Weekend of Accomplishments

I feel like we had a very productive weekend and I don't feel the slightest bit guilty for crawling onto the couch a little bit early tonight. Yesterday we tackled Phase 2 and 3 of Spring Cleaning. There was such a big gap between Phase 1 and 2 that I pretty much had to also redo Phase 1. I really do love this house, but my God is it hard to clean. Luckily Karlo and I teamed up to tackle the vacuuming of the beams. One of us has to hold the canister vac up in the air while the other climbs up on chairs to reach all the overhead beams. Take my word for it, this job sucks and I'm so thankful that we only do it once per year. It's still too often as far as I'm concerned. I vacuumed and steam cleaned the wood floors while Karlo cleaned the windows. I think he got the short end of the stick considering 90% of the first floor is glass.

Once the house was spic and span we moved on to my next accomplishment of the day. I took my first motorcycle ride of the season (as the driver instead of the passenger). This is a nerve-wracking experience that I always look forward to getting behind me. Once I take my first ride and realize that I do, in fact, remember where all the controls are and get that feeling of comfort on the bike I feel so much better. So check that off my list of things to do.

My next accomplishment was dreadful. I spent 1.5 hours of feverish cooking in preparation for a dinner party. I am very proud of myself as everything came out great, the food was cooking in the oven, and the kitchen was spotless before the guests arrived. What a relief.

Today we accomplished two more big things. We cleaned the dogs room, beds, blankets, and most important . . . the stinky dogs. They are now so soft and cuddley I can't even stand it. If we can only clean their dreadful mouths of that dragon breathe they would be in bed with us tonight.

We snuck in a trip to our old stomping grounds (Nathan Hale Homestead) in Coventry to visit Lisa at the Farmer's Market. What a nice treat it was to see Lisa and get the yummiest kettle corn in the world. And it was very cool to be back to the site of our wedding. That place will always have a special place in my heart.

And lastly, we took our first real bike ride of the season. We rode a little over 40 miles, which is an aggesive first ride and I think we did pretty good. The first and last 10 miles were a bit tough, but the middle 20 were great. Part of me is hungry for more and can't wait to jump back on a bike, but the other part of me is wishing distant biking didn't suck so much darn time out of the weekend. I guess I just can't have my cake and eat it too. Oh well. Over all, considering my allergies improved greatly, I would give this weekend two thumbs up.

This is So Hard

Despite how much I love CT, my house, my job, and everything about being 'home,' I am so struggling with my return from vacation. I don't think it took me more than 3 hours to start to feel like CRAP. As I type this I feel exhausted and have a nauseating headache. I don't know which culprit (the dogs, the dusty house, or the pollen) that is doing me in, but the combination of all of them is making me want to repack my bags and get out of this state.

I'm simply amazed at how great life was on vacation. My body seems to really do well with the R&R. In 10 days I didn't experience the slightest headache or stomach ache and anybody that knows me knows that this is amazing. And I was pushing myself to the limits too. For instance, one particular day I had:

• Multiple beers during the day
• A Margarita at 5 PM
• Fillet Mignon for dinner (I haven't consumed a piece of red meat in years)
• A big glass of red wine with dinner
• A Sambuca nightcap
• Followed by real, rich, creamy ice cream before bed

Now any one of those items is normally a death wish for me. I remember crawling into bed thinking, "Uh oh, this is going to be a baaaaaaad night." But strangely, I slept like a baby and woke up feeling terrific. I can't explain it. Well actually, Karlo came up with the theory that my lack of stress must have played a huge role in how I felt. I think he's probably right and add to that the fact that I was eating smaller portions and much slower than I normally do.

So I decided to bring this home with me. I can't seem to control my allergy headaches, but perhaps I can reduce the amount of stomach aches. I am trying my very best to eat as slow as possible. Karlo swore that he would also make an attempt only he ate as fast as possible last night to get back to mowing the grass and tonight he gobbled his food and ran downstairs before I could even tell him that we had dessert. How am I supposed to mend my evil ways when this is what I live with? Uuuugh, I'm going to bed.

Last Day of Vacation

I intended to get up early to catch the sunrise over the canyon, but I decided that I got my fill of sun pictures last night so we slept in and allowed ourselves to be a little lazy. We made our way back to Grand Canyon around 9 o’clock. We picked a trail that went down into the canyon. As a matter of fact this trail went all the way down to the river, but we didn’t get anywhere close to that. The bad part of hiking at the canyon is you have to hike straight down to start and then straight back up to end. It’s sort of backwards to what we are used to. But it was still fun to hike down inside the canyon for a little way. I hate to admit this, but I got a little bored with the same scenery.





Yes, the Grand Canyon is truly amazing, but there is only so much time I can spend looking down into it. We decided to leave a little earlier than originally planned and head back to the valley. The drive back was terrific. We went back a different route than we drove up and it was such a scenic drive. Not exactly what you picture when you think of Arizona . . . That's a snow-capped mountain at the end of this road.


We were both wishing we were back on the motorcycle. We got back into the Phoenix area in the afternoon and had some time to splash around in the pool and lounge in the shade. I know what you're thinking, "There's no way Paula was in the pool." But wait, I have proof:

We started to ease our way back into our home life by talking about work (uuuugh) and eating beef jerky and popcorn for lunch. We thought it would be too much of a shock to our system to go directly from paradise and gourmet meals to the reality at home.

We headed into Downtown Tempe for dinner and just as we parked the car at PF Changs Joan called and invited us to their house for dinner. Since we didn’t have a proper goodbye, with her being carted off to the hospital, we took them up on their offer and headed to their gorgeous home in Phoenix for a casual dinner. Quite the pleasant evening.

Seems like we often go on a great vacation that leaves me thinking, “How are we ever going to top this one?” and this trip was certainly one of those. We are very much looking forward to our return to the awesome state of Arizona, and I'm pretty sure we just picked our retirement spot.

The Day of Perfect Timing

Sunday morning was spent motoring back to the marina and cleaning the boat. Luckily this was smooth sailing with no incidents. We carted Joan off the boat (literally in a wheeled cart) and got her to the hospital, said our farewells, and Karlo and I headed to Antelope Canyon (aka Slot Canyon). We arrived just in the nick of time to join the noon tour and this was the last good tour of the day – when the beams of sunlight are still shining through the narrow passages inside the canyon. This place is any photographers dream come true. Too bad this photographer was completely unprepared with no tripod. Oh well. It was still one of the coolest things I ever saw.



The next stop was another photographers dream. It’s called Horse Shoe Canyon – where the Colorado river makes a complete U-turn. I recently marveled at this picture in Outside magazine and it was such a cool bonus that this spot happened to be right along our route to the Grand Canyon. The vista was about a mile hike off the road and as we were walking down we were admiring the cloud formations. What a nice picture they would make . . . You can see them approaching on the left.


Well, within 20 minutes those cool clouds were baring down and threatening in a bad way. We could hear the distant thunder rumbling and Karlo predicted that we were going to get wet. Yikes, my poor camera! We high tailed it back up that one mile hill and made it back to the car just before the clouds opened up. Couldn’t have been better timing.

Our drive to the Grand Canyon was a pretty one. The rain only lasted 20 minutes and the skies were clear at the canyon. We arrived around 5 PM and walked along the rim trail until the sun began to set. We were on the hunt for the perfect vantage point to watch the sunset. It occurred to me that in over 8 years Karlo and I have never watched a sunset together. I have to admit, it was hard to sit still in one place (on dry land) for 20 minutes waiting for the sun to set, but it was worth it. The sight of the sun setting over the canyon was beautiful.



By now it was nearly 8 PM and we hadn’t eaten dinner. We found a “Spaghetti Western” place for some Italian food. This place was a riot with all the Spaghetti Western movie posters on the wall and cowboys as waiters. It was a great ending to a great day.

Too Much Excitement For One Day

Our last full day on the boat was very exciting. It started with tube rides. I insisted that there was no way in Hell that I would ever get onto that thing to be pulled around by the ski boat, but after the first three victims (one of them being pregnant) came back completely dry, I got brave and jumped on. What a hoot! It was a blast and I’m so glad I didn’t chicken out.

Later, Karlo and I took a hike along the rocks hunting for snakes and scorpions. Luckily all we encountered were snake tracks. Phew! The hike was relatively short because the sun was so strong and more storm clouds were brewing in the distance. Everybody gathered back at the boat for more storm prep procedures.

We thought we had the boat all secure, but this storm was a little worse than the previous one. The winds were blowing over 20 mph and one of the anchor pins let go. The crew entered panic mode and the captain ran to the controls as the rest of the guys jumped on shore to rescue the line and re-secure it. During this time Joan and I were watching the action from inside the salon when Joan suffered a terrible accident. Frank accidentally left the engine room cover open in his hast to get some needed tools. This essentially leaves a 3’ x 3’ hole in the floor and Joan fell straight through it. I was the only person with her and had to spring into medical action. We all know how well I do with that!!! It was dreadful. Blood was squirting and this time I couldn’t run away. She needed me and I’m so proud of myself that I came through. I did everything she told me to do. Thank goodness she’s a nurse and owner of a very successful medical company. Between the medical incident and the storm it sure was an exciting night.

Soon the storm passed. We got Joan bandaged and splinted, but the water was still too rough to get back to the marina to take Joan to the hospital. She toughed it out by opening a few bottles of wine. We drank and made a campfire on the shore. Nothing like ending the exciting day with a few smores under the stars.

There’s a Storm a Brewin’

We started the morning with another ski boat excursion through some narrow canyons with our hosts Joan & Frank. We were scouting out another private spot to anchor and we found the perfect one at a place called Face Canyon. Just when I thought you couldn’t get any better than our first private cove, we did indeed find a place that was even nicer. Finding these nice spots on Lake Powell is quite the sport and once you find one you need to stake your claim. Normally you set up beach chairs and head back to the houseboat, but this spot was too nice to risk losing so Joan and I debarked the speed boat and protected our spot from the many other boats that came sniffing around. We had a couple of chairs, an umbrella, a few drinks, and a shot gun . . . everything we needed to be deserted alone on this shore for a while until the boats came back to us. (Ok, just kidding about the shot gun!) This wouldn’t have been a bad set-up if it wasn’t for the dark storm clouds heading straight for us. I tried to be cool because I knew I was in good hands, as Joan is very much into disaster preparedness, but I got a little nervous when she handed me a beer and said, “Drink up girlfriend. That storm is coming and I need you relaxed.” Gulp.

We decided to make a plan. We hiked up the rocks looking for a rock ledge that would provide some shelter. It was here that I was wishing I wasn’t wearing flip flops – not the best rock climbing shoes. Lisa would have been so proud of me. All the drinking and the planning was pointless because the boats came back with just enough time to anchor and batten down the hatches. The whole scene was very exciting.

The storm came and went and was fun to watch. Within an hour it was bright and sunny again and time to take a kayak ride through the narrow canyon. We splashed around in the water and played with Joan’s adorable labs, who never seem to tire from playing fetch.



That day was ended with a spectacular dinner to celebrate the birthday of Joan’s son who was also on board. It was a feast fit for a king. The sky cleared up from the storm and the stars were amazing. Karlo and I danced on the upper deck and joined Frank and Joan for some star gazing, ice cream eating, and Sambuca sipping. I was ready to make the lounge chair my bed for the night.

Living in Paradise

Back to an internet connection today so I'm going to post some entries that I wrote while on Lake Powell. Will take a couple of days to catch up . . .

We had one day in Scottsdale with no plans and we managed to relax and enjoy the day. We picked up a car and drove to Superstition Mountains for a picnic lunch. The temps were in the mid to upper 90s, but strangely it was perfectly pleasant to sit under a pavilion and eat our lunch. There was a constant breeze blowing and what they say about the dry air is really true. The 90s are completely tolerable out here. So tolerable, in fact, that we decided to go for a hike mid-way up the mountain. It was quite a different experience than the hiking that we are used to. The biggest difference is that there is zero shade, but luckily the wind was non-stop as we hiked up. Coming down, on the other hand, was pretty stinkin’ hot and I was glad to be back to the car. The rest of the day was spent visiting old mining towns and shopping about. We needed to get ready for our upcoming boat trip.


The next day we were up nice and early to take off for Lake Powell. What an amazing drive up there. We drove for hundreds of miles through the Navejo Indian Reservation. Boy did that put the term “middle of nowhere” into a much better perspective. Holy cow. I still cannot believe that people live out there like that. Shocking. But it sure was beautiful to look at.

We arrived at the lake before noon and boarded the house boat, which was much more of a yacht. The boat was simply gorgeous. Three bedrooms, three baths, several decks, a bar, satellite TV . . . just about every creature comfort, minus internet access. We set sail just after lunch and the views from the water were just indescribable. Once again, pictures will have to tell the story . . .

We beached the boat on a sandy shore (which are hard to come by around here) and acquired our very own private cove. Talk about complete and utter relaxation. We ate our dinner on the upper deck and stayed up until the moon slipped behind the towering canyon walls. As soon as the sliver of moon disappeared from the sky the stars shown even brighter. The gentle breeze, the soothing music, the tasty wine . . . It was the most relaxing night of my entire life.

After a terrific night’s sleep we got up the next morning and did a little yoga on the upper deck. It was quite a surprise when we were invited along on a ride on the ski boat that gets towed by the house boat. What a ride that was. It was spectacular. We enjoyed more of the most amazing views as we skirted through tiny canyons where the houseboat wouldn’t fit. We made our way to the Rainbow Bridge, shown below. This can only be seen via boat access to a little trail where you can hike up to this vanish point. This was quite a treat as we never would have seen this on our own.



It hasn’t even been two full days on the boat yet and I already feel that we’ve been away from it all for a month. Work and our home life seem so very far away. Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!