Day 1&2 Our Arrival to Painted Desert

We are at the end of our first full day in the Painted Desert. We left home on Saturday morning and wanted to spend the night in Needles, a very 'exciting' lil town in the middle of nowhere, but instead we decided to push through and make it all the way to Flagstaff. After twelve hour drive we arrived at our destination and spent the night in a five star Motel 6 :o). It is safe to say that Zoe is not a fan of tall buildings and open stairwells. We had to (Chris had to) carry her both up and down to our room - it was a very traumatic experience for the lil puppy.

We had our breakfast in Flagstaff and after that we headed towards Sedona. On the way down we stopped for a 4 hour hike in West Fork of Oak Creek State Park. It was a picturesque hike with multiple acrobatic river crossings. Eventually Chris just gave up and walked right through it.

In the afternoon we drove through Sedona (wow I had no idea how beautiful it is around here) and checked in our cute lil resort right by Bell Rock. We are lil tired but I can't wait for tomorrow to see more of this beautiful place. Here are some pics we took right behind our hotel.

Easter Weekend

What did we not manage to do? Our long weekend started on Thursday by having our friends over for dinner. It has been a while since we had everyone over so it was nice to see all and catch up. We also placed bet on when Heather would fall asleep... and hey... I won... I put 10 but 9:58 marked the spot.

We wanted to go wine tasting on Friday but instead we spent the morning searching for Chris' wallet that end up showing up in Erinn's car, she thought it was Rob' and took it with her when they left our house on Thursday. Once that was all sorted out we headed up to Petaluma for a bike ride. It was absolutely stunning. There were no cars and the views were spectacular (thank you Tom for recommending this one). I also realized that 26 miles is for now my limit. We have to work on that if I want to do the ride in May (40 or 60? not sure yet).

We got home, took the dog out, worked on the yard, and drove down to Muir Beach to meet up with a group for full moon hike, picnic and bon fire on the beach thereafter. We had a great time! We started in Pelican Inn with a group of 25-30 and hiked for an hour under the moon light, set down on the top to enjoy our dinner and bottle of wine and hiked down to the beach where the bon fire was already waiting. We couldn't have wished for a better weather! I am sure we will do this hike again. I believe we got home after midnight.

Poor Chris had to go to work the following morning. I had the best intentions of going to kickboxing but that didn't happen and instead I met up with my friend Kamila for lunch. After that I attempted to get into Easter mood by coloring eggs with my sister and my niece an that was lot's of fun. And to finish the day off I played tennis with Erinn. I am still hurting from that one. :o)

We took it easy on Sunday cause we both needed it. Chris went for a run with Zoe and than we did lil work around the yard and got ready for his parents. They came in the afternoon and we had a wonderful lunch/dinner and enjoyed the afternoon together.

Uff... now I am back to work hoping for a lil rest :o)

Planning our Southwest Trip

We are starting to get ready for our lil road trip to SouthWest. I can't wait. We are going to leave on Saturday 3/29 heading for Bullhead City with a brief stop in Mojave Desert. The following day we drive over to Sedona where we will stay for the next three nights exploring the town and the area around it. Chris already picked some wonderful hikes for us to do. On the third day we want to venture to Flagstaff and see what that area has to offer. From there we drive to Kanab via Grand Canyon. As of now our last stop will be Death Valley. But I believe Chris has changed the itinirery a little bit since the last time we talked about it. I believe now we are going to incorporate some slot canyons and kayaking.... he is a great planner!!
Our next trip after this will be Alaska and after viewing Misa & Filip's blog from their trip up there... I just can't wait. But one trip at the time. :o)

Another Weekend in Tahoe

We just had yet another wonderful weekend. Chris has been working a lot so it was nice that we were able to steal away couple of days up in Tahoe. We needed it. Mitch and Julie invited us to stay with them in their cabin, we just had to find a dog-sitter. Luckily, Chris' parents just got back from their vacation and were able to take care of Zoe so we could head out. Seriously, I hope when we are his parents' age that we have as great of a life as they do. Just this year they already spent three weeks in Hawaii, got back for two weeks and left again for two weeks to go to Egypt. They sure know how to live!! One day....
Anyway ... Tahoe was great. We snow-shoed one day and played on a ramp that the boys built for Hannah (Ari's lil girl who was never allowed on it, cause it was too dangerous) yeah.. boys will be boys. Actually I think it was Mitch who shouldn't have been allowed on it cause he end up dislocating his shoulder... poor guy! Thank God we had a trained professional on staff. Go Chris! He had to step away from his post in the kitchen and put Mitch back together. Poor Mitch :o) What a great man I have!!!
Oh almost forgot... Julie and her siblings just remodeled their cabin in Tahoe and after seeing the living space/kitchen we know what we want in our own house. Now if we could only get the money together :o( Next year. My friend Kamila and her boss Dave (the structural engineer) are coming by on Monday to tell us what is and is not possible to do, so I am keeping my fingers crossed.