Thursday, April 1, 2010

jojo sedona.















































These are photos from yesterday's hike. I am not a hiker by nature, even as Ms. hippie does point out that i am a runner. But as a runner i always know where i am going. As a hiker, i can't be sure. But Brian went up the day before me and so i knew i would be okay going where ever the trail took me.

What was super cool was on the way back i found a set of car rental keys in the red dirt almost immediately on our way back. So i took them figuring since there were two car rental keys on the same ring that the poor folks would be in the parking area. But as we kept going Brian and i worried that maybe they had gone ahead and we wondered how we should leave the keys.

But it wasn't a problem because as we stepped out of the hiking area into where the cars were there was family of four hovering around the Ford focus (which was the label on the keys i had found) and when i held up the keys the woman ran over thanking me over and over and threw her arms around me telling me that she was going to hug me as she was doing it. She was of some kind of Indian descent and i thought how cool because it is not likely her culture to hug strangers. Her two really beautiful pre teen children kept thanking me over and over and her husband looked rather stunned. It was a lucky thing because it was getting to be late afternoon and the keys could have been easily lost in a rock crevice never to be found. And it was a ways out from the town.

As i looked back at them after saying our goodbyes the young girl was doing a prayer thing with her hands and waving them to the sky saying Thank you.

So that made my day, going hiking for the first time ever and being a hero.

It may not be the right weather for the Grand Canyon we are told by the owners of this place today because it snowed just a ways away from us today. though it was hot here this afternoon.

The patio shot is our second night here. We love our cabin. This night was the night we drank two bottles of wine (though it was over about 6 hours) and did videos of each other doing interviews. When we watched them the next morning they were pretty funny. If i could figure out how to shorten it i might put one up.

We have met some pretty cool people and some people who drive us nuts too.

Ok, that's all i got. We are hanging out in the lodge because it's snack time and this lodge area is so cool. We got to meet the woman who owns this place who used to live in Tacoma and knows some people from Pierce College where Brian works. That was cool.

17 comments:

Modern Hippie said...

those pictures are soo cool! gotta love that nikon! :) i need to get one before i go to new orleans otherwise i wont have good memories/pictures!

that is cool about the keys! and totally right about the culture! they probably were so pannicked, i mean really, what would they have done!? maybe they didnt even have a cell phone!

did you try and run during the hike? i just remember when we used to walk chambers and you would run parts of it saying it was easier than walking it haha

Unknown said...

Awesome pics and story. I love that you were the hero.

I'm the kind of person who likes the journey more than the end..so hiking unknown paths brings me great joy. One day I will get to Sedona, Hawaii, hell..I'd settle for Birmingham, Al at this point.

IslandPearl said...

Hawaii first, susie! Pleaaaaase??

Nice pics, jo. I want to go to that part of the country one of these days just for the scenery alone.

And it was wonderful that you were able to make that family's day. Must've felt really good.

Modern Hippie said...

yeah thunder and lightning yesterday and today crazy sideways wind!

louielouie said...

never wanted to go to Arizona until I saw your photos.

Sounds like your spring break was a lot like mine. . .

louielouie said...

My spring break vacation was not a glorious as Jo’s, but I did get to -

Sing the Oregon State song in the car; I really missed Jo’s vacation mix cd though, Ron probably more than I.

Relax in the hot tub after a wet and stormy beach-walk; forgot to bring Jo's book along.

Stroll through Cannon Beach exploring all the unique shops as well as the Black & Decker outlet store in Seaside. I was even able to go to three different groceries to ask if they carried Ducolax suppositories.

Meet two really neat primary care physicians. Ron was able to chat them up about all things medical, particularly kidney stones. Too bad the experience involved all day Sunday and most of Monday evening in the Seaside ER. Ron did seem to enjoy his IV medications, would not share.

Enjoy a storm at the beach; it was really something - wind and sand and surf. We got to walk in it by moonlight and sleep to the sounds of the Pacific Ocean. Could have done without the power outage all day Monday though.

Visit fun restaurants and enjoy great local food, including a Dungeness crab cocktail, seafood stew, fantastic clam chowder, and a hospital cafeteria hamburger. Even as hungry as we were though, Julie and I could barely choke down the nasty Safeway Chinese food I picked up when I drove to Seaside for the Fleets enema; Ron didn’t join us for the meal, he was sitting in the dark doubled up in pain.

Take it easy and hang out with Julie and Ron in the condo by the fireplace reading novels; the movies were on hold until the electricity returned. I needed Julie for driving to the ER in the dark so she never did get to play drums at the local pup, or meet any ruggedly handsome Oregonians.

Mail postcards to friends and family, no photos to share. no camera

Modern Hippie said...

agree with Louie, I never wanted to go to Arizona until I saw these pictures either.

Louie you crack me up! "ron enjoyed his IV, wouldnt share." LOL

p.s. there is a new TV show coming out called "Louie" it made me think of you :)

IslandPearl said...

Dulcolax suppositories and Fleet enemas...now THAT's what I call a vacation.


NOT.

Modern Hippie said...

I dont know, duloclax spells party to me! a party in the toilet! haha okay that might have been to far... hahaha

sam said...

I am grateful for my kind and thoughtful friends. Both those I know in my everyday life and those I've come to love through the internet. Jojo, you've always displayed heroism in your life but it's sweet to read about a particular incident here.

Cheers!

~ T (grits) ~ said...

Sounds like a great vacation!! :)

equeyaya said...

great photos! i'm so glad you're enjoying it. and isn't it true that those little unexpected connections make all the difference, and will probably be one of the memories that stand out years from now - for you and for that family!

louielouie, i'm sorry you spent your vacation in the ER and without electricity and seeking dulcolax, but, damn, woman, you are funny!

equeyaya said...

And if you haven't already, you should get a photo of you and Brian together with that gorgeous scenery and blow it up and frame it when you get home!!

Modern Hippie said...

hey hey i dont know if anyone will see this so i might repost about it later but for all of you out there who diet/excercise/try and watch what you eat you should join sparkpeople.com i joined it 2 years ago when i first went on prednisone and needed to loose the weight and then i stopped using it so i joined back up again and its really a GREAT website; you track all your food (they have this huge database that litterally has every food out there and you can submit foods (reading the nutrition label) or if you have a recipe you can insert the recipe and it gives you the nutrition facts!

also for excercise, it will give you a work out plan (or you can do your own) but it will have little video clips of how to do a certain excercise - you can check off all that you have available to you (so you can say you have free weights and it will give you excercises to do with the free weights)

its also a huge community so you can join groups (so im lupus groups and prednisone support groups) they have tons of health articles, quizzes, trivia.

and the whole site is designed around earning "sparkpoints" so you want to log on and input what you ate that day and what excercise you did

its really an awesome website and it helped me out alot! if you do though you can say i referred you :) klouvrak@comcast.net

i hope you guys see this! haha

equeyaya said...

Looks cool, Kylee! I will check it out.

Unknown said...

I go to SparklePeople! I've lost 7 lbs so far. It's like Weight Watchers but it is free...

Modern Hippie said...

yeah! ive never used weight watchers but i feel like its almost better but the free aspect is definitley the bestt :)