Saturday morning Jake had meetings but their was nothing scheduled for the rest of us.
After breakfast I tried encouraging/motivating the kids to go on the Baldwin trail again from yesterday. It wasn't too hot and we had 4 hours to kill until Jake was done.
But I lost to Nick Jr. and their desire to do nothing.
So I read a little. And then I had one of those "no way, we are here in Sedona where it is beautiful and the weather isn't too bad and we have nothing going on... we aren't just going to sit INSIDE and do nothing!"
Everett was being a total punk so I decided we'd just go without him. He's old enough to be alone and I'm not going to let him ruin my adventurous spirit or the fun we could have.
The girls and I headed out to the trail and started hiking. When we got to a fork in the trail and we decided to go the other direction than yesterday. We could see tons of green trees (the kind that only grow near water) and we could hear some faint Mexican music in the distance.
We followed the trail and noise and found the Oak Creek. It was beautiful and so nice to get our feet wet. We were super happy to have this fun surprise adventure. I was so glad we didn't just sit in a hotel room.
On the trail back to our car we found some blackberry bushes growing under the canopy of trees.
We made it back to the hotel room just as another group was loading up to go on another hike. It was a hard hike organized by Jack and Vicky (the mountain climbers from our dinner table the night before) and I really wanted to go. I asked if they would wait two seconds so I could give the girls to Jake and make sure he was okay with it..
He was happy to let me go and my adventure heart was SO HAPPY!
I had heard the stats on the car ride there. Super steep, gaining tons of elevation is a short amount of time, 4.3 miles and we were already higher elevation than we are used to. I was so glad because I signed up for a mountain race in Colorado this September and I need some high elevation 'stair master' training!
Sure enough, we were all huffing and puffing and trying to suck in the thinning air. We had to go as fast as we could because we had to be back (showered and ready) by 6 for the awards night.
We were SO SO SO lucky and had overcast skies and even a light drizzle of rain. It was Heaven. There was a little lightning and thunder. I was really hoping we'd make it to the top before having to turn around!
There were only 10 hikers and we ended up getting split into three groups. Luckily I was right behind Jack (who currently runs 50 miles a week!) and I wasn't going to let him out of my sight.
At one point he had to pee in the bushes so I had a little rest and caught my breath. While we were waiting, one other Financial Advisor caught up to us and said that one person in her group was taking a rest because of breathing trouble.
So the three of us carried on.
The FA that caught up to us soon fell behind so it was just me chasing Jack the last two miles. Sriracha sauce was pumping through my quads and glutes!!!! It was amazing training for my race in September.
Plus, the weather and views were incredible!
We made it to the top 5 minutes before the deadline Jack gave us. We were pumped.
Jack took a picture of me at the top... although I look so goofy in the close up, he was stoked because the mountain in the distance is Mt. Humphreys.... AZ's 14,000 footer.
We waited to a few minutes and took a few pictures.
10 minutes later the other FA made it. She was elated! She was so determined to make it before it was time to turn around!
On the way up Jack and I talked a lot about running and his experiences hiking the tallest peaks in the world and on the way down the three of us talked about travel. Jack and his wife Vicky have been all over the world and they absolutely LOVE Africa. Maybe someday Jake and I will make it there since we love adventure so much too.
During our hike, there was a downpour back at the hotel and the power went out! Jake said they all just snuggled up on the couch and watched A Bugs Life (because it was downloaded on the iPad).
4 of the hikers had turned back and were headed to the hotel and we caught back up to the 3 others on their way down the mountain. They had turned around the same time we got to the top.
When we got back down I took a selfie with the mountain we just climbed. We did it in 2.5 hours and everything online says 5 hours. It was so nice to have a marathon runner/seasoned mountain climber setting the pace for me because there is NO way I would have ever made it up that fast without him.
We got back to the hotel with a little less than an hour to get ready.
Jake Miller took these beauties for us 😆
Turns out, you can't really see my jumper that well... but it was like THE THING to wear this year! 4 other women were wearing black jumpers (thank goodness they were all different!!) so I didn't feel weird because I wasn't the only one not wearing a cocktail dress.
Dinner wasn't mind-blowing and dessert was cake (like Costco cake.. lol, I always look forward to these fancy dinners and especially the dessert) AND they've assigned tables the last two years (which isn't my favorite) so conversations were a little strange.
But it was fine! Jake got his award for being awesome and I had a full day of amazing adventures and great weather so everything was just right!
