So close...

Vacation in T minus 2 days. Can't wait...

Downgrade...

I got a text message the other day that completely caught me off guard.

The general gist was: if you don't have happy things to say then I really don't want to hear from you. The text was more extensive than that, but the core was that. I said that basically she was asking to be downgraded from a friend to an acquaintance. Her response? Different is not less... I hope it brings us closer.

I've been sitting on that letting it marinade for the last 2 days and my opinion hasn't changed. True, different is not less in some instances. However, in this instance it is. If I'm not picking up the phone to share the hardships and trials I'm having in my life, then you certainly are not on the list of people I call when things are going great. That's just the way it is...

You either hear both or you hear nothing. After all, life is about balance. You don't get to benefit from one side of the relationship without being available for the other side.

I'm hoping she'll decide on a different stance. If not, there's not much I can do. For now, I'm just pretty sad about it.

The dangers of "Dateline" and hormones...

BooBoo's wedding is in a week.

*a week? really? where the hell did my summer go?*

*summer? what summer? has there even been a summer? oh wait, different blog...*

And apparently it's going to be kind of a fancy shindig. I was told emphatically by Flip Flop that jeans and a hoody just weren't going to do it *bummer* and that business casual wasn't quite the vibe my sis was going for either.

*oh crap*

So, I had to go shopping this weekend. And not just shopping (which I hate) but dress shopping.

*gag*

I don't do dresses, people. In fact, I don't even own a dress. I own horses instead. And in my mind it's always been an either/or kind of deal. You either own horses or wear dresses. You don't do both. Never. I'm sure all my horsaii peeps will back me on this. Other than a long skirt here and there, you don't see us dressed to the 9's. You see us dressed in muck boots. It's just the way it is...

So, I'm sure you can understand my apprehension about shopping for something that is basically foreign to me. In fact, I was having nightmares about it. Which wasn't helped by the fact that I fell asleep watching Dateline on the eve of my shopping trip.

Keith Morrison reporting:

It's not something you see very often... a massacre in a Macy's in the quaint suburb of Portland, Oregon. But last Saturday that's exactly what happened.

*in his most dramatic voice*

There is a saying that no good deed goes unpunished and this horrible tragedy is just another reminder of that. She says it was the hormones. She says she was pushed past her limits of endurance. She says she's sorry. But is she? Really?

Our story begins when SweetPea is talked into dress shopping for her sister's wedding by her mother, Flip Flop. Key and Pammy are also along for the purpose of consulting... for, you see, the center of our story has no fashion sense at all. None. And even though SweetPea protested the idea of even buying a dress she was assured that it would be nothing at all to find one. Painless, even. If only she had known then what we all know now... that a dressing room is not big enough for bad self-esteem, raging hormones and 4 grown women.

And that's where the police found SweetPea weeping hysterically... in the dressing room of the local Macy's where she had strangled the other three with the belt of the 142nd dress she had been forced to try on.

*aaaaaaaaaand scene*

So, the good news is that no one actually died while I was dress shopping. Yes, there were some touch and go moments but I was able to fight the urge off to actually kill someone... even though the hormones were telling me to ahead and do it. No one would care, really.

As a side note: the IUD worked awesomely when it came to keeping the cramps under control. Yay, me!! However, the downside was the paranoia was a little more extreme. But I survived with no one dead (including myself) and with all of my relationships intact. That, my friends, is a success.

So the only real saving grace for this horrible trip was that I wasn't spending my money. Flip Flop paid for the entire outfit (thank you, mom). If I had been forced to actually spend my own money it might have ended with me behind bars. However, I did get a kick-ass dress and I tried on some very sexy shoes (couldn't actually buy any of them because I can't actually, you know, walk in stiletto heels). I did get a pretty nice pair though...

Not bad, huh?

Eventually I'll get pictures of the whole outfit together. Hopefully it looks as good as I think it will.

That's if I can find some Spanks that take me from a size 14 down to a size 8. 

 Those do exist right?

The clock...

It's 5pm somewhere, right?

 

My dream list...

The farther I get into the sport of endurance, the more cool stuff I want. Of course, that's true of any sport I do with my horse (or myself). So, I've decided to share the things I most covet (and wish I owned). Keep in mind my birthday is coming up (for those of you who just don't know what to get me for my upcoming 40th)...

The "Godiva" Sheepskin saddle cover

I have a sheepskin cover, but mine doesn't go all the way to my stirrup. I could ride in shorts with this bad-boy...

The Tipperary "Sportage" helmet

I actually have this helmet, but mine is the older version and has seen better days. I could sure use an upgrade...

A camelback water bottle

This would be way better to have than water bottles that are just packed on the horse. Just in case ass and saddle part ways I'd love to have my water with me...

I know there are more things on the list, but these items are at the top. What would you add to the list is you could buy anything and everything?

The best-laid plans (and all that)...

"The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry"

It was the Bandit Springs endurance race this past weekend. I had a grand plan of arriving early, doing some camping and quad riding, completing a successful 50 (and knocking an hour or two off of our Sunriver time) and then enjoying a leisurely Sunday packing up and arriving home fairly early and pretty well rested with time to unpack the camper and get settled before heading back to work on Monday.

Well, that was the plan anyway.

What actually happened was this:

THURSDAY:
Rebel arrived Wednesday night to help me pack up the camper and to do the grocery shopping for our weekend. On Thursday he packed up the dogs and the horse and proceeded to ride camp around noon whilst I went to work with his truck (which had the quad in the back). When I arrived at ride camp at around 6pm everything was set up and the animals were happily settled in. He also installed a collapsible saddle rack in my trailer so I don't have to keep my saddle in the camper (man, I love that guy).

Check out this sweet set-up...

Talk about camping at its finest...

Thursday night we grilled some steak and then went out for a quick quad ride with the dogs. We watched the sun go down and the stars come out. We then decided to play a round of Phase 10. If you don't know this card game, you can check it out here. Typically when we play cards I usually kick Rebel's butt. However, in this game I wasn't even close. I can neither confirm nor deny... but there might have been pouting on my part. I do hate to lose. After that, it was off to bed. Other than the slight mishap with the card game that day went pretty much to plan.

FRIDAY:

Rebel and I decided to sleep in and it was so nice. Shield came by the camper to say hi. She was riding an extra horse in the Competitive Trail Ride that was being held on Friday and we chit-chatted about this and that, having not seen each other in a few weeks. After that, Rebel and I decided to go out for a quad ride because it was such a gorgeous day. Rebel topped off the tank to the quad and we packed up a cooler with water, snacks, sunscreen and bug spray and then hit the trail.

Ready to roll (however, I wasn't really allowed to drive)...

First stop was the top of the world...

Not sure what mountain top we were on but you could see for miles...

And miles...

Prineville as seen from the Ochocos...

Looking back towards ride camp...

While we were there, we watched all of the different butterflies with fascination. There were all types (even Monarchs) buzzing around the top of this hill... colorful moths too. It was tough to tell exactly what they were doing but they looked like they were all chasing each other. It looked like fighter pilots in action. It was very cool.

A butterfly right before it took off to do battle...

After that, we were off to see a waterfall we had tried to see in the winter but because of closed gates we couldn't get there. The going was a little rough and at some points I had to hop off the quad and let Rebel power over a few rocks but we made it. And it was worth the trip (and the little bit of a hike)...

Whoever owns this little bit of paradise is a very lucky person...

It's heaven on earth...

After viewing the waterfall, we decided to take the scenic route home. The gas tank was still looking good and we were having a good time. And at that point we were only about 28 miles into our quad ride. Unfortunately from there things pretty much went sideways. About 1/2 way into the scenic route home the gas situation started getting interesting. There is a digital meter that shows in bars how much gas you have left. At one point we lost 2 bars at once and the meter was flashing a very ominous "E". At a fork in the road we had a decision to make... go the shorter way where there was most likely to be zero traffic (and therefore zero help if we did run out) or go the longer way but be on a paved road where we could hitch a ride back if we did, indeed, run out of gas.

We opted to go the way of the paved road. About a mile or so down the road Rebel had the idea to stop and actually stick the tank to see how low we really were (like we need to flag down traffic now kinda empty or we have enough gas we think). Come to find out we had plenty of gas left. Oops... we added on a ton of extra miles for nothing. Except we did get to see a little band of wild horses...

I busy eating here. Leave me alone...

I think I'll just hang out over here...

By the time we were back to camp we had gone almost 90 miles (86.7 to be exact). And we were very dirty (but we had a blast)...

PSA: "This is your tattoo on dirt..."

As we rolled back into camp on the quad, Honey and Beaver were just pulling in. They brought a camper too.

I actually think Honey's camper is older than mine. Shocking, I know...

And then when we were all down registering and vetting in, we ran into Hutch who was also just getting there. Bow showed up a little later and she and Hutch shared a tent for the weekend. At the vet check all went well except for getting a B for gut sounds. Flash typically gets A's but I wasn't too worried. He was kind of depressed that his Bromance partner Leo hadn't arrived yet. Once Leo was set up next to him he dug into his food with gusto.

On Friday night we stayed up and chit-chatted and talked about things that ought not to be talked about in mixed company (sorry Rebel... I'm sure that was not a convo that you really needed to be involved in). Then it was off to bed so we could be bright and perky the next day.

LATE FRIDAY NIGHT/EARLY SATURDAY MORNING:

I'm not sure what time it was exactly, but somewhere in there I woke up with a raging fever. It felt like it raged on for eons years, but I'm sure it was just a few hours. Either way, I was feeling pretty rough once it broke. I went back to sleep and hoped I would feel better once the alarm went off at 4:45am.

SATURDAY:

At 4:45am the alarm went off. It was really early and I was still not feeling well. However, I decided to get up and get dressed and see if I felt better as the morning went on. I came out of the camper looking a little green around the gills (according to Bow and Hutch). As the morning wore on I just felt worse so I made the decision to not race. Instead I got back in bed and stayed there until around 9:30am.

After that I ate some breakfast (successfully) and decided to take it easy for the day. We hung around camp and didn't do much. At some point I decided to take a nap. While napping, Honey came back in from her 30 and finished in 3rd I think. Then Hutch and Beaver (who had hooked up for the 50) came in looking a little worse for wear. About that time I finally rallied and listened to their stories of their races. Hutch and Leo had a rough start without Flash and I there. At the first gate (which was a few miles out) Beaver and her horse Monster caught up with them and they rode together for the rest of the race. About 4 miles from the finish Monster took a tumble and threw Beaver off (over his head) and then flipped over on top of her. They were both lucky and no major injuries occurred, other than her riding pants exploding off of her (because Monster is a stallion, she had a strap clipped to her spandex riding pants. when he tumbled her pants expanded to 5 times their normal size and then the elastic finally gave up and exploded). She came into camp with her pants tied in a knot. Thankfully she had some biking type shorts on underneath. Otherwise that probably would have been the talk of the race for years to come.

After that, I perked up some and was able to have a good dinner and watch a thunder storm start to roll in. About that time I decided to saddle up and take Flash out to stretch his legs. Rebel joined me on the quad with the pups in hot pursuit. It looked like it might just sprinkle a little so I didn't worry much about the weather. But Bow decided she wasn't in for tenting it in the rain and decided to pack up and head out (don't blame her). Hutch, Honey and Beaver went down to the ride meeting and awards for the day. While we were out on our ride, the skies opened up and just started dumping on us. Flash decided it was time to head back to camp now. He did a huge 12MPH trot the whole way back. As we trotted by the ride meeting we got a lot of funny looks. I'm sure we all looked like drowned rats. But they didn't look any better. 40 some-odd people were stuffed under a 12x12 canopy. It looked pretty miserable. The meeting and awards were done in record time. After that it was back to playing cards, only all of the girls (minus Bow) joined us. Poor Hutch just couldn't grasp the way the game was played. Beaver kept trying to explain it which just caused the rest of us to laugh our butts off. Then it was off to bed... and hopefully not get sick again. Honey and Beaver were riding a slow 50 again the next day and I had decided to join them. But we all decided that we didn't want to leave at 6am and that we would make our way down to the start around 7 or 8am.

SUNDAY:

I woke up at around 5am and was feeling much better but not 100% yet. I decided to drop from the 50 and only do the 25 mile race they were offering instead. Beaver was too sore from her unplanned dismount the day before to ride, so she was out. Honey decided not to ride so I saddled up and headed to the start by myself. Flash was a little hyper but not off the wall but I walked him down to the start just to be safe. Once I informed the timer and manager that I was changing rides and heading out we took off at a fast clip and about 25 minutes behind everyone else...

Heading off on the first loop. See you in 10 miles...

"Becky, just look at that butt..." (can you hear Sir-Mix-A-Lot? I can...)

Because we were only doing 25 miles I let Flash pick the pace he wanted to go. And he wanted to go!! We fast trotted and cantered a lot of the first loop, which was 10 miles. We also passed quite a few people on the trail. However, I was polite and slowed down and made sure I was OK to pass instead of just flying by. No race is worth getting anyone hurt... plus most were on green horses.

Before I knew it, we were back in camp and doing a vet check and a 30 minute hold. Flash was doing great and I actually felt pretty good too. When we vetted through again his gut sounds were still only a "B" but he was eating and drinking fine so I wasn't worried. Just about the time I was getting ready to leave the vet check, Honey rolled in riding Zypher. Say what?!? That girl started about an hour behind us and had motored through the 10 mile loop quickly too. I debated on waiting and riding with her but opted to just go it alone and see what Flash had under the hood.

We took off out of camp on the 15 mile loop at a canter. I just let Flash go. I figured when he got tired he would slow down. At about 3 miles in we caught up to yet another rider who was on a very cute paint mustang. We met at a water trough and ended up leaving together. Flash was trotting much faster than the mustang so after a minute or two I couldn't see them anymore. This loop was much more hilly than the previous loop so I was making him slow down some to go down hill but other than that I wasn't rating him at all. 

On a particularly steep downhill just as we were passing a log that was kind of buried in the brush, a chipmunk (killer apocalyptic chipmunk, if you ask Flash) popped up on top of the log and scared the crap out of him. Flash spooked (and levitated) about 4 feet to the left and I was catapulted over his head. However, as I went flying by I had the presence of mind to grab on to his neck and swing my feet down to land the unplanned dismount almost perfectly. I was docked .5 points because I had the reins tangled around my left leg when I landed... otherwise it was a perfect 10 (just ask the Russian judge).

Right as I was trying to extricate myself from the reins, the dude on the mustang went trotting by. Um, excuse me? Very poor trail manners there sir... and of course I felt compelled to shout that out to him. Jerk. I totally could have gotten killed if Flash was the type of horse to freak out when another horse goes flying by. Thank goodness he's not and I was fine. I hopped (ok, more like scrambled) back into the saddle and proceeded to hunt that dude down and leave him in our dust. Take that!!

The rest of the loop went pretty well. Eventually the hills started to get to Flash and we slowed down a little. We enjoyed the views and took our time climbing to the top...

View from the 15 mile loop about 10 miles in...

Almost to the top...

At the 2nd to last water stop, the dude with the mustang caught up to me. That mustang was the little engine that could. No matter if he was going up hill or down he was doing it at about 6MPH. Flash and I were flying on the downhills but walking the uphills so we passed and were passed by this guy several times. Finally we just kind of settled into their pace and cruised to the last water bucket. On the way I got to talking to the guy. So he wasn't a jerk, just totally clueless. I guess it takes a few races to get the gist of the trail rules. Plus he also informed me that we were sitting 2nd and 3rd. Say what?!? Dang. Not bad for starting out 25 minutes behind the rest of the group.

Once we hit the flat I said goodbye to the dude and Flash and I cruised the last 3/4 mile at a canter. About an 1/8 mile out I decided to hop off and walk in so that Flash would pulse down right as we got into the finish. The dude trotted past me still riding and it cost him when we made it in. Flash pulsed right down and we got 2nd (only 21 minutes behind 1st) and the dude came in 3rd even though he beat us to the finish. Hah!! Take that.

We presented for Best Condition and almost won that, but fell a little short. That mustang was in pretty good shape and Flash had pretty much run at a 10-12MPH pace the whole ride. But we had a good time.

And then it was time to pack up and go home. Typically I get to sit around and just chill out until the following day, but not this time. We wanted to be home at a decent hour so after a brief rest it was time to pack up and go. We decided to stop at Taco Time on the way home and then swung by Yo Wild! for some frozen yogurt. Both were delicious.

Once we got home, I turned Flash back out to pasture and he cantered off looking good. He obviously was no worse for wear and feeling fine after our 25 mile run. I, on the other hand, was fading fast. Rebel and I furiously unloaded stuff as fast as we could and then I jumped in the shower. While I was standing there under the hot water I started to drift off to sleep. I had finally hit the wall... hard. I couldn't finish the shower fast enough and get in bed quick enough. I was done. As soon as my head hit the pillow I was out cold.

Now that, my friends, is a weekend.

Next up is Pacific Crest where we will be traveling a few hours South to do a beautiful valley ride. I also have my vacation (and my sis's wedding) coming up in a few weeks. The summer is shaping up to end in spectacular fashion.

Off to Bandit Springs...

Rebel and I are headed off to Bandit Springs for my next race.

Flash and I are attempting 50 miles again this ride. I'm hoping it will not only be easier this time around but that we will move up in time some. However, having said all that I will keep this in mind at all times...

 Have a good weekend and wish us luck.

Things you're glad they didn't tell you beforehand...

I have posted about my girlie parts (and my troubles with those parts) here before. However, I do try to issue a warning before I just go off into TMI land.

So here's your warning. Depart this post now if you don't want to know (and chances are, you probably don't).

*waiting*

OK... if you are still here, then I cannot be held responsible for your reaction to the rest of the post. Please sign here in blood and initial Paragraph B, subsection III.

Great. Here we go...

Today I got an IUD. If you do not know what an IUD is, go google it. They can explain way better than I can. The basics are: a plastic thingy goes way up there in your nether regions and you don't get pregnant (or in my case, cramps) anymore. However, it kinda hurts when they ram gently insert the how huge is that thing anyway? IUD into your nether regions. Maybe hurt is downplaying it a bit. I wanted to claw my eyes out during the insertion. But I was warned about all of that when I made the appointment and was kind of prepared... like you can be kind of prepared for nuclear fallout. You know it's coming but there's not much you can do but hang on and hope you make it through.

What you don't know (and definitely no one bothered to mention) is that before they ram insert the how huge is that thing anyway? IUD, they give you a couple of shots of "numbing" agent up there. Yes, there. On the inside. Waaaay up there. Holy $#!t that hurt. Bad!! And as far as I can tell, it didn't numb a damn thing. I still felt like I was having an alien implanted.

And then, it was over.

The only casualty was the cushion on the examination table. I guess I need to cut my finger nails down a bit but I'm sure it can be patched up with duct tape. Everything can be fixed with duct tape, right?

And next time if they don't want their cushion irreparably damaged, they'll give a girl a little heads up before doing something like that without any warning.

There is no "i" in group. Right?

A g. An r. An o. A u. A p...

Nope. No "i" to be seen.

Why am I going on and on about this, you ask? Well, let me just relate a little story to you from my college days that is now relevant in my current working life...

First of all, my college days didn't start until I was 25 years old. I tried the college thing once when I was fresh out of High School (after not going off somewhere to play college soccer) and it didn't work out so well. I got $1,800 for my 18th birthday (which was 2 months into my Freshman year) and from there it was skiing all day/every day. So, when I actually decided to do the college thing, I actually did it. I wasn't there messing around and partying. I was actually going to school.

So, a few years in to getting my B.S. in Computer Science I decided to take a desktop publishing class. I loved that class. I loved it so much I switched my major to a B.S. in Graphic Design, which is just not done, by the way. If you're doing graphic design you get a B.A. instead... but I pressed on. Also, around this time Portland State switched from a regular curriculum to this funky other thing (whose name escapes me at the moment) where you basically take 1 class worth a shit-ton of credits rather than doing all the individual classes that would (in theory) give you the same education. I was advised that I had the option to go either way since I had mostly completed 3 years by this point. I opted to stick with what I had.

In my last year, I was chatting with my adviser about graduation when she then informed me that there were two 100 level classes that I had missed that I would need to take in my senior year before I could graduate (I seriously paid a lot of money for this education. You'd think they would have clued me in on that little tidbit of advice before it was almost too late!! Sheesh).

So, I had to take Drawing 101 and I also had to take Graphic Design 102. The drawing class wasn't too bad... except I wasn't that good and when they brought in the male model he was dripping from a body part that ought not to be dripping like that. I felt bad for whoever had to stand on the podium after him.

The GD 102 class, however, almost killed me. The instructor, one Walt Fosque (no fake name for this asshole), was the most lackluster teacher I have ever had the displeasure of taking a class from. He wasn't teaching relevant skills... he was teaching graphic design from the good ol' days. No computers in his class (even though all graphic design is done on computers) and you also had to do 50 thumbnail drawings about an idea before you fully fleshed it out by hand. There were so many complaints that he finally relented half way through the semester and we could use computers... kinda.

Anyway, the final assignment of the class was a group project. I was taking this class in my very last term at Portland State. So I had to pass. Not. An. Option. I already had a job lined up upon graduation and I could not be in summer school because I didn't pass a stupid lower level class. And of course, because of this I was assigned the 2 people in the class who just didn't give a shit as my partners.

*sigh*

I spent the next 3 weeks trying to herd cats and nothing got done. Finally it was finals week and I had no choice but to do the whole project myself. What I'm about to tell you is not an exaggeration. BFF can attest to this all. I was up for 4 days straight working on this thing. I only slept somewhere around 9 hours in that 4 days. I definitely didn't shower (no time) and my hair was so greasy by the end of that 4 days that if anyone had lit up next to me I would have gone up in smoke. Seriously. I was tired, cranky and people were lucky that I wasn't into eating humans. Although I did consider it a few times.

I showed up to the critique this way. I let Walt know before the critique that I had gotten no help and he said he would take that into consideration when grading the other 2. But the project was done so I didn't care.  And I had done a damn fine job on the project as well. It was well-designed and every angle had been carefully thought out. So, when it was my group's turn to present of course I did all the talking because they didn't have a clue what it was that "we" had done. I explained all the different courses of thought and why I had arrived at the decisions that I had. And as I continued to talk, the look on Walt's face got blanker and blanker... like he didn't have a clue as to what language I was speaking or something. It was kind of weird. When I got done Walt then proceeded to ask me questions about things I had already explained. He would ask. I would answer that I had already answered that. And so it went for about 5 minutes. And then he began my critique of the project ripping it apart. Not because it wasn't good (it was) but about shit that didn't even matter. About 1/2 way through I finally had had enough. I called him a jackass, told him the class was a joke and walked out of the room, resigning myself to the fact that I had just signed up for summer school.

Later in the week, one of my group people came up to me all happy that "we" had gotten a B- on the project. I guess I should have known then that Walt was actually doing me a favor. He was preparing me for corporate life. You do the work and others take credit.

Kudos to you, Mr. Fosque. I should have been paying better attention to the actual lesson. Well played, sir. Well played.

Just shut up and ride...

For those of you readers that aren't "horsaii"... any time you interact with a horse you are having a conversation of sorts. Your body language, tone of voice and general demeanor tell the horse a multitude of things. There is a saying: everything you do with a horse is a training session... be it good or bad.

So having said all that, lately Flash and I have been arguing a lot. And at the Sunriver race he was a pill a few times. He did a few dirty spooks that almost had me out of the saddle and they definitely wrenched my back up. Keep in mind, he wasn't actually spooking because he was afraid... he was just being kind of an asshole. Arguing with me, if you will. And rather than keeping things civil, I continued to argue back. And so it has gone. Escalating.

Finally, last night I decided that enough was enough. No more arguing.

I took Flash out for a ride and I let him pick the trail, the distance and the speed. When he went faster I just got out of his way and let him go. I could tell he was still looking for an argument but I didn't give him one. You want to go faster? Fine. Go. You want to go that way instead of this way? Fine. Go. You want to keep on going? Fine. Go.

Any you know what? After about 30 minutes he relaxed and really got into the ride. It was the best ride we've had together in quite a while. When he went by things that normally would be spook-worthy, for the most part he just ignored them. We had a blast.

And then it hit me. I haven't so much been riding my horse, rather I've been nagging my horse. And just like any man (gay or not... because Flash is most definitely gay) he apparently doesn't like to be nagged. He's been telling me to just shut up and ride. And I finally heard what he was saying.

You never listen to me...

Sorry, buddy. I'm listening now...

Adorable dog...

Noelle having some fun fetching a stick...

Noelle is not a very confident swimmer, but since she could almost touch the bottom she was willing to get out there and get the stick.

Good dog...

PegLeg Falls...

On Saturday, Rebel and I decided to go exploring again. We found some gorgeous rivers and a day use area that is no longer open. Of course, the fact that it was closed to the public didn't stop us from taking a look around...

But before we did that, we went way up a gravel road and found this cool stream. And where the culvert was the road dipped down to allow the stream to just go over the road when it got flooded. Apparently this is common in Arizona, but I had never seen anything like it...

Stream...

Daisy: This is stupid...

Noelle: Cheese... 

Rails to prevent trees from getting into the culvert...

Looking under the rails at the culvert...

The other side of the road with a steep bank back down to the stream...

PegLeg Falls...

Abandoned day use area...

PegLeg Falls...

 

Cool swimming hole (if it was a nice day)...

Fish ladder

The Falls from above...

Looks like I need to go back to Photography 101...

A little better...

Daisy butt...

Noelle and I goofing off on a big boulder...

It's a hole...

Looking down on the river...

Not a ghost. Just a Rebel...

The view from High Rock...

Timothy Lake (way in the background)...

A tuckered out pup...

Even though the weather wasn't great, we had a good time hiking around. Hopefully we can find another good hiking spot on the 4th...