Last Saturday Afternoon...

In a moment of pure boredom...I mean, spontaneity (that and the fact that I had a morning appointment on Saturday...and Rich forgot and scheduled a climb for Sunday...but, actually that happened to be the only day that Brooke and Andy could go...and as I said to him, "don't cancel if that's what you want to do"...cause' lets face it, the boy is a climbing fool) Rich swung by and picked me up to kidnap me and take me to Sedona for a late afternoon and evening hike.

Does it still count as a kidnapping if he called me before hand and I knew about it?

It sounds so much more romantic that way doesn't it?

So, we'll leave it...

We headed up to Sedona, because Rich wanted to take a good sunset photo of Cathedral Rock, and we thought we could get in a good hike as well...

Sedona is so beautiful,
and hot...it was hot.

Let's face it, we were there at 3-ish and that is the hottest part of the day...

and as we headed up the trail (cause' it was certainly up in some places)

We were both sweaty and out of breath
(doesn't seem too romantic now does it?)

We hiked Devils Bridge.
It was awesome!
(and not a long hike...which was fine, as I mentioned before...the sweating)

And fun...one thing I haven't mentioned is that Rich is a terrible tease, and has me laughing most of the time we do anything together (well, oscillating between that and pushing him off the trail...and pouting...I do a mean fake pout)






Plus, he's super supportive. I love to hike, and have been for the last 2 years, but only around here, and nothing too challenging...so, when I go with him, it seems like I'm always pushing myself through things that I don't normally do...and I'm finding that I am more and more comfortable, and Rich is usually there checking on me, and telling me that I can do it (it's wonderful to have my own cheering section)












For instance...there was this one part of the trail that was straight up. But, there was this little steep stairway of red sandstone steps (but, with no railing...why railing doesn't form naturally in nature is beyond me) and it's up high (I have a height thing...makes my palm sweaty) And, I happened to mentioned I was feeling a little freaked out...but he reassured me that I was fine, and that I'm good at this stuff, and that he's not worried that I can't do it..and that I only have to take it one step at a time. So, I put on my super concentratey face and did it...and he was right...I was fine!










And here he is...in all of his Goof-Ball glory...standing under the bridge, looking a bit like Indian Jones (it's the hat) making faces at me...

Do you know how hard it is to hike and clutch your stomach at the same time because you're laughing so hard?

He made me hike up there so I could touch the sandstone...it was really smooth feeling, and quite beautiful with all the different shapes it's made over the years.









And here's the all illusive photo of Cathedral Rock...which as you can see by the poor lighting (hey it was a cloudy kick off to the now fall weather that is sweeping through N. AZ...it will be in the 40's tonight after all) which shall remain elusive...

Which only gives us more reason to go back...

Yeah, like we need reasons.