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.

Weekend at Christopher Creek

We decided to escape the unseasonal heat in the valley and go in search of fall leaves.  Since I am from "back East", I don't think that it is fall until I can make s'mores and crunch through leaves. 

We drove up Friday after work to our cabin at Christoper Creek Lodge (www.christophercreeklodge.com).  The cabin was really nice with a Franklin style stove near the bed - we weren't there very long before I had the hubby build a fire.  (Hey! vacation in the woods...need a cozy fire, right?)  We actually had the conversation that we could live there forever...if the bathroom was a little bigger. The lodge was dog friendly, so even Ginger - our Brittany Spaniel - got to go on our mini vacation.

We got an early start Saturday morning and headed to Tonto Natural Bridge.   (http://www.pr.state.az.us/parks/TONA/index.html)  Ginger was only allowed on the paved paths, so we saw the bridge from the top side.  We did take a short hike without her, and walked down the 80 or so steps to see the waterfall.  John raced me to the top and won even after spotting me 50 stairs.  (Sometimes I love bad knees.)

We went into Payson for groceries and some lunch.  The tourism information center (chamber of commence) gave us several dog friendly hikes we could take and told us about some attractions in Pine and Strawberry.  We decided to hike around Woods Canyon Lake.  It took about 2.5 hours and is about 6 miles around according to my phone.  We didn't get to see the famed Eagles that live there, but we did see their nest.  Ginger almost caught a chipmunk; I don't know who was more surprised about that...the dog or the chipmunk.

Once we made it back to the lodge, the husband prayed to the fire gods and grilled us some steak and asparagus.  I don't know if it was just "that" delicious or if we were just "that" hungry - but it tasted amazing.  He needed to know the score of the ASU/Oregon game so we walked down to this little bar/restaurant next to the lodge.  The Landmark at the Creek is a little gourmet gem in the middle of nowhere...I had butternut squash lasagna. 

Sunday, we tried to squeeze in a little more vacation before heading down the mountain and back to real life.  We headed up to the little town of Pine, AZ.  This is where we encountered our only icky spot in the entire trip.  We were told to eat at the Randall House for breakfast...the food was not that good made worse by the world's slowest service.  When we asked about our order (after waiting 45 minutes for pancakes and eggs), we were treated to rudeness.  (I got to hear the waitress rant about our rudeness while I waited in line for the restroom.)  We won't be back there.  We headed up to Strawberry and the Goat Creamery.  Directions to this place include the phrase "turn off the paved road", but the fudge and strawberry/jalapeno jelly is worth the dust on the car.

It was a great weekend...my only problem is now I need a vacation to recover from my vacation.