Beatin' the heat...

...Phoenix Style... my heat-beating suggestions:

1) Tubing down the Salt River... I have ALWAYS wanted to do this (since we moved here). Keeper always shot me down saying "I think that's trashy..." well, he was right. We confirmed with friends a few weeks ago, that yes, tubing down the Salt River is a thing that trashy people do...that doesn't mean it wasn't fun and it definitely cooled us off! Last Saturday, we met up with a few of Keeper's classmates and headed out to Mesa for our river ride. We did not have to pay to rent tubes or use the shuttle since one of Keeper's classmates is a Phoenix native and was very familiar with the ins and outs of tubing. We had our own tubes and strategically left cars at both ends of the ride. We roped our 5 tubes together, roped our coolers with plenty of beer and water in the middle and set off. The river was really low and instead of taking 3-4 hours for the trip it took SEVEN!!! Needless to say, although fun and refreshing, we were ready to be done about 3 hours before we hit the endpoint. The water was cold, the scenery was amazing (cacti, canyons, birds), and the people were... amusing if nothing else. I guess tubing is known as THE summer thing to do with the party crowd and we were surrounded by groups of "frat" boys (although some that we talked to admitted to not being in college so I use that term loosely) and other various white trash groups. We witnessed marshmallow throwing, funneling of beer, shots and some really trashy conversations...but our little group had fun anyway :) No pics to post because our camera would have gotten ruined...

2) D'backs game: with the roof closed, of course. I love how there are windows around the stadium so you still get all the natural sunlight pouring in, but none of the heat. I would say Chase Field is kept a comfortable 75 degrees or so. It was a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon indoors.

3) Early morning running...nothing like getting up at 5am everyday on your summer vacation...but it sure beats the heat stroke and dehydration that would accompany running later in the day. I've upped my water intake for the day, upped my Emergen-C consumption to replace electrolytes...and I have the liberty of taking a nap after practice on most days when I need to.

4) Evening dog walks. Poor Onyx and her black fur...we have to wait until after 7pm and even then her walks are very short. It is nice that the grassy lawn inside our condo complex is mostly shaded so she can run around and play in the shade when she needs to...but she is definitely perplexed at being cooped up inside most of the time. I would love to sneak her into the pool. Just once :)