8512...

...minutes until the wedding ceremony. Cathy enjoys being informed of exactly how much time she has left for planning. Wait that's not totally accurate. Replace "enjoys" with "despises."

Actually now it's 8510 minutes left. Almooost there.

Another one while hiking up Camelback. I feel like this is an apt photo for a motivational posters. Like "Determination" or "That's it we're lost."

Post-AZ Post 2 of 2

Here are a couple more from the trip:


Like I said, I went back to Camelback the next day, except this time with Cathy, Bernice, and Dave. I swear I did other shit besides go up and down this thing, but it's really the only time I was taking photos during the trip.


Dave, Bernice, Cathy. We went about 1/4 of the distance I went the first time. It was about the right distance since the girls were pretty tired by the time we got back down. I was pretty impressed by them though since the trail was pretty strenuous and it was really freaking hot.


Even though it goes much higher, the views were still great from where they got to. The clearer weather helped too.


This one is part of the view from the very top when I went by myself. The best part about it was that you literally had a 360 degree view up there. Even though it's not that high up compared to some other places, you can still see quite a bit and the land detail is pretty difficult to distinguish at this point.


Apparently the golf courses out there are nice, whatever that means. Honestly, I think it's kind of a waste. I mean, it's in the middle of a desert. You have 200+ acres of water intensive land in the middle of the Sonoran Desert being used purely for recreation. That just seems silly.


A lot of places with outdoor seating had misters to help cool you off. Kind of a waste maybe, but it does get a wee bit hot out there. Then again, after a bit of thought it's probably more efficient than air conditioning.

Anyway, not sure when I'd go back (unless we all get a free hotel room again), but I had a great time.

Post-AZ Post 1 of 2

Arizona was a good time. Among other things, I saw some cacti, drank a couple mojitos, made a pilgrimage to In-N-Out, and was even able to squeeze in a nice solo dayhike at Camelback Mountain when Cathy and Bernice went to the spa:


From our hotel, I walked three miles to the Cholla trailhead, ascended over 1300 feet in two miles, descended 1300 feet in two miles, and then backtracked to the hotel. A freak rainstorm rolled through earlier which made for cloudy skies but helped my comfort level by dropping the temperature. It also made for slippery rocks but don't worry, I didn't fall to my doom.


At about the halfway point, the trail became, well, interesting. By then it was also only marked with the occasional blue/green dot on a rock which made navigation difficult due to the lack of an actual footpath. A couple times I scrambled/climbed up rocks thinking it was the trail only to find a sudden drop off. I'm pretty sure I took some unnecessary detours.


A view of the first peak while climbing towards the second peak. The views were real nice. At the top of the second peak you get an amazing 360 degree unobstructed view of the area. I'll post a pic of the view later.


One of the many cacti. Some sort of barrel cactus?


This is part of Camelback at night from the hotel. The photo came out weird due to the hotel's ambient light - almost looks like the thing was superimposed.

Short but solid dayhike - I liked it so much I went back the next day. Next post coming soon.