Day 39: Camelback Mountain (And Valentine's day???)

I wake up and it is dark in my room. Weird. I guess it is still early. I go back to sleep and wake up a little later. I check the time. 9:30?!? It's late! And there are clouds out. It is even raining. Huh. Well this is uninspiring for hiking. I head downstairs and spend some time looking at T100s on my computer. I am feeling that I need to start modifying mine again. My trip has convinced me I should keep my truck for a longggg time. Pretty much until it dies. Therefore, I feel that putting time and money into it is not a bad idea. Anyway, I eventually look at the weather radar and see that the rain has passed the area for the time being. I decide on a hike and head off.

As I drive, the weather gets progressively better. By the time I reach the trail head of Camelback Mountain, it is quite sunny. In fact, there is hardly a could in the sky. The parking lot is full. What the hell people, don't you have a job? It's 1 on a Tuesday! Ha, I guess I am not working either... I end up parallel parking on the road.

The trail head

This trail is cool since it seems rather remote as you climb up the hill. However, if you look down, you are surrounded by Phoenix and it suburbs. The trail proves to be quite rocky. As a general rule, I try not to use my hands when I am hiking even if it is rocky. Today, I constantly have to use my hands to grab the rocks. This makes keeping my phone handy for pictures difficult. It ends up in my backpack for most of the trip. I don't take as many pictures as I usually do for this reason.

The trail

More of the trail

A little ways up, I see an alternative route to the main trail. I can see where they join so I decide to take the harder, more rocky way. I end up doing some somewhat serious rock climbing. It is fun. When I get to where the trails join, I pull out my phone and take some photos. A random guy asks me if I want a picture with me in it. Why not? I get a picture. He hikes at about the same pace as I do so we end up walking all the way to the top somewhat together. I take some more pictures at the top. My new friend again asks if I want to be in a picture. Yes! I get some awesome pictures of me from the top. There is a huge drop off below and I pose right on the edge for the pictures. We talk some before I get distracted by some chip monks running along the rocks. I try to sneak up on them and get some pictures. They are so cute! They remind me of Chip... I hope he is doing well. I hear he is getting a lot of attention from my roommate and my friend who is watching him. :)

It's safer than it looks....

Chipmonk!!

I start down the hill. After about a quarter of a mile, I lose the trail completely. My new friend was unfamiliar with the trail and seemed to think that following me was a good idea. Wrong! I am kind of notorious for getting lost.... He walks back up the hill and lets me know the trail is indeed the other way. I continue down the hill. I pause at a particularly gravelly spot, trying to find the best way down that will not cause me to slip. A guy coming up sees me and thinks I am stopped to let him come up. I have been doing this anyway since going up is hard; it is steep the whole way. Anyway, he sees my shirt and says "Oh, you can go, you are wearing an SEC shirt. I am a Bulldogs fan myself."  I am wearing my Auburn championship shirt. (sorry Stephen! I know you are all Alabama. My Alabama shirt was dirty!)  I thank him and hop down the rocks.

I get to the bottom and make it back to my truck. I hop in and start looking at my phone for dinner ideas. As I am looking, my mom calls. Just called to say she loves me! :) I talk to her about my day and warn her about the picture I am about to send her and assure her I was super careful and safe. As I talk, I see a van try to parallel park. He pulls in and somehow ends up perpendicular to the curb. Fail. I comment on this to my mom and recall that she taught me to drive stick shift and parallel park. I am so happy that I have those skills! I watch another parallel parking fail before my mom helps me decide on making chicken parmigiana for dinner and we say goodbye.

As I leave the trail head, it starts to cloud up again. Perfect timing! I head back to the highway and hit rush hour. Well, the beginning of rush hour. It is not bad but there is more traffic than I really want to deal with. I stop at the grocery store on the way back and it too is packed. Aragh! It takes me forever to find breading for the chicken parm. I am more than happy to get out of there. I get back to the house as it starts to rain again. I put the groceries away and grab a beer, my gameboy with pokemon game, and a blanket and head outside to watch the rain. It is awesome and I am 100% content as I sit there. I think I heard some thunder before I went outside but it never thunders again. Oh well, the rain is nice to listen to and it is not too freezing. I sit out there in an awesomely comfy chair until Hanna comes downstairs. Yay! Now I can make dinner!

I head inside and start making some chicken parmigiana. As I try to throw away the egg I just cracked, I dump the trash can all over the floor. Booo. Hanna helps me clean it up. No no! You go study. I am on vacation and have nothing better to do with my time than make dinner! Oh well, I don't have the clean up the mess I made. Thank you! 30 minutes later, dinner is done. It turns out to be super awesome. (Hanna agrees) The chicken I used was more tender than the chicken I usually get. It was also cut up pretty small so it cooks faster. Just like my mom had told me would help after I had told her about my previous problems with the recipe. Well this is exciting. I manage to do an awesome job cooking my favorite meal. I am feeling pretty accomplished. I climbed a mountain and conquered cooking of chicken parmigiana today!

The news comes on. It is kind of depressing with all of the people doing stupid things and shooting each other. However, there is tons of new snow in Flagstaff! Which should mean some awesome skiing for tomorrow! Sweet! I am a little concerned about the Arizonans' ability to drive in snow. Hopefully they will have the roads cleared by tomorrow. The news is also talking about how cold it is. Lows in the high 30s!  OH MY GOD WHAT WILL I DO??? BETTER GET MY WINTER COAT OUT! Hahaha :)

While watching the news, I get a text from my friend accompanied by an adorable picture of Chip. "Chip says happy Valentine's Day." Yay! I think between my picture and the call from my mom it's a pretty good Valentine's Day!

Mr Chip!!!

I decide to make a visit to the hot tub. I wanted to go as soon as I got back but it was raining. Then I wanted to go after dinner but Hanna wanted to wait. Apparently sitting in hot water makes her sleepy. Who woulda thought? Anyway, so I work on my blog entry until she is ready to go. It's almost cold out, and it's damp. We get to the hot tub and it is scalding. Hanna mentions that it is hotter than usual and gets in without further ado. I put a foot in and immediately retract it. I try again. Damn, it is hot. I don't know if it feels so hot because I am cold (getting into super hot water when it is cold out is not usually a problem) or if it is really just that hot. After 5 minutes of making a scene, I finally get into the water. Yup, that feels good!