A Couple of Airport Runs, A Hike, And A Corned Beef and Cabbage Dinner (Pinnacle Peak)

Atop Pinnacle Peak

Spring as the Cactus Are In Bloom

A Typical Spring Plant

Hiking the Trail

Undulating, Up and Down, A Great Hike

Darn, Now You Tell Us

It's now 5:40, and I have just gotten up after a fitful sleep, awakening at 3:00, then waking and sleeping till now.  I am taking Henry to the airport at 6:15, as he is taking group of tour operators to China for five days, to see if they want to organize tours to this part of China, not on the major cities route.  He is not looking forward to it, alas, as he's not crazy about China, nor doing business with the Chinese, who are extremely difficult to deal with, always wanting to win, never willing to compromise, making it difficult to make any money.  Anyways, we will see him next week when he returns for a day before we fly back to KC.  It looks like another clear day, warming up though, so Evie will be ready when I return for another hike in the mountains.

We were up early yesterday, as I mentioned, so Henry, Evie and I left around 8:00 to climb Pinnacle Peak, an amazing conflagration of rocks, about a twenty five minute ride from Scottsdale.  We hiked part of it last year but were determined to hike the trail to the end, up and down the mountain numerous times, then back again, a four mile walk.  It was a great day to hike, not too warm, in the low 70's most of the morning, which made it perfect..  And lots of people had the same idea because the paths, both coming and going, were crowded at times, with runners, hikers, walkers, all kinds, all ages, some in their eighties, to kids six or seven years old.  Most walked, but there were always both men and women running, even down hill, where it could be dangerous.  Strangely, we did not work up much of a sweat though walking up the paths, winding up towards the summit, was tough especially if you are not used to walking up stairs for five or ten minutes at a time.  We decided early to do the entire walk and just take our time, which we did, resting whenever winded, no competition there.  The hardest part was the first half of our return because it was mostly up the side of the mountain, just after we had gotten to the end of the trail, so psychologically, it was hard.  But once we got half way home, it was mostly down hill to the parking lot, a cake walk.  It was would have been a good walk just because of the spring flowers, all kinds and colors, spread out among the green saguaro cactus,  in valleys, up sides of the mountain, yellows, oranges and purples.  It took us a little over two hours to walk four miles, a little longer coming back.

Evie and Dot, Her Step Mother

We were home by 10:30, had some breakfast, and took it easy the rest of the afternoon, lying around the pool, enjoying the warmth of the sun for the first time since October most likely.  We were tempted but did not  swim because it was still in the 70/s.   When it gets in the 90s, probably Friday, I am sure we will go in.  We decided to go visit Dot, Evie's step mother but before late afternoon, so Henry made a fresh strawberry margaritas for us before hitting the road.  We visited with Dot for a couple of hours.  She is now living alone so it's always nice for her to have company. She talked non stop, telling us all about her adventures the last few months. We asked her to go out to dinner with the four of us but she had already eaten, wanted to get organized because her son in law, Pat, was visiting tomorrow from Las Vegas.

Happy Hour II at the Stone and Vine

Around 6:00, Evie and I met Claire and Henry for another happy hour at a nearby restaurant called the Stone and Vine.  We had been there once, last year, with Evie's sister Jean.  It was packed, quite modern looking, with a great bar.  Luckily we had no trouble finding a seat, so we ordered beers and perused the menu, deciding again, on appetizers.  Evie and Henry ordered pizzas, Claire eggplant and meatballs, and I decided on mussels in a spicy tomato sauce.  We all enjoyed our meals, and mine was really great, especially the spicy sauce with garlic toast for dipping.  I wish I could make a sauce this good.

We were home by 8:00, had some homemade lemon sorbet, with lemons and oranges from the trees in Claire' backyard, watched some TV and laughed at how bad American Idol was.  They like us think The Voice is much better.  We went to bed around 10:00, tired from our hike but looking forward to another one today.