This weekend, I commenced in earnest, my quest to discover Arizona. I went camping with a friend from work and her friends in Show Low, Arizona where her boyfriend was doing a triatholon. Odie was very excited to go camping and waited outside with the tent and sleeping bag until I was finally ready as well.
Our first stop ("our" referring to me and my pup) was at the Boyce-Thompson Arboretum in Superior, Arizona. This was started in the 19th centure by a man who, with incredible foresite, wanted to preserve the desert flora for future generations. He included native species and also desert plants from around the world. This included a very rare tree called the Boojum Tree. (BOOJUM! What a great name!) It was named by a man who saw it and thought it might look like Lewis Carroll's imaginary boojum tree from "Jabberwocky." It is a weird looking thing, it's true.
Odie and I then continued on to Globe, which features the Besh-ba-Gowa ruins from the Salado Indians circa 1300 AD. They have reconstructed several of the ruins and Odie and I explored them. He did not like climbing the ladder to get to the second floor of the ruins, but he did it anyway to humor me. What a good sport he is.
We finally reached Show Low where I met up with Jana, Justin and Chris and we proceeded to eat, hike and drink (to stay hydrated, of course! It was hot!!) our way through the weekend. Justin did very well at the races and Jana, Chris and I did very well at entertaining ourselves while Justin was exercising. Odie got quite a lot of playtime in, whether fetching sticks in the river or biking with Chris.
Odie was wiped out all the way home (so was I, for that matter) and I resolved once and for all to get a bike ('cause it seems to be one of the only ways to wipe Odie out). Fortunately, Justin and Chris were on the look-out for me, so after a couple of cocktails last night, I went to visit a bike that they had picked out. We had debated what kind I should get... a hybrid so that I can go off-road, a mountain bike, a road bike?? Well, the mountain bike was out... 'Cause that's probably not going to happen. They didn't recommend the hybrid. And this bike... it's an urban bike and now I'm an urban girl, so it just made sense.
So, I picked out my Torker (of course, it has to be a man's bike, so no cool girl colors for me) and some new bike accessories. And this morning, I rode it home, sans problem, like the wind. I even took Odie out for a run and we did remarkably well: he didn't pull and I didn't fall off the bike. We are set.
This afternoon is the Farmer's Market, so I will eagerly bungee cord my "New Yorker" canvas bag down and bike over on my new bike. Hurrah for Urban Katherine!
(One last thing... my bike needs a name. Any suggestions?)
Our first stop ("our" referring to me and my pup) was at the Boyce-Thompson Arboretum in Superior, Arizona. This was started in the 19th centure by a man who, with incredible foresite, wanted to preserve the desert flora for future generations. He included native species and also desert plants from around the world. This included a very rare tree called the Boojum Tree. (BOOJUM! What a great name!) It was named by a man who saw it and thought it might look like Lewis Carroll's imaginary boojum tree from "Jabberwocky." It is a weird looking thing, it's true.
Odie and I then continued on to Globe, which features the Besh-ba-Gowa ruins from the Salado Indians circa 1300 AD. They have reconstructed several of the ruins and Odie and I explored them. He did not like climbing the ladder to get to the second floor of the ruins, but he did it anyway to humor me. What a good sport he is.
We finally reached Show Low where I met up with Jana, Justin and Chris and we proceeded to eat, hike and drink (to stay hydrated, of course! It was hot!!) our way through the weekend. Justin did very well at the races and Jana, Chris and I did very well at entertaining ourselves while Justin was exercising. Odie got quite a lot of playtime in, whether fetching sticks in the river or biking with Chris.
Odie was wiped out all the way home (so was I, for that matter) and I resolved once and for all to get a bike ('cause it seems to be one of the only ways to wipe Odie out). Fortunately, Justin and Chris were on the look-out for me, so after a couple of cocktails last night, I went to visit a bike that they had picked out. We had debated what kind I should get... a hybrid so that I can go off-road, a mountain bike, a road bike?? Well, the mountain bike was out... 'Cause that's probably not going to happen. They didn't recommend the hybrid. And this bike... it's an urban bike and now I'm an urban girl, so it just made sense.
So, I picked out my Torker (of course, it has to be a man's bike, so no cool girl colors for me) and some new bike accessories. And this morning, I rode it home, sans problem, like the wind. I even took Odie out for a run and we did remarkably well: he didn't pull and I didn't fall off the bike. We are set.
This afternoon is the Farmer's Market, so I will eagerly bungee cord my "New Yorker" canvas bag down and bike over on my new bike. Hurrah for Urban Katherine!
(One last thing... my bike needs a name. Any suggestions?)
Comments