, I gotta do it. So if you hate catch-up posts, sorry - this is a catch up post.

I basically haven't updated this for all of fall. How embarrassing, I know. I actually found a draft post I started in Mid-October and I thought about using it and to just add onto it but it was already super long so I thought I'd spare you and start over all together. I'll try and hit the high points - a "high level overview," as I like to say at work. At twerk. Neh-twerk.

Back in September one of my best friends Charlene got a permit for Fossil Springs and the short of it is, Fossil Springs was plan A for the day, and we ended up on plan C by the time the day was over. Hey, when roads are closed and you can't find Forest Road 81 E (because I'm pretty sure that's a made up thing), you have to improvise and we ended up at Potato Lake. Nate and I had been before on a day trip and since we were in the area why not cruise over there and eat our lunch and salvage what was left of the day right?

We hiked to the back of the lake...I use the term "lake" loosely because although "Potato LAKE" is its name, it's more like, Potato watering hole:

Nonetheless, it's a cool watering hole/lake-ish and the area is still gorgeous. We ate our lunches and somehow started a game that consisted of throwing rocks at a rock. It's pretty self explanatory - you pick up small rocks and throw them at a bigger rock and see if you can hit it. Exhibit A:

It's very ridiculous and very simplistic, and also kind of funny - so much so that Charlene enthusiastically proclaimed "I love that this is our activity!!" Throwing rocks at rocks. Rocks on rocks y'all!! Even though our Plans A and B failed, it's time well wasted any time you can get out of the valley, smell the Ponderosas...and throw rocks at rocks.

So, I told you all about how I hiked Reavis Ranch back in early October. Well before this, Charlene and I scheduled in advance (waaaay in advance) a Friday to head up to Flagstaff and hike Lockett Meadow. I had never been and it had been on the list for a while. Had I known what kind of shape I'd be in after Reavis, I would've never scheduled another hike one week later...yes, it took me weeks for my knees and feet and hips and toes to recover (it's fine if you judge me I acknowledge I'm a weak amateur). But nonetheless we hauled our butts up to Lockett Meadow and I'm sure glad we did cause:

Pretty impressive right?! After we made it to the top where the meadow connects with the Inner Basin Trail, we decided to turn back around and opted to find a good spot for our hammocks. 

We laid in our hammocks and ate snacks in the middle of Lockett Meadow and it was the best day ever. 

The rest of the fall included wedding shenanigans - up to and including the actual wedding - for one of my favorite blog-friend turned life-friend, Brianna. We showered her with love at her wedding shower,

alcohol at her Bachelorette party (of which this is the only picture I have because, alcohol),

and more love and more alcohol at her wedding.

Halloween came and went this year and Gunther was the dog version of Uncle Sam and Maycee was like, a German pretzel maker. I went with like, a global theme this year.

I'm just kidding I didn't go with a theme - I went with the only costumes that were left on Halloween day because I procrastinate and everything was picked over. 

I got a new truck this fall so we spent a few weekends out and about breaking it in - by breaking it in I mean there's dog hair already all over it and slobber on the windows. 

The election came and went; I went over to Charlene's house to watch the returns and we got through it the only way we know how:

...getting wine drunk.

After the election came Thanksgiving and I ended up having a few different versions of it. One early, with some of my in-laws' family; we got to spend some overdue time with my niece and seriously could she be any cuter? 

 ...one on time with my family, and one late because Nate worked on the holiday.

That's a lot of food to eat and thanks to give and all of it was perfect...except for the Nate having to work thing, I'd be ok if that were different.

That about brings us up to speed. See told ya, it was a long one. But now my inner OCD issues are satisfied and we can continue blogging onward and upward. Thanks for keeping up, friends!

Good Things vol. 2

Hi friends. How's everyone holding up? Are we making it? It's been a brutal week...and I don't think I need to mention why. We all know why, and I think we're all pretty drained no matter what side of the fence we're on am I right? I can speak for myself when I say this week has been a lesson for me. A lesson in self control, a lesson in grace, and...self control. Social media has been particularly ruthless but like the sucker that I am, I haven't been able to look away. Like, I know it's gonna be bad and I know I'm gonna get upset but I keep scrolling. Things really started to get to me by the end of the week and I just sort of felt like I needed to come up for air. Some fresh, non-political, good air. So, in light of the last post I wrote when I needed similar encouragement, this is going to be a "volume II" of sorts, of an incomplete list of things I really really like because when you're feeling frustrated and less than loved, brainstorming a list of things you do in fact, love, is a good remedy. So let's do the thang, shall we?

An Incomplete List of Good Things that I Really Really Like

1.) Leftover Halloween candy

2.) Driving with the moon-roof open

3.) Spinach Ravioli from Costco

4.) Sunsets in Arizona

5.) The fact that when I call or text Nate, his ring tone for me is the Harry Potter theme music

6.) $5 Hot N' Ready pizzas from Lil C's (that's Little Caesars for those of you who don't frequent there more than twice per week...like we may or may not do)

7.) When Nate is trying to put something away it its place and it won't quite fit and he says, "Git in yer hole" and I laugh every time

8.) Finding elk or deer in the woods and when you spot them they just stare back at you like, "Come at me bro."

9.) Open bars at weddings

10.) Doing the Cha Cha Slide at weddings

11.) Weddings

12.) When they serve Mushroom Bisque soup at work in the cafeteria

13.) Catching Blue Gills

14.) The smell of Ponderosa Pine trees

15.) The word "amalgamation." I learned that one from my boss. She's full of fancy words.

16.) How whenever I hear the song "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC I'm immediately back in college at Sun Devil Stadium watching Sparky stomp the bus. ...Good times.

17.) Weekly newsletters from Yoga with Adriene

18.) To-go wine glasses

19.) Gunther laying right next to me as I blog this right now

20.) Maycee giving me stink eye as I blog this right now ...she's an independent woman with a little attitude and I admire that about her

Let's have a good week , k friends?

"...Maybe right now instead of giving someone a piece of your mind - it's far better to give them pieces of your heart." - Ann Voskamp

Reavis Ranch

I'm gonna be honest with you guys and tell you that I actually tried to come blog last week but do you want to hear what happened instead? So I grab my phone, my USB cord, and my glass of wine and I make my way into the computer room, all ready to blog and drink wine. I plug my cord into my computer to download my photos and I get an error message that says hey! You can't do this because your phone has a passcode and it's locked! Weird, I thought to myself as I typed in my passcode and continued to get the same error. So I Google it and Google tells me that oh it's something to do with your "trust" settings and you have to have your phone "trust" this computer and you need to do it through iTunes (my phone has trust issues apparently?). Ok, I say to myself as I open up iTunes to do as the Google tells me. When I do so, I get an error that says hey! You can't do this because this is an unrecognized device! Ugh, okaaayyyy so I Google this error message and it tells me that no biggie, you simply need to restore your phone! So I follow the directions only to get an error message that says hey! You can't do that! Your version of iTunes is out of date! WHAT THE FRICK, APPLE. So I Google iTunes to try and find the newest version, begin to download it only to get an error that says hey! You can't do that! Your operating system is too out of date! KILL ME, APPLE. So I Google the newest OS X operating system for my computer, find it in the app store, begin to type in my Apple ID and password only to get an error that says hey! You've tried to log into your account more than once! You need to reset your shit! So I start to reset my shit and Apple tells me oh yeah this can take a few days we'll send you an email when your shit is reset k byeee. And that's how it ends.

After about a week, an online chat with Apple Support and a few downloads later we're back in business (so far fingers crossed knock on wood) and I'm here to tell you about that time I backpacked 18 miles into Reavis Ranch. Now, this was two weekends ago now but please know, the journey is still fresh and the physical pain still radiates in my left knee and the scars are still visible in my purple toenails, for example. Yes, I said purple and yes I'm scared that perhaps they're gonna fall off. TMI probably, but I have to paint the whole picture for you guys.

So me, two of my BFFs Sarah and Charlene, and Charlene's husband Colin, made the trek on a Saturday into the Superstition Wilderness in search of Reavis Ranch!

Look at us all fresh faced, pre-blisters, knee pain, hip pain, shoulder pain, and so on and so forth.

We weren't 10 yards out of the parking lot yet when, as we began walking I hear Colin behind me, "Oh shit that's a snake. OH SHIT THAT'S A SNAKE!" I turn around and sure enough, a big 'ol snake chillin' on the side of the trail. ....oh cool, hi snake, please, lead us on to our journey to Reavis...or don't, and stay right there and please don't follow us k thx.

I wish there was a more creative way to tell you about the trip other than that we walked. For a long time.

We walked, and then we took breaks to eat snacks and run from wasps, and then we walked some more. As we were walking we encountered a man whom we named Amos because we don't know his real name (I think it actually might've been Bill based on the sign-out sheets at the trailhead on Sunday, but Amos is way more fitting) and he was probably in his 70's and had a long white beard and wore khakis and a button down shirt and told us all about how he's hiked over 2,000 miles up and in and around the Grand Canyon and basically everywhere else in Arizona. Sarah and Colin ran into him first and because Charlene and I (mostly I) were bringing up the rear we arrived just in time to hear the conversation about 2,000 miles as he's all cool and calm and collected and I walk up panting and sweating and wondering if we're even halfway there yet. As we said goodbye to Amos and continued our walking Colin's like, "Does anyone else feel like a bum piece of shit right now??" And we laughed and laughed.

We pulled over for a break about 2/3rds of the way there to double check the map and make sure we're headed in the right direction. As I was putting my pack back on, tired, knee pain setting in, and slightly hangry, it was at this moment I said, "All I know is I'm never believing Sarah again when she tells me the trail is 'basically flat the whole way.'"

"Basically flat the whole way," as we're 2/3rds of the way through hiking up and down a mountain. Up and down. Not flat. Up and down. And we laughed and I wanted to cry inside and that was the joke the rest of the weekend. Love you Sarah, but your describing skills need some work yo.

After about six hours of hiking we eventually made it to our camp spot, hallelujah. We pitched our tents, took off our boots, and started making dinner. I have to say, my chicken Fettuccini Alfredo freeze dried meal was BOMB.COM and literally the best thing you've ever tasted after hiking for a whole day. With a full belly and tired feet (and also a tired whole body) I couldn't help but call it a night.

I was exhausted and the thought of doing the whole thing over again the next day quite frankly gave me a little anxiety. This was my first time backpacking and that's definitely a realization that hits you - once you're to your destination, there's no other way out except for your chevro-legs! No one can come pick you up or drive the car around, you gotta hike out the same way you came in.

After a night of tossing and turning thinking about said journey, we woke up, packed up, Charlene and I walked down to the creek to filter and refill our water, and just like that we were off again!

On our way out we stopped at the apple orchard. Reavis Ranch actually has a rich history - it used to be a homestead, built by Elisha Reavis in the 1800's. The apples that grew in the orchard, he transported into different areas in the region and that's how he made his living. We were exhausted and running low on daylight on our way in Saturday, so we didn't have a chance to stop by, so I'm happy we were able to do so on our way out!

After we enjoyed the orchard, you guessed it - we kept walking. And we walked some more. We walked for nine more miles on Sunday. 

It was actually a real treat because it started to rain a little bit on our way out. I wondered, "Should we pull over and cover our packs?" Nah, we thought collectively, since the rain in Arizona never lasts more than five minutes. But this rain was a steady one and we eventually had to stop and put our rain flies over our packs, and put on our ponchos and rain jackets. It actually made it really nice because we had cloud cover, the temperature dropped, and the rain was actually like, a pleasant, consistent sprinkle. It was almost like it was our reward for working so hard on Saturday!

It probably took us (more like me, and everyone else had to wait for me) an extra hour or so to make it out of the Superstitions on Sunday because I was going so slow. My first time hiking that distance (18 miles round trip) and my first time carrying that weight (30 lbs.) on my back proved to be a challenge and boy did I hobble across the finish line. I realize people do this all time and 18 miles is probably nothing and 30 lbs is probably nothing but I'm a beginner so let me be dramatic this time mmk?! If anything, the pain and everything was worth it because I got like, 36,000 steps in one day alone and I totally spent the week at the top of my Fitbit leader board. So that makes it all worth it. 

But really, it was an awesome trip, a new experience, a tough challenge, and something I would definitely do again! ...Maybe not like, 18 miles again, but like I dunno 10ish perhaps? It's a cool feeling to have everything you need strapped to you and your only mode of transportation is your legs.

So, 18 miles down, only like 1,982 to go to catch up with Amos...