Raising Arizona

We survived record low temperatures in Arizona last week. The news was full of the horrors of pipelines freezing and the shortage of natural gas because too many people were turning on their heat at night. The temperature hovered around 0-15 degrees Celsius, depending on the day - colder than we expected for Arizona (I packed flip flops), but tolerable for a couple of Canadians. Some would say downright balmy, and definitely perfect hiking weather.

We ran P.F Chang's Rock n Roll Half Marathon in Phoenix. When we originally planned the trip it was to run the full marathon, but injuries and Mexican margaritas derailed us in December. The half was awesome - over 30,000 people ran, we both did well, and we weren't too sore to enjoy our holiday afterwards.

Cathedral Rocks - Vortex extraordinaire













We seem to have cultivated a bit of a fascination with the desert. I can't get enough of red rock and cacti. We headed north from Phoenix to Sedona, full of fine food and awesome desert hiking. Also full of New-Agers who have marketed the most beautiful red rock locations as Vortex sites. A vortex apparently is where the earth is living and one can be healed by the masculine and feminine energy eminating from the rock if you meditate long enough. We tried and evidently we weren't "open" enough to receive peace from the earth. We sure liked the views though.

Hiking around Sedona













This is a Frank Lloyd Wright - inspired church, built into the rock in the 1940s. Absolutely stunning architecture. Only fits about 50 people though.





Despite the weather forecast for snow, we headed further north. We stopped in Flagstaff, Arizona, a cute university town. At 7000 feet (a large elevation jump from Phoenix) with a rumour of a ski hill, I was expecting a full-on mountain town. Flagstaff was a cute university town, but had the tiniest of tiny mountain ranges poking up from the plateau - a handful of peaks at most, although they do reach up to 12,000 feet. Still optimistic, we thought we would check out the local ski hill, Snow Bowl. Turns out the season opening planned for the weekend we were there was cancelled because wind blew all the snow off the mountain. Indeed, it looked pretty bare. So, we got back in the car and kept driving.




Spent a few days at the Grand Canyon hiking some world-class terrain. Unfortunately, the accommodations are not so world-class. We had dinner in Tusayan at We Cook Pasta and Pizza, the only restaurant in town. We had, you guessed it, pizza. January is apparently the time to go to the Grand Canyon, it was pleasant off the rim in the canyon and we saw virtually noone on all our hikes.
Below is down Grandview. We descended over 900 m to a mesa and were still only 2/3 of the way to the Colorado river at the bottom.

We hiked the infamous Bright Angel Trail, probably the most under-estimated hike in North America. Tourists clamber down hundreds of meters every summer in the heat, only to find they don't have the energy or time to climb back out again. Jacob's Ladder, leading us into the canyon.

We hiked Bright Angel down nearly a vertical kilmetre to Plateau Point, a perfect mesa dropping dizzingly down to the river. Too much exposure for me! We saw 2 other people on the way down, and then noone for the rest of the day. We put in a 20 km day with a lot of climbing, but it was high value!

Our fascination with desert flora comes through again. Growing quite happily on the mesa in the sunshine, one of the only shots of non-red colour we could find.

A parting shot. Even if we seem to have a black weather cloud following us this year on every vacation we take, it was still a perfect trip and a welcome break from Calgary's winter. Onward to the rest of ski season!

A New Year Ahead

Christmas came and went, as did Aric's sister's wedding. We'll post some photos of that in the next week or so. We've got a great winter and spring planned with a trip to Arizona next week and then a bunch of ski trips when the days get longer. My goal is to retroactively put up some photos from our great summer trips for everyone to see. New Year's Resolutions...

Looks like Al is famous : Kicking Horse and WeddingBells.

And, just for fun, my two favorite folks in the world taking an afternoon nap:

Baja Heaven

We were lucky to spend a couple of weeks in Baja California in December with six of our friends. The trip's roots actually began last year when Aric and I went kayaking for a week in Baja and loved it so much, we decided to recruit some friends and return. I've never done a trip twice, so it speaks volumes about how amazing it was. Baja is like a little secret, close to home, and thoroughly incredible.

The night before we left, the owner of the guided company we were using, Baja Outdoor Activities (BOA) called us at home to tell us the Norte wind had blown in that day and our original trip wouldn't be possible. We had planned a remote paddle involving a major sea crossing, but with a 6 foot breaker at the launch beach and 8 foot swells on the open ocean, it looked like we would be camping on the beach for a few days waiting for the weather to settle. After a few quick phone calls among the group, we opted to return to Espiritu Santo for a second circumnavigation. I'm glad we did, as we still had a few days of gnarly swells and wind. Thankfully it settled into the bluebird days we were all expecting.

We paddled, we snorkelled, we drank maragaritas every night. We even sank so low as to drink shots of Cointreau when we ran out of Tequila one night and didn't want to break into the next day's supply. Not a single photo exists of that night, much to Heather and Sharon's relief.

Sunset on Bonanza Beach. 3 miles of white sand heaven all to ourselves.



Paddling into the wind.

Happy Jen and Aric. So very very happy.

Escaping wind in the calm bays.

Sunrise. That beach made me happier than I'd been in a long time.

Baja chicas: me, Steph, Heath and Sharon.

Jen concentrating on technique.

Ahh, the veggie boat. The entire front hatch of Shawn's boat was filled with fresh veggies - looked a bit like tossed salad after a day on the waves.

Jay performing housekeeping duties. In this particular photo, he is actually working. Normally he acted as a supranumery nipple.

Typical Baja terrain on a cloudy day.

Dowling looking strong.

Fire and Ice

Most everyone knows by now that Jen messed up her ankle quite seriously 2 weeks before the wedding, which changed our hiking honeymoon in Iceland a bit.

We still went and had an incredible time in a country of contrasts. The definite highlight were gigantic glaciers coming down to the road, 24 hours of sunlight and hot springs. Oh, the hot springs! Physiotherapy for the ankle.

My recommendation is that everyone take a honeymoon, married or not. It rocks.

Natural hot springs everywhere, rivalling the best we've seen worldwide.
Feeling small in a world of ice.
More hot springs. This one was actually a little uncomfortable because the creek in the background supplied near-boiling water into the cooler pool. You had to find the perfect spot where the two mixed to a tolerable temperature. This was tempered by the occasional current of scalding water surging through to scorch your back while your legs were chilled in front. Aric loved it.

Burned!
A midnight landscape. Not a tree to be found. Happy hiking though.

The traditional Icelandic farming house with a sodroof and only one tiny window out the front. Good thing it faces the alluvial fan spreading from Vatnajokull. Nice view.

My gorgeous husband. On a late night (10pm) hike in the middle of nowhere.

The Vatnajokull ice cap is breathtaking. This huge dome of snow and ice descends from the clouds to smother jagged 3,000-foot-tall mountains. Then it spills out from the peaks in a steep outlet glacier 9.3 miles wide and 12.4 miles long -- an insignificant appendage of Europe's largest ice cap despite its impressive size. It ends abruptly in an iceberg filled lagoon (Jokulsarlon) that spills into the ocean. Possibly one of the most impressive landscapes we've ever seen.

Everything is very raw and new; it's as if these waterfalls just appeared yesterday. The rocks are carved, not worn, and the thousands of rivers running from the ice cut very jagged pathways through the tundra producing massive waterfalls everywhere.

A good photo of what a typical dinner on our honeymoon looked like. No fancy restaurants (couldn't afford them!). We brought a ton of hiking food with us and a Pocket Rocket, and dined on the rocks in the cold enjoying the view.

Ocean meets mountain. Interesting, this photo is taken from the road. One helluva drop off and no guard rail.

The launch of Jenaric

Everyone else seems to have one, so why not us? We've decided this is probably a good way to keep everyone up-to-date with what is going on in our lives and in our travels. So, check as often as you want, or not at all.

To start, some photos from our wedding on June 17, 2006 in Golden, BC. These are courtesy of Al Maudie, our friend and amazing photographer.

The groom cleaning the puppy after a romp in the mud.

Our favorite shot.

Hiking boots and mud.