The past 9 days have been busy ones.

Gamers Without Borders

We had a Board game night with our game group on January 26th. We played Pandemic and Seven Wonders. In Pandemic, we had to save the world from the 4 deadly diseases and epidemic outbreaks by working together to cure the diseases. There are 3 or 4 ways to lose but only one way to win. We managed to save the world and get a picture of 3 out of 4 of the intrepid doctors and scientists.  

The weather has finally gotten better and I have recovered from my flu like problems. We hiked on January 27th in the Tortoise Reserve behind our house, with our friend Alice. It was good to get out even in the somewhat brisk temperature. Carol is religiously sticking to her Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday water aerobics schedule at our local aquatic center.

Discovered Canyon

On Sunday, Carol and I went for a hike just across the border in Arizona. I found the area by looking at geocaching.com and a searching and hiking, we did go. We walked across the desert for almost two miles where trails do not exist and then started to climb on an old jeep track. We ended up above a beautiful canyon, having lunch with a view. The view was almost 360 degrees and encompassed some snow-covered hills and red rock cliffs in the distance. Lunch was leftovers from last night’s dinner, a vegetable curry rice salad. All part of trying to eat healthier in our lives. The hike reinforced why I love it here. You can hike almost anywhere and there are lots of surprises to encounter, like the canyon, we “discovered”. We were only 15 miles from home, yet did not see another person on our 6.8-mile hike. Arriving home, we surprised a scorpion that was hanging out near our doorway into the house. It was only about two inches long and I am not afraid of them so it did not bother me. It does explain why I always shake my shoes out before putting them on.

Scorpion

Wednesday, we were on our way to another area to hike, when our friends Alice and Ted called. They wanted to join us so we waited for them at the beginning of the dirt road we planned on exploring.

Ted and Alice

Five miles up the road on BLM land, we parked and once again went hiking across the desert. More geocaches and mostly flat until we came upon a plateau that looked like it had a faint trail up it. It was quite the climb up from the desert floor and then some rolling hills on top. We explored a little and found a nice rock bench in a dry wash to have our lunch. After lunch, we explored some more and then looked for a way back down. We found one, although not a good one. It was steep and required full focus with every step and getting on our butts a few times. It also involved holding on to rocks every so often.

Our Climb Down

This was not easy as the rocks were extremely sharp and hurt just to touch them. It made us realize that a fall here would be very painful. It took us almost a half hour to work our way down to the flatter desert floor. Looking back, we thought, we could not have picked a steeper area to come down, well maybe, but not by much. We came upon a cow that had just given birth. The calf was wobbly and fell back down once or twice trying to get up as mom wanted to move a little further away from us. Eventually, the calf wobbled a safer distance from us scary humans and we continued across the desert back to our vehicles. We managed 4.4 miles but the climb and descent added to the difficulty of the hike.  

I helped my daughter do her taxes on Thursday and it was revealed that she did not know what Social Security or Medicare was and did not get why she had to be taxed for them. She wanted to know how she could get more money back, and all I could say was, get used to it, it will only get worse.

Beautiful Colors

Yesterday, we were back out hiking and found some old stone foundation in the middle of nowhere. The Virgin River was nearby but not close enough where I would want to be lugging water here every day. It is amazing where some people tried to settle. It was a good spot for lunch and so we ate, sitting on the rock remains of an obviously broken dream. When all was said, and done we had hiked 10 miles (planned 8) and were both dragging a bit for the last mile and a half. The day warmed up and for the first time this year, I was hiking in just a T shirt. It was 69 degrees when we returned to the vehicle.

We had dinner last night at Red Lobster, using a gift card and bonus 10 dollars, that Mom had given us for Christmas. I splurged and had a couple of their delicious cheddar biscuits, a reward for the extra miles we hiked. In trying to adhere to our new lifestyle, half of the meal came home with us. It was a nice evening out. Tonight, we are hosting another game night. Another round of Pandemic and two other tables for a total of 12 friends plus us. Definitely a full house. We are making use of our hot tub after our hikes and enjoy sitting in it surrounded by nature. It has been a very good week.