Arizona: Day 2

Today we took the boys horseback riding. When Linda first suggested the idea I thought it sounded awesome! I asked the boys if they were interested and they were SUPER excited about it. And then this morning came and I went into a slight panic. I'd like to say it was because I was worried about what could happen to them on a horse, but no, I was freaking out about ME. I am NOT a horse person. Last time I attempted to ride a horse I as in junior high and it scared me to death. In my mind, the horse reared up and whinnied and gave me the evil death stare. What probably happened was the horse shook it's head and it freaked me out. Never the less- I am not a horse fan. I am a city girl- what can I say.

So we are driving to the ranch and I had in my head that it was going to be like a carousel ride, or some cowboy would lead my horse around. Clearly I wasn't thinking. So as we were getting closer to the ranch my heart was starting to beat out of my chest, I was getting sweaty and I really thought I just might throw up. But what was I going to do? Ruin everyone elses time and refuse to go? Nope. I put my big girl panties on, told everyone my goodbyes and got on my horse- which later I found out wasn't even a horse it was a mule. Her name was Pepper and she was wonderful! The perfect match for me. She was calm, cool, obedient, and pretty.

The ride was breathtakingly beautiful!!!!

I thought we would be on these paved out trails. We weren't. We rode through the desert with the most beautiful scenery EVER!

Sujarro cacti, other cacti, mountains, and the weather couldn't have been more perfect! It was partly cloudy and cool- for Arizona. It felt like we were the only ones there. We didn't see anyone else, nor could we hear traffic. Talk about stress free!!

Our cowboy guide was named Jared and he was AWESOME!! He stopped us in the middle of our ride and asked if I had a box that took pictures. I said I did and he lined up our horses and took some family pictures. He was funny, knowledgeable and just plain awesome! We liked Jared.

During the ride I tried to get my 7 days shot. Jared probably thought I was some whack a do trying to take a picture of myself on a horse, I mean mule. I am here to tell you that it is NOT easy to do a self portrait riding a horse. It was also a theme day today. The theme was up....well that is what I thought it was. Actually, the theme was down. I thought cool- up on a horse will be perfect. So that is what I was going for. Then I find out the theme was really down and it bummed me out until I realized that we were actually going down the trail at the time. Whew. Problem solved! So here is my 7 days: day 2 shot:

When our ride was over, we got to feed our horses carrots. That was fun for a city girl like me.
I love this picture. It looks like the horse is smiling!

After riding horses, we hiked in the desert a little....Alex took some pictures along the way....

We went out to lunch, shopped a little, saw the great horned owl that has a nest close to Bill and Linda's that I have seen every year i have been coming here....

Isn't she beautiful? Last year I got to see her babies peeping up. It was cool. Then we headed back to Bill and Linda's. Us adults laid down, the boys were still going strong. Sigh. So I made them watch tv and/or play their iPods for a little bit. Then they went swimming the rest of the afternoon until dinner. Where do they get their energy and can I have some please?!?!?

That evening Bill and Linda had some guests come and stay that night too and they were delightful! Funny, kind and warm people. Lots of chatting and laughing. The boys finally dropped and us adults got in the hot tub to end the day. It was wonderful!!