Easy Hike My Foot!

A little back story is in order for this one.  My birthday is in January and I wanted to hike to see the Petroglyphs in the Superstition Mountains on the Hieroglyphic Trail.  I was dealing with a sinus infection and the medicine I was taking made me very dehydrated.  We walked and walked but never made it to the pictures on the rocks before I got ill and forced us to turn around. 
Fast forward a few months...
I no longer have a sinus infection and have been utilizing my elliptical trainer for more than a glorified clothes hanger, so I thought I might be able to make it.  We decided to give it another try for the hubby's birthday on Memorial Day, so away we went. 

The trail head is easily found and well marked, so there was no worries about getting lost and recreating any of my favorite scenes from Hatchet.  The trail is not that steep (only the first part has much climb to it at all), but the loose rocks that cover the trail make for some tricky footing.  I'm used to hiking back East on pine needle covered trailed, so this is quite a change for my aching, arthritic knees. 

I am happy to announce that I made it back all the way to the pretty pictures, and was able to sit in the shade of a rock outcropping and gloat on how far my conditioning has come.  (I went home and took a nap which kind of tells you how much farther I have to go, but oh well, I will take my small victories). 

I made it, but our 7+ year old Brittany Spaniel, Ginger, wasn't so lucky.  She literally walked the skin off the pads of her feet.  Luckily, the hubby was hiking too and was able to give her a lift back to the car.  She is nearly better now, and I'm sure that she is looking forward to more hikes - but with better foot protection.

This past President's Day weekend turned out to be one of the most pleasant weekends that we have spend in Phoenix thus far.  It was all in all a very nice weekend from the entertainment, to the food, to the simply amazing weather.

It was Veteran's night at the Coyotes' hockey game Saturday night, and the husband was able to score us two free tickets.  (That's a really good thing because the price on EACH of the tickets was $112...there is no way that we could afford them at the price!).  They were playing the Stars, and it was a hard fought game.  The Coyotes won in over time.  I loved every minute of the exciting game and am hoping that we will be able to get tickets to another game before the end of the season. 

John has been missing Moe's Southwest Grill, and we didn't know that there was one in Glendale.  We thought that it was an Eastern Coast thing.  We were pleasantly surprised when we saw it while we were walking to the rink to watch the game.  It shouldn't come to a shock to anyone that we made dinner plans to eat there at the end of the hockey game.  John always (and I do mean always...it was what he wanted me to bring when he got back from Afghanistan) orders a Joey bag o' doughnuts.  I got their nachos and there was too much food for two people to eat in my one order of nachos, so if you are going to order them (and I suggest you do - they really were delicious) bring a friend.

Monday we decided to go to the Renaissance Festival.  It should be no surprise to anyone who has read any of my posts that pretty much we ate our way from one side of the fair to the other.  It costs and arm and half a leg to get into the fair, but once you are inside they have decided to be nice with their food prices.  That made me very happy.  I am used to fairs that seem to think that once they have you, you'll pay anything...so they charge anything for their food.  Don't leave without eating a roasted ear of corn, a bread bowl (the marinara meatball was delicious, or a royal spud.  I would pass on the Scotch egg - they are better at most Highland Games (and my mommy makes better).