The night I hiked out of the Canyon, I slept in my car in the Backcountry Office parking lot (Please, don't get mad at me, Grandma!). It was not comfortable and definitely cold. I tossed and turned most of the night, getting minimal sleep until about 4:00am when I decided to turn my car on for a little bit to warm up. Next thing I knew, my alarm was going off at 7:00am. It's amazing what a little heat can do for a person.
I got my car put back together and hit the road on my way to Yuma. I decided to take the scenic tour on my way down there and detoured through Sedona, which is known for its amazing red rocks and energy vortexes (pretty interesting, actually...Sedona is one of the few places in the world that supposedly has these energy vortexes which can increase your positive energy by being within a 1/2 mile of them, or something like that). Unfortunately, when I was going through there, my GPS was being rather annoying when I tried using it to find a gas station, and I got rather pissed off and frustrated and decided that the beautiful scenery I saw while driving would have to suffice for experiencing Sedona. It also was Thanksgiving, so there weren't too many places that were open either to help point me in the direction of where I wanted to go. However, I would definitely recommend to anyone going south from the Grand Canyon to take the detour through Sedona. It is well worth it.
After passing through Sedona, I continued south through Phoenix. I had talked to my friend, Emily, who I was going to stay with and who told me that they were heading over to a co-worker's house around 3:00pm for Thanksgiving dinner. I told her I would be there by 2:30pm, perfect timing.
I called my family as I drove to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. It was definitely hard for me to be away from them for the second Thanksgiving in a row, especially because this year I could have been home. Prior to leaving on my trip, I had scoured travel websites to see if I could find a cheap plane ticket from AZ to WI to surprise my family for a few days and be home for the holiday. Unfortunately, $300 was as cheap as they came. I would have to say Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday, mostly because my entire family is there and the time we get to spend together is not overshadowed my all the commercialization that has occurred with Christmas in the form of gifts and whatnot. Thanksgiving is still a time for family and giving thanks for the things that we have been blessed with, including family, friends, good health, etc. Everyday while on course with my kiddos, we do something called appreciations where we say what we appreciated about the day. I think this is one of my favorite parts of the day because I think that in today's society we often forget to appreciate people, places, or events that cross our paths. I think it's so good for kids, and us instructors, to do this.
Along with missing my family, I also thought about my Thanksgiving from the previous year, which I spent on course with a freaking crazy bunch of kids who not only ran around in girl's underwear and laid in the middle of the highway but also punched our van and trailer several times to the extent that there was a huge dent in it. Definitely will never forget that. But that's a story for another day.
While on the phone with my Grandma Rita, I made her cry when I told her that I'd be celebrating Thanksgiving with some friends rather than eating a turkey sandwich in my car by myself. Guess that turkey sandwich thing sent her over the edge because next thing I knew I was talking to my dad.
Lucky for me, while driving through the boring, ugly part of Arizona, the Packer game was on the radio since it was a nationally televised game, so I got to cheer on Aaron Rodgers (who my mom is still actively pursuing to get to marry me) and the rest of the team as I drove. However, unlike my mother, I did not punch the roof of the car when they scored a touchdown. =) (I still remember that, Mom)
I wasn't really sure what to expect Yuma to be like. I was a little concerned when the only towns I saw for quite a while consisted of about 10 houses and a gas station, but as I wound my way through the final foothills, I was spit out above a relatively large city that seemed to sprawl out for several miles.
Cities in the southwest have a different feel to them. No offense to any southwesterners, but they just seem kind of dirty and not very pretty. Maybe it's because there's a dearth or complete lack of green. Not sure I'd be able to handle that.
I followed my GPS to Emily's house and knocked on her door at about 2:00pm. For those of you who don't know, Emily and I went to college together at Saint Mary's. She was a year ahead of me in school, studying elementary education and Spanish. Em and I played soccer together and made quite the pair in the middle of the field with our stopper/sweeper combo. She was my first real friend at Saint Mary's, as she was one of the few people that didn't scare the crap out of me. =) Thanks, Em!
I was introduced to Emily's boyfriend, Andrew, and her roommate's dog Kirby (a little dachshund who thinks he's a lot bigger and more ferocious than he actually is). I quickly changed then we hopped in the car to pick up my dear friend Erin. Once again, for those of you who don't know, Erin and I have been in and out of each other's lives since we were about 6 or 7. We went to Red Apple Day Care together at the YMCA back in Appleton when we were little, and she lived right across the street from one of my other childhood friends. Then, when I moved back to Appleton for high school, Erin and I ended up at Appleton North together (she's a year younger than me) and played soccer for two years together on the varsity team. I convinced Erin to come to Saint Mary's with me, where we spent another 3 years together getting into all sorts of trouble (well, not really, but we did a whole heck of a lot together including playing soccer, intramurals, SOUL trips, church, meals, and so much more!). And now she had followed Emily down to Yuma to teach. Oh, yeah, these two girls are both teachers down in Yuma at two of the middle schools. Em's been down there for three years now while it was Erin's first.
We headed over to Emily's co-worker's house where I met him and his family as well as Emily's roommates, Betsy and Brian, and another young couple (the guy worked with Emily, too). It was kind of funny because everyone there was from the Midwest (Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan). My grandma asked me later that night if the food was good. I told her it wasn't as good as the food at our family's Thanksgiving, but it was a Midwestern one nonetheless. We stayed until around 6:00pm, then drove back to Emily's house in a food coma and crashed in front of the tv. All of us were in bed relatively early that night.
The next morning, Em had to get up early to go to soccer practice with her girls (she coaches the girl's varsity team at the high school), so I headed over to Erin's to run with her and her friend Jess along the canal. It was a beautiful day out for being the end of November. After our run, Erin and I got cleaned up and waited for Emily, then we made a dash for the border. Well, technically we drove to the border and then walked across into the city of Algodones where we were immediately accosted by people selling all kinds of junk and trying to get us to come have some dental work done. I must say that I have never been called "Barbie" or "Charlie's Angels" so many times in my life. Several men also offered to be our boyfriends or body guards for the day, which made me laugh. At one point, we got asked if we were from Canada. Emily and Erin told the man "no," but I begged to differ. I've always wanted to be Canadian (or maybe just say I'm from another country). We ate lunch at a little restaurant tucked in the center of a plaza and walked around a bit more. I would love to go back and explore more of the southern part of the Baja peninsula, as I'm there is some beautiful nature down there.
We returned to Yuma and went to a little coffee shop before heading back to Erin's and making plans to meet back up at 7:00pm for Ultimate Frisbee. Erin, Em, and I were all on the same team, despite our lack of experience in the sport, but our team dominated the first game. I'll have to admit that I hadn't done that much sprinting since I graduated from college. Several of the guys there asked if we were marathoners like Em. It was a lot of fun and a lot of great exercise. I had one pretty spectacular catch at one point, if I do say so myself. Although, after it was said and done, I also had a crap ton of sand in my pants.
We headed back to Erin's after the game where she cooked us up some delicious pasta alfredo. We tried to play doctor to Erin's palm after dinner and dig out some cactus needles she had gotten stuck in there earlier in the week when she fell on a cactus, but did not have any luck. We decided that maybe Em's roommate Betsy might be able to have more success and went back to her house. Betsy wasn't able to get out the needle either, so we left poor Erin's hand alone after that.
Em and Erin had decided that the next morning we were going to hike up Telegraph, one of the foothills on the outskirts of town near Emily's house, so we set our alarms early to be up with the sun (well, not that early). Erin's friend Jess met us at Emily's and we drove to the foothill to start hiking up. It ended up being quite the climb. I was super impressed with all of the people we saw hiking up the hill, all different kinds of people from intense fitness nuts who were running up the ridiculously steep climb to little kids chugging along at their parents' sides. We made it to the top and took some pics and signed the book that said we'd been there before heading down and back to Em's.
I showered quick there before we headed over to the Donut Corral for some breakfast burritoes and doughnuts. I left as soon as I got mine to go meet two of my other college friends, Bill and Derek, for coffee back at the coffee shop we had gone to the previous day.
It was really great getting to catch up with the guys and see how their transition to Yuma had been. It's always strange for me to be with familiar people in an unfamiliar place. I kept expecting to see other people from college, which, of course, didn't happen. Also, it's incredible how quickly time passes. I hadn't seen either of these guys for a year and a half, since our college graduation, whereas when we were in school, I didn't go a day without seeing them for almost three years. Life's funny that way. I guess that's what happens when you grow up.
I left the guys and went and got an oil pan to change my oil at Erin's house while she laid by the pool. It felt good to get that done and clean/reorganize my car a bit, as it had deteriorated over the course of my travels. Afterwards, Erin and I sat by the pool and talked for a long time about life and relationships, me being the mentor and she being the mentee. My mom laughed when I told her the advice I had given Erin and told me she hoped I was listening to it myself. She also said I was turning into her with all my "optimistic bullshit." Love you, Mom.
That night, Emily, Andrew, Betsy, Brian, Erin, and I went miniature golfing at the Fun Zone. I had been texting my friend Dave beforehand, and he told me to show them how people from the Midwest did it when I told him I was going miniature golfing. I laughed out loud and texted him back that I couldn't because they were all from the Midwest! Erin and I partnered up for the round and came in a respectable 2nd place behind Betsy and Brian. After golfing, the locals decided I needed a local experience at the Bird Cage (??? I can't remember the name of the bar, but that sounds about right), so we headed over for a few drinks and games of pool. Bed was calling my name by about 11:30pm, although I don't think my head hit the pillow until closer to 1:00am.
The next day, Emily and I went to Erin's where the two of them worked on grading papers and lesson planning for their upcoming week at school, while I distracted them by listening to LMFAO and trying to learn to shuffle. Although, I feel like they were quite entertained by my ridiculousness. I caught up on other unimportant cultural things, like watching Rihanna's latest music video and trying to "Bernie." Em and I eventually headed back to her house and went for a run. Em runs fast even when she's not trying to, and even though it was NOT easy, I managed to keep up with her (provided she wasn't slowing down for me) and made it the entire 5 miles. We ran it in under 40 minutes which I can't say I've done in a long time. It's so nice to have a running buddy, even when they kick your butt.
Brian made us brats for dinner (Sorry, Dad, they weren't Johnsonville), while latest episodes of Modern Family provide the entertainment. Betsy, Em, and I met Erin at one of those new fun frozen yogurt places about halfway between their houses later that night after Erin got back from church. Erin and I said our goodbyes and made plans to meet up over the holidays. The rest of us headed back and were in bed by 9:30pm. I told Em I didn't think I'd be able to do the 4:30am wake up (or something crazy like that) that she did, so we said our goodbyes, too.
It was so much fun getting to see these people (not to mention have interactions with another human being!) and see where they were living and working. I had said so many times that I was going to go down and visit Emily, but I just hadn't done it. Well, now I have. Now if I could just get people to come visit me!
Tune in next time for my travels to and in Zion National Park!
No comments:
Post a Comment