Summer Manifesto #27

#27: Walk/drive across Navajo Bridge

Navajo Bridge crosses the Colorado River over Marble Canyon. It's one of few roadways that cross the river. A first bridge was built in 1929 and prior to this bridge, cars had to cross the the river at Lee's Ferry. In 1995, a second bridge was built. The first bridge is now only used for pedestrians while the newer bridge handles the automobile traffic. The original bridge is a Historical Civil Engineering Landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places. (I'm a nerd who enjoys seeing these kinds of things.)

Aimee and I drove across the bridge multiple times in the span of 3 days, and walked across it once. On one memorable trip acorss the bridge, we were in a bus returning from a rafitng trip and the driver slowed to a crawl and then drove INCREDIBLY close to the railing to give people a better look over the edge of the bridge. I may have peed my pants at this point.

The older pedestrian bridge is on the left.

This is standing on the pedestrian bridge and looking
west towards the automobile bridge.

And looking east.

I was playing around with the settings on my camera, so that's why the lighting is so different in each picture. 

Summer Manifesto #33

#33: Spend quality time with the doxies and Aims.

Around April, I start getting a major itch to go camping. Unfortunately, that's a terrible time of year, work wise, to take off for a few days, so I had to hold out until summer comes along. We waited 4 days into summer break before we just had to pack up our dogs and head for the mountains. This trip, we originally planned to go to the Woods Canyon area up on the Mogollon Rim. When we discovered that Sharp Creek just below the rim was empty and we would have the area to ourselves, we pitched our tent there instead. There's a fire restriction for the Sitgreaves National Forest, so we stayed in a developed campground where fires are still allowed. Even though it's an established campground, we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves, just as if we were doing dispersed camping. Good deal!

I'll share with you my ingredients for an amazing camping trip.

1. Campfire (Camping just sucks without it. Not even worth going if you can't have a

    campfire. That's right. I said it.You don't realize how essential the fire is until you

    aren't allowed to have one.)

2.Homemade Salsa (We pretty much live on chips and salsa. We even eat it with

   our breakfast. And yes, we are disgusted with ourselves the entire time. Aimee

   was not a fan of this trip's particular salsa recipe.)

2. Hashbrowns (They go good with every meal. We often have them for breakfast
    and dinner.)

3. A couple of adventurous doxies (Who also protect cuddle with me at night.

    You know, for warmth. Not because I'm scared of bears or the dark or

    anything. )

4. A pitcher of sangria (Okay, the sangria was a new addition this trip, but we

    always have some kind of adult beverage. Normally whiskey.)

5. A Best Friend (I mean, when she gathers and carries all the wood, how

    can you not want to take her along!)

Get to Know Me A to Z

A. age: twenty-seven
B. bed size: queen
C. chore you hate: pulling weeds
D. dogs: Gabe and Ava
E. essential start to your day: doggy kisses
F. favorite color: purple (always and forever)
G. gold or silver: love both equally
H. height: five.feet.three.inches
I. instruments you play: violin and cello
J. job title: resource teacher
K. kids: yikes!
L. live: Arizona
M. maiden name: still rockin' it
N. nicknames: Megster (from my bro), Meg, and Megsie
O. overnight hospital stays: none (thank the good Lord)
P. pet peeve: knuckle cracking
Q. quote: "Ruff, ruff!" -Ava; but really, "To want what I have, to take what I'm given with grace." -Don Henley
R: right or lefty: righty
S. siblings: one older brother
T. time you wake up: 6:30ish
U. university attended: Northern Arizona University for bachelors; University of Arizona for masters
V. vegetable you dislike: celery
W. what makes you run late: when the hair and bouncin' and behavin' (Gilmore Girls reference)
X. x-rays you've had: as far I know, they have all been dental related
Y. yummy food: turkey sandwich
Z. zoo animal favorite: uh

Summer Manifesto #10

About a week ago I posted a portion of the list I created to keep me focused this summer. Otherwise, I will just waste the days reading and cuddling with the doxies. I need a plan to keep me on top of things. I'm thinking that in addition to posting part of my list, I will also post when I do some of the activities. I mean, I won't post about #14: journaling. No one needs to know about my insane love for the Biebs but me and the judge who issued the restraining order. It's not my fault that there isn't a clearer policy on how many times you can drive by someone's house blasting Baby really loud before it's considered creepy and illegal. I digress.

On to an activity I will share

#10: Go to a few Diamondbacks games

Nothing like watching the Diamondbacks kick some butt, especially since it doesn't happen too often. Jamie's brother, Jared, has season tickets and he invited us to go along with him and his girlfriend Tracy. Jamie spilled her root beer  twice (once was my fault though) and her margarita once. Innocent bystanders were splashed each time. Sorry man in front of us. We realize you were just trying to have a nice time with your young daughter. You didn't realize you were going to be attacked by massive amounts of root beer on two different occasions. (Yes, I realize that I look drunk in the picture below. I wasn't. You don't believe me?! Ask me sometime who sat down in a seat that didn't exist. I can tell you it wasn't me.)