Can't get enough of the Outdoors!!

Well the other day we were called up to go on yet another spontaneous camping trip, so we quickly packed up and drove east to Queen Creek Canyon. Erik and I went with another couple and another friend, and Robyn and I spent the first day watching the boys climb and playing with the dogs. The weather was great--about 90 degrees, with an occasional cloud cover, and warm at night.

Where we hiked to to get to the good climbing spot we had to do a lot of climbing ourselves, with 2 dogs that are definitely not good at climbing up rock walls themselves, so with one of the dogs (especially since she had a broken toe) we put her in Adrian's pack. She just sat there and didn't mind a bit! The other dog is a little less docile, so we had to lift him up high rock faces, which was pretty entertaining as well.
While Robyn and I hung out below where the guys were climbing we noticed a chunk of rock that didn't really seem right... I got closer and realized it was a lizard! But not small like the ones we see everywhere scurrying around. This was about 10 inches long. I found out later it's called a Clark's Spiny Lizard. It posed for a while so I could get a decent shot, then darted away when it was tired of sitting there.
In the end we had a great campsite (primitive camping of course), with good times as always, just the 5 of us. Thank God for "cooler" temperatures that weekend of 90° days and 70° nights!

Salt River Tubing

The past week I got together a floating trip down the Salt River with all our friends down here in Phoenix. In the end about 11 people came, and we spent 5 hours floating down the river on inner tubes! It was fantastic. Now that the weather is about 106 degrees and increasing, that's pretty much all one can do outside. It was very refreshing, although the Salt River is pretty dang littered. That was depressing. But it felt nice! I would not recommend people bringing their families on a trip like this though, with small children, since the higher proportion of people on the river are drunk or smokin' the dubee. It was PACKED. ASU graduation was this week so of course most of the them were graduates partying it up down the river. It was entertaining though.

Sorry, no pictures for this one. Chances of losing a camera or ruining it would be pretty high!! So I will leave you with this comic:

How Green are You?

Take this Greendex survey to find out, hosted by National Geographic. I scored a 54, what did you score? (click on the title)

Arizona Springtime

So a couple posts ago I posted about Oregon Springtime... well now it's time to compare with Arizona Springtime!

Oregon valley night temperatures: 37 degrees
Arizona valley night temperatures: 60 degrees

Oregon valley day temps: 70 degrees
Arizona valley day temps: 100 degrees

Oregon rain: 2-4 inches/month
Arizona rain: .15 - 1 inch/month

Oregon is blossoming with cherry blossoms, plum blossoms and tulips, and Arizona is blossoming in Saguaro cactus flowers, ocotillo, and prickly pear.


It's barelly halfway into May and temperatures here are no longer below 100 degrees in the daytime. This weekend we'll have temps around 106! By mid August I'll be saying this, but 15 degrees hotter! Oh, joy.

Mini Sirloin Burgers

So the first time I saw this commercial I was very confused. I didn't know what was going on... But then I watched it a second time and ever since then have it stuck in my head, and am singing it wherever I go. And I laugh just as hard every time I see it. I hope you enjoy it as much as me.

Springtime in Oregon

I spent the last 3 weeks in Oregon, just for fun, to see my family and to soak in the Oregon spring weather, since it's my favorite season in the NW. My original plan was to be there 12 days, but after a serious episode at Best Little Road House with my grandfather having some sort of attack at the dinner table, I decided to spend another week there to take him to his doctor appointments and to be there if something more were to happen.

He is fine. The doc said that his potassium levels were extremely low, so they gave him some immediately in the ER. We're all hoping this is the only thing that caused his light-headedness, dizziness, and being short of breath the past couple months, along with passing out at the physical therapist (for his trigger fingers). They're doing a few more tests the next couple weeks, but his heart is ok, and apparently his carotid arteries (which he's had issues with before) are ok too (although they will do another test on those in a few days). He's on prescription potassium for the rest of his life (another 91 years!). I never knew potassium deficiency could be so dangerous.

Anyway, as for the rest of the visit in Oregon, it was wonderful. My aunt and cousin's family from Massachusetts, and cousins from Colorado came to visit the same week, so we had a great family reunion! We spent the evenings jammin' on the guitar in the living room, and the days catching up, playing pool, and playing with baby Corrina.
(91 this month and still as active as ever!)


Soon after I arrived, I took my mom and aunt Nani to the Oregon Coast where I used to work monitoring gray whales, and I was able to point out a couple to them while we were there. That was exciting for them :). And it was a beautiful day! The next day we went to the Woodburn Tulip Festival, which of course is beautiful every time.
My grandparents' backyard is filled with baby ducklings and goslings! Such cute little "fuzz" as my grandma calls them.

I'm so happy I got to spend so much time in Oregon. After family left, I caught up with most of my friends in the area, and of course with my mom who wishes I could be around more often.

Mule riding down the Grand Canyon!

Wednesday I drove the 4 hours to the Grand Canyon from Phoenix to stay with a friend from Reds, who actually takes out the mule rides down into the canyon during the winter. He was able to get me on a ride, free of charge! Normally this all-day ride costs $150, so I really lucked out.



The ride was amazing. Everything is blooming, and the weather couldn't have been more magnificent. It was supposed to be snowy the next day, and very windy the day of, but we got neither. It was clear, cool temperatures, with no wind whatsoever. Couldn't have asked for a better day to do this.

(This little girl reminded me so much of me when I was her age (8 years), you'd think it's me in this pic 16 years ago!)

Statistics say that the average amount of time someone spends at the Grand Canyon is 3-4 hours. Out of the 5 million visitors that come to the canyon annually, only 5 percent actually step off the rim down into the trails below, and less than 1 percent ride a mule down the canyon!
There is so much wildlife at the Park I was overwhelmed. There are elk EVERYWHERE. I saw at least 20 in the course of 12 hours. I also saw about 5 mule deer on the trail, and, the most exciting thing, 4 California Condors, the most endangered species in our country, and one of the top endangered in the world. It is the largest flying bird in North America with a wingspan of just over 9 feet. Because of habitat loss and poaching, by 1985 there were only 22 left in the world. In 1987 a conservation plan was set forth, and now 321 condors are known to be living, of these 172 are wild. So to see one is so very rare, and to see 4 in one day is something I feel really good about ;). Unfortunately by the time I was able to get my camera out of its stupid case on the saddle, and went to point and shoot, the battery died, so I didn't get any pictures, but I'll put one up, courtesy of Google, so you can get an idea of what I saw yesterday, flying as close as 200 feet above our heads.
The drive home was just as beautiful as the Canyon itself. I took HWY 180, which is a scenic route to Flagstaff, and it had just snowed the night before on the mountains, so the site was quite incredible. A wonderful closure to an amazing day!