I've been off from school all week (except for track practice most mornings) so Mom & Dad decided to come out this week for their annual visit. The weather was perfect and instead of traveling to other parts of AZ, we decided to take advantage of the Phoenix weather and stay in town. They arrived Monday night and Tuesday morning they came to practice with me and took Onyx hiking in Buffalo Ridge Park (park behind my school, where "Rattler Mountain" is and our home cross country course). Tuesday afternoon we went to a spring training game. We saw the Angels play the Brewers and although the game was pretty uneventful, we got some sunshine and enjoyed the afternoon with Keeper.
On Wednesday morning, they came to practice (with Onyx) again. I ran hills, they hiked. We stopped for a 2nd breakfast at Einstein Brothers, dropped Onyx off at home and headed out to Camelback Mountain. We chose to summit the mountain via Cholla Trail. I thought this hike would be a lot easier than it actually was. I'd heard of so many people doing it, it was only about 3 miles round trip... it was TOUGH!!!. The desert was beautiful because of all the rain we've been getting all winter. The trail was tough and then (when we thought we must be getting near the end), Dad and I decided to go the rest of the way alone. Little did we know, we had to rock climb the last quarter of the hike to reach the summit! I'm not usually afraid when I hike, but I was definitely afraid of falling and we were right on the edge. We made it though and took some great pictures. My legs were shot from a hill workout earlier in the day so coming down was definitely a little painful on my quads. We decided a Culver's stop was necessary for some post-hiking milkshakes/root beer floats. Wednesday night, we went out to dinner at Gallo Blanco Cafe for some authentic Mexico City food. It was delicious.
Thursday, Mom and I went shopping. We braved the insanity at Nordstrom's Last Chance and although I literally hit the shoe jackpot (I had four pairs in my arms), we saw the line snaking around the whole store to check out and we bailed. I will go back on week night when it's quieter. We just did not have the patience to wait in that line. We went to Marshall's instead and I got a cute dress for my upcoming VEGAS trip!!! Dad took the day to read and lounge with Onyx. We went for a long walk (easy run for me) in the late afternoon up Central Ave. Mom tried her hand (voice, I should say) at Beatles Rock Band. Then Keeper came home and made us burgers for dinner.I am so glad they came out and visited for a few days...can't wait to fly home and see them again in June!!
