Sedona!

Chase and I traveled up to Sedona for the day last Saturday! We left in the midmorning and drove to the beautiful town to hike up Bear Mountain. We knew it was a 5 mile hike round trip, but we had no idea how long that can seem when you are hiking virtually straight up! (ok... occasionally it was semi-flat...rarely though). At one point, after "phase one" as I refer to it, we saw a peak way off in the distance and concluded that there is "no way" that that could be the top because it was way too far away. But of course, that turned out to be the summit! I swear, the only reason why I am able to make it all the way up these hikes is because I never know where I'm climbing to, or where the summit is. So I just keep going until we reach the top. Although I straight up laid out on a rock a couple times because I was exhausted from climbing. The funny thing is, I was carrying nothing but myself. Chase wore a backpack loaded with water and a few snacks. It was extremely heavy (I tried it on...for a few steps...at the very end...on a flat ground). But we made it! Here are some pics:





6500 feet above sea level

hiking and other adventures

Arizona has been so beautiful to explore! Chase and I have started to hike a lot to see the wonderful views that the mountains here have to offer! Last weekend, we hiked up the McDowell Mountain range to a pass called Bell Pass. It was over a 7 mile hike round trip. It was so steep in some areas and was exhausting on the way back. The fun part is getting to the top and seeing the breathtaking views while relaxing. However, once that was finished, we had 3.5 miles to walk back. The last 2 miles where basically through the desert, and Chase and I hadn't rationed our water appropriately, even though we tried. We brought over four bottles! Now we know we need more, maybe one day we'll get one of those little backpacks that holds a gallon of water.

Tomorrow (or later today) we are driving up to Sedona for the day to hike in a canyon and see some red rock! Don't have much red rock in Phoenix. Eventually, we'd love to camp out a night. But that will take some gathering of resources. Right now, we only have a tent, although it is an awesome 4 person tent that we got as a wedding gift and we are DYING to use it! Some day!

Tonight we checked out the Arizona State Fair. It definitely was pretty similar to the Indiana state fair, except not as big, and less livestock...and a more diverse population. We tried to find interesting foods. Deep fried bacon with a side of gravy??? Definitely didn't try that, but what we did try I am almost too embarrassed to tell. We split a donut burger. Yes, you heard me. A cheeseburger (well bacon cheeseburger...for chase) with a krispy kreme donut for the bun. It was surprisingly not bad. Sweet and savory. All the fat kind of hurt my stomach though, and left me craving raw vegetables just to ward off the fear of a myocardial infarction. We arrived at the fair right before 6pm and got 1/2 price admission and some $1 food items. We are big savers and deal finders now! We both agreed that the atmosphere and ferris wheel ride were the highlights of our evening. Annnnnnnd we both really really enjoyed the monster truck rally that we spotted from atop the ferris wheel and decided to attend. It was my first...not sure about Chase. Then we saw old school RVs drive attempting to "demolish" one another. Interesting show. Definitely rounded out the evening for us!