Action packed!

When I said we would be up to more adventures soon, I wasn’t kidding. When I got home from my last work trip in Kansas City, Jonathan had all sorts of escapades planned, including an Arizona Cardinals game (NFL), a horseback ride in Cave Creek, and a bluegrass concert. 

Jonathan picked me up early from work on Thursday and along with the masses we drove out to the University of Phoenix stadium in Glendale. The Cardinals played the Seahawks, and despite my current state of residence, the NFL fan in me was more interested to see the Hawks than the Cards. We were quite excited for our first live NFL game yet departed the stadium a little underwhelmed by the whole experience. Sure the crowd was entertaining, the stadium was energetic and the game was interesting, but it quickly became evident how impressive the NFL production machine is. On TV, the field appears larger, and so do the players, plus the crowd noise is carefully refined to create an excited, intense energy that in reality is more of a constant rabble in the stadium.

 

Thank you kindly kissy face
photo bomber...

Despite my enthusiasm for being at a live game, I quickly learned how difficult it can be to actually see the game. Even though we had good seats, it wasn’t uncommon for the constant flow of stair walking attendees to block or hinder our view. I don’t mind standing to see good plays, but honestly, find your seat and sit the f_ _ _ _ down! Annoyed as I may have been on occasion, the stairs provided a unique vantage point to observe the diversity of people attending the event. Talk about variety. Young, old, club partiers, preppy obnoxious drunks, infants, and straight up metal studded stripper shoes on a woman guiding her 3 or 4 year old down the steep stadium stairs. Yes I am aware that I defined an attendee by her shoes, but trust me, these bad boys deserved top billing.

Saturday morning we made our way north to Cave Creek for our horseback ride at the Spur Cross ranch. Our guide was named, or at least referred to himself, as "Boot", which turned out to be a name given to him by his bootlegger grandfather. My trusty stead’s name was Sage Brush, which turned out to be a fitting name given his slow response and lackadaisical pace, while Jonathan’s ride boasted a slightly more adventurous name of Wyatt. We crossed from private land to state land to federal land and back, all the while viewing a variety of desert landscapes, cactus and petroglyphs. It was suggested we might see a rattle snake or two, javelinas, deer, tarantulas and even a desert tortuous. Turns out we saw the not so elusive hiker, a pack bearing poodle and the occasional, larger-than-your-pinky wasp. We both could have gone for a slightly quicker pace, but overall really enjoyed our ride and the odd yet entertaining nature of our guide.

Despite Sage brush's slow nature I must admit he was a cleaver equine.  While we checked out the petroglyphs and stretched our legs I observed my horse untie two out of the three knots that were securing him to the tree.  When he saw me approach he stopped as if to pretend he wasn't up to anything, but the longer I lingered the less concerned he became, eventually returning to his knot untying business. (slide show to be posted soon)
Before returning to the valley we stopped at Bryan’s BBQ for, you guessed it, some very tasty smoked meat. We both agreed that our neighbor’s competition winning BBQ is a tad bit better, yet somehow managed to finish most of our meals and walk to the car with our appetite for BBQ fully satiated.

 Back home, we hung out and napped away the afternoon before heading out to the Scottsdale art center for a  Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby concert.  We’ve seen, albeit it very briefly, Bruce Hornsby before, during our Telluride trip, but this would be the first time we saw Ricky Skaggs and his accompaniment live.  Together they performed a variety of traditional blue grass as well as “new-grass” songs and experienced a little drama when the upright bass player managed to break his strings in not one, but two separate songs.  Jonathan was a bit disappointed in the sound quality and excessive volume, and again, a pleasant and entertaining evening.

After so much excitement it was nice to hang out at home on Sunday and work on our costumes while we watched a handful of football games. I wasn’t too happy about my Ravens loss to the wretched Steelers, but I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Colts hand Payton Manning a big fat loss on his first return to his previous home stadium! 

 

Back on the wagon

Quite some time has passed and yet we haven't been up to too much. This summer was our 4th in the valley and yes, just like the three previous it was occasionally more than toasty.  On the bright side, we are proud to say that our solar panels did a fantastic job of keeping our power bills low and occasionally nonexistent.

In early August I returned to DC for a whirlwind weekend trip to attend one of my best Rutgers buddy's wedding.  Jonathan was not able to attend because of work, but enjoyed his own adventures in Arizona, to be explored in just a little bit.  Traveling about in the nation's capital brought back fond memories, and truly makes me miss the flair of living in the DC metro area.   But each time I thought, I could certainly move back here, I reminded myself of the winters and laughed at how absurdly expensive it is to live in the area.  A handful of fellow scarlet knights were also in attendance at the wedding, which made for a lovely opportunity to catch up and enjoy the company of great friends.

 While in DC I received a text from Jonathan including a great picture of a very happy Jackson during their apparent hike.  Little did I know that shortly after the picture was taken Jonathan would be trucking down a hiking trail with Jackson tucked under his arm like a football in an attempt to outrun lightning. I eventually learned that during his ascent he happened to notice a storm in the distance. So despite encouragement from lady hikers to turn back he followed the encouragement of guy hikers, go figure, and eventually made it to the top.  Coincidentally the storm too was enjoying new sights as it continued to make its way closer to Jonathan's location.

Picture taken and views admired Jonathan decided it was time to head down the mountain. I cannot say for sure when during the trek that it happened but Jonathan noticed the dark clouds were nearing and out of the corner of his eye he saw lightning strike nearby. This was about the time he felt the hair on his arms stand up.  Maybe now would be an appropriate time to get he hell off the mountain. 

 
Jonathan was chuckling and Jackson's tale was wagging while the story was being shared and all I could do was stare wide-eyed and slightly dumbfounded at him.  Yes, I'm grateful that he and Jackson made it safe and sound, but for the love of rice, kindly be a bit more careful when adventuring in a state that tops the list of death by lightning strike each year.

In the realm of cooking, we've tried a few new recipes with great success.  Jonathan made some fantastic spent grain soft pretzels, tasty spent grain cheddar crackers and I made some devilishly fantastic spent grain blondies.  We are running low on spent grain so selfishly I'm hoping Jonathan brews soon to replenish our grain stock.  In addition to baking we have ventured into the world of sashimi or potentially more appropriate, ceviche style dishes with a recipe found on NPR for Ahi Poke. The recipe, or rather my variation of said recipe, can be found below.  My only modification was the use of paper-thin-minced shallot vs the green onion that is listed in the recipe.  Just this last week, I accompanied the Ahi Poke with a tasty kale salad that included Dino kale, pomegranates, chopped almonds, and avocado. For the cooking finale of this post, Tuesday night Jonathan made some fabulous, three meat meatballs. I'm not a meatball fan, but the meatballs he makes are hands down the best I've ever had.

Now that the weather has cooled a bit we will surely be up to more adventures, likely including a few weekend trips, lightning free hikes, and outdoor projects. Hint, said projects will undoubtedly include some more glorious rock moving, woowhoo!

Tuna Poke: http://www.npr.org/2013/07/24/204925394/on-hot-summer-days-cook-your-fish-without-fire

Blondies: http://brooklynbrewshop.com/themash/recipe-spent-grain-blondies/