Monday, Monday

After taking some time off from hiking, this morning was inviting - so off we went. North Mountain is not far from my place so we decided to stretch our legs on this mountain for a change. For those of you who do not live in Phoenix, I'm sure all of my pictures of the various mountains look similar or maybe even the same. For those of you who do live in Phoenix... uh, the pics probably also look the same... Haha! Well, these are all different mountains, really! The terrain in Phoenix is not extremely diverse, so you take what you can get and you GET WHAT YOU CAN TAKE (easy-difficult). When you switch up the trails and add some variation they're not too bad. If you want a challenge, there's always a mountain to accommodate your request. As we quickly found out! Stay tuned!

Today's first challenge was Jake's new endeavor. Sally, his girl, had a backpack to carry their water, but being the gentleman that he is, he immediately stepped up and offered to lighten her load and carry it for her.

Uh, well, after we got the pack on Jake and he took the first step, he wished he woulda' kept his snout shut... he was wobbling all over the place trying to balance his load. It was so funny to watch. Jake is an adventure enthusiast at heart and his energy level could challenge anyone I know, so I figured the extra weight might provide him a different challenge and maybe exhaust him a little quicker. Uh, also stay tuned!
So we made it to the top of one of the mountains with little effort, it was not too steep. Jake was much more comfortable with the pack by then. We followed a ledge to an adjacent mountain and one I'd never been on before. Now this was going to be tough. The trail wound upwards, straight up with sharp switchbacks leading to the top. On the way up I noticed a Mom & Dad with their two small daughters over 1/3 of the way up, wowzers... that's a tough hike for little legs. I was extremely impressed with parents that would include their children on their hiking trips (that would totally be me). I walked next to them for a little while and talked to the girls, which couldn't have been older than 6. I then noticed a baggy of 'cheerios' their dad was carrying, I chuckled and they to told me in a very sophisticated manner that the cheerios, WERE NOT FOR THEM. That was their reward if they made it to the top... they were going to feed the squirrels. Awe... simple motivation. This made my day.
We finally made it to the top! Wow, it hurt sooooo good! At the top there's a fence that surrounds a group of transformers. I noticed all the hikers would touch the fence and then turn around and head back down the mountain. I then realized, there's an unwritten rule in an unwritten hiker's manual kept in some unknown place that says you have to touch the fence otherwise you didn't really make it to the top. Haha! So what was I to do?? I touched the fence!
By this time Jake was feeling extremely proud of himself. He KNEW he'd done a good job all the way to the top of the mountain. Besides, everyone was oohing and aweing about how cute he was and blah, blah, blah.... :) So Kathy decided to take yet another trail, except this was not really a trail, it appeared to have been long, long ago, but it was no longer. Hmmm, it seems the road less traveled had a reason for being so.

(Kathy trying to point out the path we just came from.
Most of it's not visible because of the hill in the forefront.
This pic does not do it justice.)

As we began our descent down the mountainside, yes the mountain side... Jake caught a glimpse of a squirrel. Yikes, well, the mountain was EXTREMELY steep and since we were not on a trail there was no telling where we were going except STRAIGHT DOWN! I pulled Jake's leash back in hopes he'd get the command, and luckily he did, otherwise my sliding, would have been rolling in a matter of seconds. I finally had to let go of him because he almost dragged me off the mountain, and though I wanted down, I did not want to go in a whirlwind.

We finally made it down the mountain and I realized how much I appreciated that GIRL'S SCOUT retreat. You know, the one where they teach you to climb down on the sides of your feet so, you are litteraly sideways instead of facing forward. Yep, that's how we made it down - slippin' and slindin' the whole way on the sides of our feet.

Good times!

By the time I got off the mountain, I was warmed up. I decided to go for a run! Jake and I ran open sprint and boy did it feel GOOD!!! The sun was waking up slowly this morning, so it was nice to take advantage of the day before it got too hot.

We skipped our regular bagel run and went to my place for Protein Smoothies instead, a much better alternative.

I then rewarded myself for a job well done!
I went to work!! Not-so-much!!

For those of you that know me, you know there's little in this life that I enjoy more than the simple pleasure of - FRUIT! So today, I stopped and got an assortment for my palette's pleasure. I picked up some fresh: Blackberries, Raspberries, Blueberries, Pineapples, Bananas, Oranges, Peaches, Cantoloupes & Watermelons.
YUMMY!! (Haha, this reminds me of someone doubting that I could 'never' eat
'ALL THAT FRUIT' before it went bad... oh, YEAH?!?!)
=)

I then finished off the night with one of my most favorite domestic activities.

COOKING!!
I had been craving Tortilla Soup, so I decided to make some. It was Delicious!!

(I'm not usually a big fan of soup when it's hot outside... but A/C does wonders.)

Well, that's all for me, the rest of the week should be pretty filling.
Haha! =)