My first Outdoor Rock Climbing Trip

Josh invited me to go on an Outdoor Climbing Trip, I've been In-Door Climbing twice now, once a year ago and the second about a week ago.  I was a little scared to go out-door because there are not routes taped out for you to follow.  Plus, you know, it is ROCKS you're climbing on, no soft cushions below.   

We left about 6:00 a.m. and drove out to Superior, AZ.  We hiked up to area, and honestly that was pretty  scary for me, there were a few spots where I felt like I was scrabbling around rocks but Josh was really great and helped me up.

For being late in May it was SO cold!!  It was already supposed to be a cool day and I was freezing!  One of Josh's friends let me use his jacket but with the wind it was still pretty chilly.  They set-up the first route at a 5.4 route which is a good start for beginners.  I did well, I got to the top and rappelled down with ease.  They kept that route up for me in-case I really struggled with the harder routes and wanted to go back that one.  

One of his friends was taking of pictures and I am grateful because now there is proof that I did it!

Josh was super helpful when I was up on the routes, very encouraging and his friends were also very supportive.

The rest of the routes were I think 5.7 and 5.8 which I am not sure how the rating works but Josh told me later that he & his friends were not sure how well I would do on anything harder than the 5.4 but he said I did really well on the harder ones. 

It is crazy but I never realized how high up it was, it never felt that high but in the pictures it looks kind of high up!

This is the last route I did, I think they figured I did five full routes and then half of this last one, I think it was the hardest out of all of them.  I finally just had to say I'm done and come down.  

Josh and his friends are really good, it is really fun to watch them just crawl up, Josh especially.  His one friend who took all the pictures even did a route without rock climbing shoes and a severely hurt wrist.  I really am excited to go again, it was a ton of fun!

These are my war wounds & I am super proud of them.  Josh says the main things I need to work on his falling, I need to not try and still grab the rock but let completely go so I don't get so scraped up.  

This one up on my thigh actually does hurt, the rest just look bad on my knees and shins.  

Honestly though it was so much fun, plus I always love it when my outfit coordinates.  I don't know if you can tell but my friend got me a purple harness to match my purple climbing shoes, all I need is a purple tank top and I will be unstoppable!  Plus how great is my boyfriend, he changed his shirt so he could match me because he knows how much I love to match & wanted to make me happy!  

These pictures of us I think are sweet.

This first one I am pretty sure I just took off my rock climbing shoes and was commenting on how I don't want ugly toe nails and how grateful I was my toe nail polish hadn't chipped yet . . .  Josh thought my concern was entertaining.

Backpacking in Sedona

Josh & I did head to Sedona Tuesday and spent the day there finding little hikes for me to do so I could get used to wearing my backpack and hiking with it on.  

It was a little hot that day, there was a little wind but mostly it was super hot.  Josh and I got made sure we wore sunscreen and I was good to wear a hat, I took it off for the pictures but I was good to wear it.

Josh is really sweet when he takes pictures, this time he tried to get a panoramic set of pictures of where I am sitting so I could remember my first backpack hike and have a perfect recollection.

Both of us 

And the beautiful view.  

This is at Slide Rock, it is pretty popular because of the water you can swim in, we didn't go to the actual slide rock but we hiked down to the water and it was so nice.

The water level was pretty low just like in Tonto, it is going to be a pretty hard summer with the little rain fall we have received and whatever snow we had just sank down and didn't run through.

It was so much fun to head back to Sedona, Josh and I had our "first" date out in Sedona, we even went back to the same first hike we did there and it was fun to there again with him.  Josh would like my backpack to be a little tighter around my waist, he thinks that will make backpacking a little easier for me so the pack will force some of the weight on my hips not just my back and shoulder.  I really don't know how it is supposed to fit so I will just trust his judgement and rely on his experience.  

The Largest Natural Travertine Cave

Josh and I went up this past weekend 05/20/2012 (Sunday - evening of the Eclipse) to 05/22/2012 (Tuesday Afternoon) to head up to the Tonto National Forest.  On our way up we stopped and pulled off the road to watch the "ring of fire" with the help of my Dad's welding mask, our timing was completely perfect, it was so awesome looking.

We car camped that night and woke up in the morning to head to the Tonto Forest Travertine Cave which was really pretty, and thankfully very cool in temperature.  It is supposed to be the largest natural travertine cave in the USA, I do not know that for a fact. . .

Me inside the cave.

I really like this picture, and Josh says this what my "natural" smile looks like. 

 

The water falling into the cave was really pretty to look at but also super refreshing.  It made a nice little pond down in the middle of the cave.  The volunteer that works there told us how low the water level is right now and how usually it is much deeper water in the cave.

Josh and I, it is hard to get both of us in the a picture so you tend to get a bit of Josh's arm too, but I still think we make a good looking couple.

I laid here for a little bit, it was just so nice and felt cool against my back. 

 We hiked back up after this and I was so hot, and I started to get a head ache, we were supposed to get to fossil springs and backpack down there and hang out at the water tomorrow and hike back up.  This was supposed to be my first backpacking trip but with my head hurting Josh thought it was best to just car camp again and just do small hikes tomorrow so I can get used to my new backpack.

It was super pretty here and I cannot say enough how "cool" it felt to be in the cave.

Birmingham Botanical Gardens

This past week I went to Birmingham Alabama to visit my boyfriend for a week - April 4th to April 10th. I took the Red-Eye flight Tuesday night so I could have as much time as possible. We mostly did shopping and boring things Wednesday because I was not feeling great and Thursday he had work and class all day. Friday was our first opportunity to do something fun so we went to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens which is awesome. It is totally free to the public, even parking is free. All they have is one sign up for donations.

Josh was a good support about going to the gardens, he was in-charge of picture taking so some of the pictures are a little funny. Like this one, he tries to take random pictures of me with the flowery landscape.



I LOVE lilies!! We ended up going to the gardens twice - once Friday and again Easter Sunday after church so we could try and find all the lily gardens. This is the Easter Lily which I thought was appropriate to take of a picture with on Easter Sunday.



The Botanical Gardens have supposedly a very accurate representation of authentic Japanese Gardens. It was very beautiful but my favorite part was this pond where a Canadian Goose was nesting in the middle and another one swam and scared me to death when it flew up onto the bridge.



The fish were very cool too, Josh spend almost half and hour trying to get a good picture of them but the water is super dirty but these fish were SO bright and big! They are Koi which meant something to Josh but not to me - apparently these are very expensive fish.





I LOVED these flowers, they are Chinese Snowballs or something like that, I thought at first they were a relative to Hydrangea.



Josh and I in-front of some pretty purple flowers.



This flower was BEAUTIFUL, it stood out like the sun in the flower bed, absolutely gorgeous.





A very kind man was taking pictures in the same side of the garden we were and offered to take a picture of Josh and I. It is a good picture, the shade hit both of us at different parts of our face but it is a sweet picture I think.



More of the pretty purple flowers :)



Josh LOVES the greenery in all nature, so the gardens were fun for him too. There were tons of beautiful green trees for him and lots of colorful fun flowers for me. We took a lot of pictures of trees with a beautiful shimmering light filtering through.



Oh my Goodness, these flowers were SO pretty, the color was so vibrant and the flower was just cheerful and fun to look at. My camera does not quite capture the delicate details but trust me, it was awesome.



This flower is an Azalea and I remember because I loved its fragrance, most of the flowers smelled nice but this flower was just lovely AND it is HUGE! I do not think you can tell by the picture but this flower is easily twice as big as my head.



This was one of the first flowers we saw on our first day there, you can tell the two days we were there. I am in a gray and cream dress the first day, Josh in a black shirt and then Sunday we are both dressed up for church.





This floral plant was breath-taking. I loved the color and texture of it, especially with the sun setting it was beautiful.



Here is the first of lilies we found and I LOVED them! My favorites are calla lilies but were never found any and we looked everywhere. But these were so cool, I have never seen any in water before.



This picture turned out super well, actually one of my favorites of the two of us. The only thing that I do not like is that Josh is convinced I have blue eyes - kind of a long standing joke and in this picture my eyes really do look blue.



I had a GREAT trip, my camera actually died on Sunday while Josh was taking a picture of me in the Gardens. We didn't get pictures of me and him canoeing but probably for the best, I had a small panic attack on the river. I am pretty afraid of water and drowning is a BIG concern. But I pulled through and learned to use the oar and got pretty decent on the canoe and had fun. We went on a bike ride Monday and just had a great time together. Next time I will remember to bring my camera charger.

The Wells Fargo Coach Arrived

At my work we had a Diversity Day where all different organizations come represent all kinds of nationalities and Wells Fargo programs.

They had a big poster about Arizona's 100 year birthday!





I was a little disappointed that they wouldn't let me get inside and get my picture - apparently they placed the coach on a slope & didn't feel it was safe to let others inside. BUT when I went to lunch & they were wrapping up I saw people who organized the event getting inside & getting their pictures taken. . . seemed safe enough to me.



It was a fun event, I felt like I was back at school and on a field trip or something where you get permission to leave class and food :)