The Great Outdoors

The last two weekends have been filled with outdoor activities, which can only really mean one thing...

...SUMMER IS OVER!!!

I know, it's a little strange, seeing as most parts of the country count the days down until May rolls around and then drop a tear or two once Labor Day finds them and takes fun and sun for the next six months. Of course, I live in backwardsville (aka southern Arizona), where October means two things. Cursing baseball playoffs interrupting my favorite tv shows for three weeks (come back to me Prison Break! Don't forget about be Arrested Development!) and temperatures under 100 for the first time in five months. It's a beautiful thing my friends, a beautiful thing.

Two week ago, some friends of ours invited us to go jetskiing with them at the lovely Canyon Lake. They, being in their late 40s, have had the time to build up the toy farm. They have two Honda jetskis that happen to be the fastest ones they make. It's pretty hard not to have fun flying through a canyon at 60 miles an hour on the water. Of course, there also isn't much that can tighten up the ol' butt cheeks faster than hitting some waves at sixty miles an hour and having your brain screaming at you, "You are going to DIE, you IDIOT! SLOW down!" But, do I listen to something as trivial as my brain? Not likely...

Last Saturday, Rachel and I decided that it was time for a day trip and we headed north from Phoenix to Payson, Arizona, up in the mountains. We have the pleasure of having an intense natural wonder in northern Arizona called the Mogollon Rim. It is essentially a shear cliff that cuts diagonally across the southwest from Northwest Arizona down into southwest New Mexico. This is a huge cliff stretching hundreds of miles. The land below the cliff is anywhere from 2000 to 3000 feet below the cliff line above and makes for an incredible view.

We drove up to Canyon Woods Lake on top of the rim and hiked the 5.5 mile trail around the lake. It was gorgeous. I felt at one with nature. I need to do this kind of thing more often.