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!