Gravy...Mmmmmmmmmm

It's official...we are 18 pounds heavier after last weeks festivities. We ate turkey for 3 days straight (breakfast, lunch, and dinner), we had more pie than should be allowed, we consumed enough gravy to fill an Olympic sized swimming pool, and with the help of electroshock therapy, we have finally been revived from our food comas. We got some family fun time in, we watched some football, we played some football (no broken fingers this time), had some swimming pool action, ruled the mini-golf course, and we even played a round of Frisbee golf (if you are wondering...Brenda tied my nephew Noah for the most trees-in-one...yes, trees-in-one...that is where you throw the Frisbee directly into a tree...you're not supposed to throw the Frisbee into a tree). It was a great Thanksgiving.

As we were leaving my brother's house, the kids asked when they were going to be on the blog. Here you go knuckleheads...you are now on the blog.

This is my brother's family.  Unfortunately my brother was at work at the time of this picture so he is not immortalized by the infamous blog.  From left to right, they are: Broccoli Hater/aka Ninja Turtle/aka Cody, Super Mom/aka Hot Mamma/aka Tanya, Knucklehead/aka Tight End/aka Noah, Wenus/aka I'm Dating Stupid/aka Sami (she is holding Kitty/aka Cat), and last but certainly not least we have Dingus/aka I'm Stronger than You/aka Jake.  They are a really great family and we will miss them in our travels.

We ended up spending almost a week in Mesa and really had a great time. The only thing that was strange was the fact that it was a whopping 85 degrees on Thanksgiving Day. Being from the Northwest, I expect the weather to be more in the 40 degree range with wind that knocks out the power lines and driving rain that floods the rivers and dumps 3 feet of snow in the mountains. 85 degrees outside just doesn't feel like Thanksgiving. The stranger part of it all is that on the day after Thanksgiving, people started putting up their Christmas decorations...and it's still 85 degrees out. Palm trees with lights, cactus with bows, and Santa Claus on the lawn (I'm sure he is sweating like crazy in his furry red suit).

After we left Mesa, we thought that it might be a good idea to try to work off some of those 18 extra pounds of turkey that are hanging around my mid-section. The best workout on the face of the earth that I know of is rock climbing. There just so happens to be an amazing place to climb that is only about an hour from Mesa and there is also what could be the best free campground on the face of the earth just a couple of minutes away from this climbing spot. Serious exercise and a serious campground. Perfect.

This climbing spot that we came upon is now on my list of one of the coolest places on earth. It is totally different than anything we have ever seen and it is completely different than anyplace I have ever climbed. The rock at this site is called rhyolite and is a product of a volcanic explosion that happened millions of years ago. After millions of years of erosion, the surrounding hillsides have washed away and left amazing rock formations that look like they came out of a magical movie set. The rocks have a beautiful golden color and a smooth texture with little hidden pockets that are perfect for a challenging day on the rocks.

The unfortunate thing about this new favorite spot of ours is that there is the largest estimated copper reserve on earth directly underneath the ground of where we were climbing. There is a big push by a multinational mining corporation to gain access to the area so they can employ a mining tactic that will basically wipe out the landscape and create a huge pit in the ground that will make this area unsafe for public use for generations to come. Of coarse environmentalists and climbers groups are trying to put a stop to it, but my guess is that some day in the near future the almighty dollar will win and this incredibly beautiful spot will be wiped off the face of the earth. Bummer.

We spent a few days at this little gem of a spot and now we can hardly move. When you are fearing for your life, it is amazing how many muscles you will use at once to hang on to a rock face. It is also amazing to find out that you have muscles in your body that you didn't know existed...or at least we forgot they existed. Every inch of our bodies is sore. We are so sore that we have checked into a resort in Tucson just so we can hang out in the hot tub to loosen up our weary bodies. If the hot tub doesn't do the trick, we may have to call in the big guns...the on site massage therapist.

So that's where we are at...the big city of Tucson, Arizona. We are going to hang out here for a handful of days and see some of the sites. After Tucson, the current plan is to head over to the coast and get in some beach time, salty air, and sun in San Diego.