Well, I've Been To the Desert On a Horse With No Name

It felt good to be out of the rain.

Or actually, I've been to the desert on a mule with a name. And her name was BeeBee. Our last day in Arizona was quite possibly my favorite and that's most likely because of the randomness of it all. The morning started with my mom and I waking up early to go for our own little sunrise hike. (You can see pictures of that here.) Then, we stopped at the grocery store and picked up some supplies to make a very yummy breakfast (my mom made the breakfast - I looked and sorted through the morning's pictures). After breakfast we took our time getting ready, lounged a bit, and then headed out to meet up with my other aunt after she was done working. From there - we headed to a casino! Yes! I love casinos, but we only had 30 minutes in there, since we had an appointment, or whatever it may be called with a ranch, to ride some horses in the desert. Anyway - right away at the casino I found my Wheel of Fortune slots and put $30 in and cashed out at $67. Then, it was time to head to the Spur Cross Stables.
To get to Spur Cross Stables I had to drive (did I mention I was the one doing all the driving of the rental van - I LOVE to drive, seriously) - anyway, to get to the stables I had to drive on a dirt road. Up the mountain. It was awesome. The ranch was awesome. Just look. This guy greeted us in the "parking lot".

Hello - jackass.

As the ranchers were getting our horses ready, our own little tour guide, Nate, was asking who wanted to go where - and I said I'd like to be last so I can take some pictures. When he finally got to me he said, "I'm going to get you a birdseye view." I couldn't believe the horse he was bringing out of the stables for me. "You've got to be kidding me. I'm going to split my jeans trying to get up on that horse." Oh, she's not a horse, she's a mule. A horse mixed with a donkey. I should have demanded my money back right then - I didn't sign up to go mule riding - I believe I wanted to go horseback riding. Anyway, I couldn't change my mind now, and hopped up onto BeeBee and was ready for the journey. (Luckily, they have a sort of loading station for everyone to get up onto the horses. Sort of like a pier or dock in a lake to get into the boat. If it weren't for that, good ol' Nate would have had to give me a lift up onto my horse, or uh mule, and then he would have been regretting laughing as he brought out my birdseye view.) Anyway...off we went on the foothill trials of the desert mountains. It was beautiful.

We had to sign a waiver if we didn't want to wear a helmet. Of course, the lady who was helping us with the forms said, "You're going on an easy one hour walking tour," which made it sound to me like no helmet would be needed. But man, oh man, during the tour, watching all the cacti and other prickly bushes pass us by, and then glancing around and thinking, "dude, if this horse, or uh mule, decided that this walk was bullshit and just started running I'd be so screwed. I hope Nate as good of a rancher as he looks. And why didn't I get myself a helmet?" Anyway, BeeBee was a good horse, or uh mule, and I felt sort of bad because I thought she was a he for the first half of the ride and kept saying, "good boy." Opps. Anyway - she forgave me. She did have a nasty habit of getting too close to the horse in front of me and we were warned before we left NOT to let them do that, because it might spooke the other horses and the last thing I wanted to do was spooke the horse my mom was on. She eventually learned that I meant it when I'd pull back on her reins for her to stop - and I was even able to stop a few times to get some cool pictures - which you can see here. (I also took some while she was walking...) Anyway... remember I said I had the birdseye view, well just look at how tall I am....

What - you can't tell how tall she is?? Look at this next picture.

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I'm the one on the far left. I have never in my life been taller than my sister, who is right next to me. When we stand on the ground my sister is at least 7 inches talled than I am. And look at us now. Seriously...when it was time to get off we weren't given the luxery of the pier/dock/thingy - Nate just told me to swing my leg around and slide down (something I've done many times, because when I was younger I did take horseback riding lessons for quite sometime). Anyway, I did just that, and was hanging onto the horse with my arms extended, legs down, and the ground was not there! I had to just let go and sort of jump onto the ground.

Birdseye View - no kidding.

Anyway - after we were done at the ranch we went to a saloon. That was awesome. You can see those pictures here.

Here's a great video of the song I couldn't stop signing - and still find myself singing it all the time!

Weekly Winners - 3/8/09

Okay, so most of these were taken a few weeks ago while I was in Arizona. I've since had my laptop taken away from me for ELEVEN days - could you imagine? Also, I've been feeling sort of off with my picture taking abilities lately and haven't really taken any worthy for the weekly winner set. My mind keeps changing - one day I think I should just "give up on the fancy stuff" and the next day I'm thinking I should try to join the local photography club. So anyway, it was very difficult to choose just a few from more than 500 pictures that I took in just a few days. As the days continue I'll be trying to share more stories of the trip with some more of my favorite pictures - I did save some, because I want to tell the story that goes with them! Enjoy!

Diet Pop, Cigarettes, Cancer, and Guilt

As soon as she could, my sister would step outside to have a smoke. She loved the extended layover we had in St. Louis, because there, in that airport, they have smokers' lounges. As soon as we'd get off the airplane, she head outside for her fix. As soon as she'd wake up in the morning, she'd head out to my aunts patio for her fix. After lunch - she'd head outside. After a long drive - she'd stay outside for a bit. Before going to bed, she'd head outside for one last cigarette.

I like my Diet Pepsi. It's got zero calories, enough caffeine to get me through the day, and it doesn't taste that bad either.

Every morning, while I was enjoying my one can for the day, my mom would remind me how bad that stuff is for me. The fake sweetener. She'd remind me of those in my family with various forms of cancer and how she truly believes that since those women were so hooked on their diet pop, that the diet pop had something to do with their cancer. And deep down, I agree with her. I don't like that I need to have a diet pop to get me going in the morning. I don't like that I can't pronounce the stuff in the ingredients. I don't like that it's not natural. And I've never believed it to be good for me.

But what just got to me was the fact that while I'm listening to my mom talk to me about how bad that stuff is for me, my sister would be on the other side of the sliding glass door enjoying her cigarette in peace.

I like to believe it's because she loves me more. But it's probably because my sister has heard it all before.

I had a diet pop every morning of our trip. Since being home, I've probably had a total of 2 cans. I've switched over to coffee. Coffee with lots of sugar and flavored cream, but no fake sweetener. I guess after 31 years, my mom still knows how to watch out for me.