Saguaros are the New Redwoods?

It shouldn't be any surprise that our natural surroundings here have taken a little adjustment.

Okay, make that a lot of adjustment. Ed and I both agree that as long as we're in town, it does feel a bit like we could be almost anywhere. Sure, there are a few more cacti than in California, but there are a surprising amount of trees, too.

But, leave the safe haven of suburbia, and you're reminded exactly where you are.

Which is the Sonoran Desert.

 

Needless to say, I may have been avoiding trails, mostly because I have what I believe to be a healthy fear of rattlesnakes (substantiated by a recent tv report that I saw last week about how rattlesnake bites are almost double this year, and that this is their most active time of year). But it's also because being on these trails is a little, well, depressing. Mostly because it just isn't the same, and I'm not exactly good with change.

So, when Ed and I decided to finally hit the trails, it was with some level of trepedation. In fact, we'd first planned to go someplace different, and I had second doubts (it was going to be exposed, rocky, and very steep), so we rerouted and headed here instead, to McDowell park, for a somewhat better option.

I have to admit, a couple of tears may have been shed as we started. I told Ed I couldnt' promise more than a 10 minute hike. It was emotionally and physically tiring and I just didn't really want to be there. Plus, it's possible that my soon to hit stomach flu was already making me feel off. Just like our first trail experience back in April, I kept repeating to myself, "this is pretty," trying to make myself believe it.

Ed was a great support, totally willing to do whatever I wanted/needed. He even put up with the mandatory photo ops.

We ended up making it a mile. Something I was really proud of myself for. It helped that there were plenty of other people out there enjoying the day.

As we turned around, and saw the beautiful mountain sillouettes, it really did look pretty.

But being in the desert is almost like being on another planet. Everything is so very different.

Out here, these are our "new redwoods" - the mighty saguaro. These giant plants are pretty impressive, if a little less friendly looking.

Ed's been doing a much better job adapting. He even ran 9 miles on trails this weekend! I'm so proud of him for getting out there and doing awesome. I'm still not totally sure if I'll ever get there.

Our final, prehaps ill-fated, stop, was for breakfast at this place we saw on our way out. There's a chance my flu was in fact food poisoning, a good enough reason to not revisit this place, but it was fun in the moment to be out together for breakfast after our outdoor experience.

The active part is certainly the hardest adjustment and one I'm not totally confident about conquoring. We'll just have to take it one weekend at a time.

Dinner Date

The hard thing about being so busy is that I can't seem to keep this blog caught up with all our weekend happenings :). These pictures are from 3 weekends ago, but better late than never, right? This was right before I caught that super nasty stomach flu. Obviously I was fine the night before :)

Ed and I wanted  to have a nice dinner out, but we've found that spontaneously picking a dinner place doesn't work out too well here. Saturday nights mean that most places are booked solid. Luckily for us, one place that we'd heard recommended, Brio, was huge and could accomodate us. It was southeast of us, in the San Tan Village, a nice outdoor shopping center, and was a great choice.

We had to wait a little while for our table, but were seated eventually :P

Our dinner was at 8pm, and since it was just a balmy 100 or so, there were people outside enjoying their dinners. We requested inside, however, since we wanted to enjoy the air conditioning :).

We started with drinks. I had a really refreshing berry lemonade that was spectacular.

We were starved, so started with bruchetta, topped with steak, arugula, goat cheese and other goodies. It was really good.

For dinner, I had vodka ravioli, while Ed had lasagna. We were both really happy with our choices. The restaurant reminded us a bit of the Cheesecake Factory inside (it was so big!), but much better food.

Afterwards, we enjoyed just walking around the center. All the stores were closed, but it was still nice just to walk, since it had cooled down a little bit more. Outdoor time is a somewhat limited commodity here during the summer.

We're slowly learning our way around this area, finding places to go! It's fun to have such a vast region at our disposal :)

Celebrating 2 Years, Continued.

(So, so tired. This week is definitely better, but I'm still really looking forward to the weekend :). In light of that, let's look back at the rest of our anniversary to relax ).

Possibly one of my favorite parts of our celebration happened around 5am. I happened to wake up, and was greeted with this:

One of the most gorgeous sunrises I've seen in quite a long time. I quickly work up Ed and we sat there on our deck, staring at this beauty, for almost 30 minutes. Looking out over the bay, we both felt pretty perfectly content.

Once the sun was fully up, we went back to sleep for a little bit. Ed crawled out of bed and headed out for one last run while I enjoyed being lazy in our room. He rejoined me after about an hour, with beautiful descriptions of the morning trails, then we headed up to breakfast. 

Like always, it was a wonderful breakfast, with a great view. We enjoyed the room up until checkout time, and then headed off for two more special places before we said goodbye to Mt. Tam. 

First up? Visiting our proposal spot. We chose to *not* recreate the entire hike, as originally it was a 4ish mile hike to proposal spot, with multiple wrong turns. We decided to instead take the easier 1/4 mile hike (that we didn't know about on the original trip :). 

It was a beautiful day, as it almost always is up there.

We got to the spot I *thought* Ed was going to propose at, that at the time was full of kids smoking. Yuck. Thankfully, we chose to kept going up, and made that same decision this time around, too, despite having the hill to ourselves :)

Finally, we reached O'Rouke's bench. I still have such a vivid memory of Ed stopping and putting on his green sweater (my first christmas present for him), 

and then coming over to propose.

The view was spectacular and we wanted to stay up there forever. However, a shortage of time coupled with some aggressive flies had us heading down after a short stay.

We took in one last view of our wedding spot, with the ocean and San Francisco beyond.

(It was a little greener when Ed proposed :))

Took one last photo.

Just like last time:)

And hurried down the trail.

We took one last stop at our wedding site, and that was it. 

(on our beautiful day in June)

It was time to head back to our apartment for one last night in the bay area.

Celebrating 2 Years of Marriage: Part 1

Jumping out of order with my "flashbacks" seems fitting, since yesterday was another anniversary for us - 5 years ago, Ed and I met for the first time! I'm sure I've shared this story before (I love our meeting story), but basically, I'd just come back from a demoralizing 20 mile run (8+ hours, 95 degrees, me carrying pepper spray the entire time convinced I was about to be eaten by a mountain lion at any minute), and the graduate housing RA told me that there was a new person moving into the apartment below mine - would I like to meet him? Despite being very hot and very sweaty, I said sure, and was introduced to Ed. He stopped to chat (flirt) while his brother continued to move his heavy furniture, and finally asked if I'd want to go for a run together sometime (the running outfit made this a pretty safe request). Of course I said yes, gave him my number on a post it (that we still have to this day), and a week later took him on a crazy 7 mile run through the redwoods. 

And that was it. We've spent close to every day together ever since, and it keeps on getting better :). 

So, let's rewind to June 27th. Picture a young couple, their furniture gone from their home, having just returned from 2 nights of backpacking. This is their last taste of California, before they head to this:

If you can put yourself in their shoes, you can understanding how wonderfully excited they would be to be staying in such an amazing place. 

In true to form fashion, we arrived early so that we could go on a wonderful trail run before check in. Ed left the planning up to me, which was good and bad. The bad part was that one of my favorite trails (troop 80) was closed, so it knocked out a whole bunch of my favorite loops. The good part was that we ended up doing an amazing loop I never would have otherwise chosen that gave us the perfect goodbye taste of Mt Tam.

We began by heading down the Ocean View trail, one I apparently had never taken Ed on that is actually one of my favorites. I couldn't believe how much fun it was running down this trail. It brought back so many fun memories of running this trail in college, back when trail running was brand new and surprisingly amazing at every step.

If I could only run one trail for the rest of my life, single track redwoods might just have to be it.

In what seemed like next to no time, we hit the bottom of the valley and entered Muir Woods, complete with lots and lots of tourists.

However, our time on the valley floor was all to short. 

In next to no time, we were climbing rapidly, at which point I started to question my loop choice quite seriously. 

Now, don't get me wrong, it was beautiful. Jaw droopingly, I miss those redwoods so much I could cry right now, beautiful. It was also crazy steep. I may have made Ed stop and pose for pictures so I could catch my breath. 

I made Ed pause with the switchbacks because it was so exciting to hit a less steep part of the trail.

Finally, we hit the pan toll sign, and I knew we were getting close to the end of this slogging uphill, which made me very excited.

Once we got there, we stopped, we rested, drank water, and, if I''m not mistaken, ate some cookies we'd packed.

Then, we were back on the trails, Matt Davis, to be precise. I was worried, because in my memory Matt Davis was full of exposed uphill, and I was so not ready for that, after 30+ miles of backpacking only two days before. 

But, since there really wasn't any other choice, we kept going.

And, I am so, so thankful we did. Because, what I did forget was that this part of Matt Davis was actually quite flat and/or downhill, and full of spectacular views.

Seeing San Francisco from this vantage is one of my favorites.

And, the Pacific Ocean from here is even better. I have to admit, looking at these pictures right now, when I feel so far away from California, almost makes me a little teary. I cannot wait to make another visit sometime soon. 

I know I said redwood single track was my favorite, but this comes a close second.

We grabbed a quick "us" picture, to commemorate our anniversary, as we came to the close of our trail.

Finally, with one last glance at the view, we headed downward and we were back at the inn, done. 

After such a wonderful time on the trails, it was equally wonderful to check into our room and get cleaned up.


We promptly popped open our bottle of champagne and spent a ridiculously relaxed afternoon in our room, drinking bubbly, reading, and taking in the spectacular view.

At around 6ish, we headed up to the deck for dinner, a place we've rated many times before.

Here, Ed surprised me with my anniversary gift - a bottle of August Briggs Cabernet Sauvignon. 

(we were also given complimentary glasses of champagne to celebrate our anniversary)

While it might look like just another bottle to most, it was the wine we bought on our first "anniversary" (dating, not marriage). After we bought it, I said we should save it for the day we got engaged (I was very, very optimistic about our relationship, even at that point!). Needless to say, after Ed proposed on Mt Tam, back on May 8th, 2009, Ed pulled out that bottle at dinner right there at this table. 

So, when the waiter showed up not long after we ordered with that bottle, I didn't know what to think! I was so surprised, that it took me a few moments to put everything together. Finally I realized that Ed had somehow managed to buy that same wine, hide it among our dwindling possessions, and surprise me here with it tonight. 

We asked the waiter to take our picture - it was our anniversary after all!

Dinner was lovely, as always. We started with a yummy goat cheese salad.

While Ed got a gingered carrot soup that was heavenly.

For the main course, I had a filet that was lovely,

While Ed had Salmon.

And, throughout the whole meal, we had this view to keep us company. 

For dessert, we had the molten chocolate cake with ice cream that was so, so delicious.

At about this point, we started crossing the threshold from crisp to downright cold, so we moved inside to have our second dessert - lemon sorbet with a gingersnap.

The perfect end to the perfect evening. 

While celebrating at home last year was lovely, this was a beyond perfect way to celebrate our marriage. Especially since we still had a whole nother day to celebrate yet to come.