Rants, Recipes, and Running

So Thursday night Ryan and I were out hanging metal fencing to snake-proof our yard, and I said, "What should we do this weekend besides our 50 mile bike ride Saturday morning?" And he said, "Do we have to bike?" I said, "What else do you have going on?" Ryan responded "Camping" And within 2 hours we were rummaging through our camping gear and off to the grocery store to plan a spur-of-the-moment trip to the White Mountains! White Mountains are about 4 hours NE of Tucson -- and it is my favorite place in the state! It is all pines and about 30 degrees cooler. In the winter time they get snow and all the hiking trails turn into cross country trails. The scenery is absolutely breath-taking and there is so much wild life!! Our favorite camping destination in this area is Big Lake - and we always stay at Rainbow Campground, which is across the road from the lake. I've gotten so used to reallllllly " roughing it" with backp...

Since Ryan works about 50% of the weekends, we really try to take advantage of the one's he is free. Especially now that we live in a tiny apartment - and there is no yardwork/housework to fill up our free time! So last week at about 10:30 pm Thursday night, we decided to plan a last minute backpacking trip! This is one of the best times in Tucson to backpack, because it still cools off at night - but it's not cooling off to 20 degrees ;) We were also in the midst of doing a Whole30 challenge, so had to get creative with planning food ;). And if you haven't been backpacking - food is super important. You burn so many calories, you have such light gear, and good nutrition is extremely important! I was able to work from 5a-1:30p on Friday, so we could be on the trail by 3pm! Score! The Trail: -The hike to Hutches Pools is beautiful. You can either make it a ~10 mile hike or a 4.5 mile hike. We choose 4, so we could make it to camp before sundown. So we took a tram (...

Last weekend we decided to escape the grind, and head to the mountains for a quick weekend. It could not have come at a better time. Life has been crazy lately. Isn't it for everyone, though? ;)  We have been working tirelessly to get our house ready to sell. We had the professional photos taken Thursday. That long list of things we were "going to get to eventually" when we bought the house, but never got to.....we have been attacking "that list": Painting ceilings, walls in the stairwell, painting baseboards, touching up walls, planting plants, and making our house look "unlived" in ;) Not to mention work has been super busy for both of us lately. All good and exciting stuff. But busy! Prior to our get-away, I found myself saying "I wish we never had booked this trip! We don't have time to be going away!!" -- which is kind of sad. We rented this adorable little hotel-cabin in Greer, AZ. Which is a little ski-town at ~8000 ft elev...

It has been almost 2 months, and I'm finally getting to my review post. Better late than never right? I must say the Hawaii trip was the best vacation to date Ryan and I have taken. We started in Kaui, and then hopped over to Oahu. Let's start with Kauai! One of the perks of how much Ryan travels, is he gets some SUPER perks from National. So we got this little hot-rod to escort us around Kauai!     We stayed at a hotel on the East side of the Island our 1st night. We headed straight for a walk on the beach. Actually...Ryan spent the 1st half hour in a 90 degree hotel room (AC wasn't turned on!), logging into work and school. I was not loving that...   But then we headed to the beach!!   Pictured below was a sacred area of the island. After much exploring, we realized those rocks "tombstones".   Here is a panoramic view of the Kauai from the east view! Gorgeous! Our 1st night was pretty low key, as we had a BIG HIKE ...