On Sunday, the second day of 2011, Daryl, Les, and I went hiking in the South Mountains near Phoenix. Les, a good friend and hiking partner of Daryl, and incidentally a professor of botany at Arizona State University, gave me an introductory lesson of plant life in the Arizona desert. It was amazing to learn the names of the various plants and their characteristics. I hope I remember some of the interesting traits, and that I will be able to identify a few species when I’m in the field again.
In the chill of early morning we had the trails mostly to ourselves. A few mountain bikers and scatted hikers were enjoying the bright sunshine and crystal clear views from the mountains. We stopped to admire some petroglyphs left by ancient natives and then ate lunch in the lee of a rocky ridge. By the time we walked back to the parking lot, the place was getting crowded with bikers, runners, and hikers.
It felt good to exercise after a week of holiday feasting and inactivity. Both Daryl and I are aware of too many calories going in and not enough burning off. Only the day before, we took a 6 mile bike ride with Apollo, and while it was great exercise, Apollo got the ultimate workout. I hope to keep hiking and be more careful with what I eat as I head out to the west coast for a few days. I owe many thanks to Donna and Daryl for putting up with me the last few weeks.
Check out my Gallery to see a few pictures of our hike.
I wondered what you were up to. When are you going to the coast? We will be leaving here Tuesday and will stop in Phoenix for the night on Wed or Thursday, depending on how late we leave the Dallas area. We will be in Bakersfield by Friday and will be in So. California for a few weeks after that. Let us know what your plans are and where you will be. If you would rather do that in an email, that would be fine.
Dick – Like you, I don’t want to commit to a schedule but sometimes it’s not fair to everyone keeping track of me. Everything depends on the weather, where I can find to stay, what looks interesting, and what my budget tells me. I am leaving tomorrow and will try to keep you informed.
Dale, every time I think of you in the Southwest, I picture you crouched over a campfire among the desert cactus, listening to distant coyotes howl. I suppose it’s not quite as “home on the range” as that.
In December I hiked 12 miles in wet snow and mud to find my 1,000th geocache. It was a fun challenge.
Thank you! Now, keep me informed as you head to the “Shaky area”.
Have a great trip, but hurry home. Because what you call “putting up with you” we call “delighting in your company”.
Don’t forget you are welcome to stay at my house for as long as you like. We can even provide a room where you can sleep. We don’t have a bed in there yet but we do have a nice queen sized air mattress. I think the DirecTV in there is also still working although I don’t know as we have a TV but we could certainly find one.
Don’t forget you are welcome to stay at my house for as long as you like. We can even provide a room where you can sleep. We don’t have a bed in there yet but we do have a nice queen sized air mattress. I think the DirecTV in there is also still working although I don’t know as we have a TV but we could certainly find one.
Don, Dale doesn’t have a TV in my guest room, so if you set him up there, he might just decide to stay with you for a long time. (I’m keeping my eye out for a good deal on a small flat screen TV to put in that room, but until then… SOL.)