A Big Hole in the Ground

Well, it's been a really great week. Poppy's sister, the Sister was here. We went on the boat and chilled around the pool (does that make sense?) and visited with Rosebud, Cissy, & Toots. Sis loved being with Soybean & Juju & the rest of us too :) One day, Poppy, Sis, & I went to the West Rim of the Grand Canyon with friends from back home, TR & Charles.

It was Sis's first time to the Grand Canyon, and it was great! The drive there was very nice. Just before we got to the Welcome Center, we drove through a Joshua Tree forest. Then we got to the Big Hole in the Ground. My stomach was in knots for the rest of the day. You can't see it, but the sign says, Caution: Falling Hazard. No, duh.

Here's Sis, enjoying her first trip to the Grand Canyon.

Here are Poppy, Sis, TR & Charles on the Skywalk. They're the 4 people farthest to the left, Poppy in a dark jacket & Sis in yellow, TR in orange, & Charles in white. It extends 70 feet over the Canyon, which is 4000 feet below. You can see through the floor. I chose not to enjoy the sensation of being suspended in such a manner.

Below is the "eagle" of Eagle Point. You can see the wings spreading out from the center of the picture.

This is from where we ate lunch. It was called Guano Point, after the mining that was done for bat guano. EEWWWwwww. I wish I could find an aerial photo of our picnic spot -- you wouldn't believe that I was that close to the edge!

There was a pathway to a neat (if you like that kind of thing) hill where you could get a 360 degree view. We were on a penninsula jutting out into the Canyon, so it was on all sides.

This was taken from our lunch spot. Those are people walking up the path to the top.

Below is the Colorado River, just before Lake Mead.

I was finally able to smile (I'm not showing the other pix of me.) Yeah, that's the edge right behind us.

I'm really glad we went, even though it was hard with my wonderful fear of heights. You combine that with the idiots there who try their hardest to prove that they're not afraid of falling 4000-4800 feet to their death, and it can be just a tad unnerving.

But we all made it home safely.

YAY!!!

The Bluest Skies You've Ever Seen, in Seattle...

Okay, not in my experience. But that song, from a TV show I used to watch called "Here Come the Brides" was in my head all weekend.

Here's the rest of the song, as I remember it ---

...and the hills, the greenest green, in Seattle.

ike a beautiful child, growing up free and wild.

Full of hopes and full of fears,
Full of laughter, full of tears,

Full of dreams to last the years,

In Seattle,
in Seattle.

Well, we went to visit Maestro last weekend. It was wonderful. I was looking forward to seeing the Space Needle...

and the first Starbucks...

and the fish throwers and Pike Place Market. Sorry, no photos of that. I was very disappointed that not a single fish was thrown in my presence.

However, what I really wanted to see was my son.

So I wasn't disappointed at all!

We had dinner together Friday after he got home from work. Then on Saturday we went sight-seeing. We got in touch with our inner geek (okay, not so inner) at the SciFi Museum & Hall of Fame. We went to the Experience Music Project connected to that. It was cool and I learned how to drum. The only problem with that place was the Jimi Hendrix movie. Wow. Never was a fan. Never will be. Ever, ever, ever, ever, ever. Since it was raining -- what! -- and very limited visibility, the guys didn't go up the Space Needle as planned. I wasn't planning on it, myself.

Then we went to Pike Place Market. It was fun. Maestro & I walked around for an hour (okay, I'm exaggerating) while Poppy found a parking space.

Sunday, Maestro got a haircut for my birthday. No more Sasquatch look. Not that there's anything wrong with that...

The rest of the day we just chilled. Maestro came back with us to our hotel and we swam & sat in the hot tub, then watched Liar, Liar. It was very reminiscent of old times. Then we went back to the apartment.

Oh, I haven't mentioned P.T.! The following pictures are ALL of him, I think :) P.T. is Maestro's Miniature Pinscher and he's a wonderful dog! Well, puppy. He's 8 months old. He took to Poppy very quickly and to me a little more slowly, but he loves us both now.

P.T. also loves his roommate Kitty.

Here's what else the weather had in store:

Yeah, that's snow. The news said that since they've been keeping records, there have only been 4 days in April when it snowed. They added 2 more while we were there. Go figure. We also set a record for the coldest high temperature. It only hit 45 for a high, and the previous record was 47.

Monday we went to lunch with Maestro and then went to a park that was pretty close to the airport. We didn't have to be there till 6:30, but we didn't want to be driving there at rush hour. The sun actually came out that day.

So there ya go. It was a great time.

...So I Can Stand on Mountains...

...you raise me up, to walk on stormy seas.

Yesterday, a friend of ours guided a hometown friend & me up Cupcake Mountain. It was really cool and really hard. And today I'm really sore! My quads are not anywhere near as sore as I thought they'd be, but my shoulders did not disappoint me and my calves & butt are very sore.

Here are some photos:

From the trailhead, we can't see our goal. At this point, we're aiming for the point just to the right of the mountain, about halfway. We'll be able to see Cupcake when we get around the corner. (It's just under the "T" in the writing.)

Our fearless leader the Scout Master --Some beautiful scenery. Scout Master kept saying, "You ain't seen nothin' yet!"

I stopped often to take pictures. It was also a really good chance to stop the burning in my quads and to stop sucking wind long enough to appreciate how quiet it was up there!

The next photo shows us just around the halfway (or so) point. We can now see Cupcake!

This is looking down on the halfway point. It's at the center left of the photo, just to the left of the rock formation.

I put 3 photos together (thanks Poppy) to give you a pretty good idea of our view.

Almost there!! It was a bit steep -- okay, my quads by this time are saying "you have GOT to be kidding me!" and other things I can't repeat. We're going up through the center of this photo and then through the crevice in the center & up to the top. Just to the left of the "V", where it's highest, is where we'll be!!

Here's an idea of the trail for the end of the climb. You may say, "Trail? I don't see any trail." I said that myself quite often. I was always looking down at the ground (even at the less dificult parts) because I trip & fall a lot, so I couldn't really concentrate on what was ahead. Or above.

I'll also add that I was happy with how I did as far as the whole fear of heights thing. The drive to the trail pretty much numbed me, so I think I was doing better by the time we started climbing.

I'm hoping to get Charles' photo from this place. It was really cool.

We made it!!!! Yahoo!! This is Charles & me at the summit. We stayed up here for awhile & had lunch. Scout Master said that it was his fastest ascent so far!
On the way down, my quads were still upset with me. Going downhill is hard on the quads too, and they had really had enough! I ended up on my butt a few times because the trail was steep and very rocky or gravelly. I felt like I was skiing sometimes! I've always told people that part of my fear of heights is because I'm so uncoordinated that I could slip and fall very easily.

What a great day we had! We were very tired and we knew that we'd be sore today, but it was all worth it. Scout Master was a wonderful guide and took a whole day to bring Charles & me on a great hike. The drive there took quite awhile too, part of it on a dirt, one lane "road." Yippee for the Trail Blazer! We asked Scout Master what would happen if someone were coming around the hill the other way. There wasn't really a good answer to that question. It was a very winding, mountain-y road. I let Scout Master drive that part :)

On a sad note, our friend Scout Master & his wife have sold their house and they'll be moving at the end of February! Not happy about that.

I'll also have to blog about our new "Challenge." Poppy, Juju, Bwin and I are doing the Body for Life 12 week challenge. Don't worry, I make Juju eat enough for Sizzle. She mostly wants to tone up. Yes, she makes we want to hurl. Did I say that out loud? We all took our before pix. Yikes-a-malooney! You won't be seeing that anytime soon. It's a very good eating program, very similar to the WW core program. You eat 5 to 6 small meals a day and do some really good workouts. The fun part is that one day is FREE. No workouts (okay, I'll probably still run with my group) and you eat what you want. Yehah! I'll keep you posted (pun intended) on our progress.

That's it for now!

Just 4 Fun

Here's a new toy. But be warned -- the first time I tried this I came up with Ben Stiller, Barack Obama, and Dan Ackroyd. I was literally ROTFLOL. BFF, you should do this. The picture I used was of the two of us, and you came up with Christie Brinkley and Madonna!



Now, this guy could be my long-lost twin brother.


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And congrats to the Packers, who just won their playoff game against the Seahawks (sorry, Bwin!). Did you think that the number 4 in the title was in honor of Brett Favre?? Yep, you're right! Go Giants!!!!

Congrats also to Maestro. HE GOT A JOB!!!!!! Yeehah! As most of you know, he's testing new games for a major manufacturer. I can't say their name on my blog, in case anyone wants to bribe me for info, but "WE" were very excited to hear about it.

For more fun, check out my BFF's blog on her New Year's visit with us.
And ~t's is always lots of fun-- "Spoiled" is really cute and funny.