i had such a wonderful time today, and, like Gou said, "we're gonna feel how much fun we had tomorrow". i think the aches and pains are well worth it though. i woke up around 9:30 today, then cat napped till 11.....ok, so i guess i actually woke up at 11, technicalities. by 1:40, my pseudo-bf, Sharu, came to get me and we went to get "the boys" and then proceeded to camelback mountain. the hike started long before it actually began since the walk from the parking lot to the base of the mountain was a journey in itself ("we're walking this far THEN hiking????" ~Samer).
i'd never been to camelback before, actually- i think it was the first time for all of us- so didn't really know want to expect. the surroundings were absolutely breathtaking- the view aside- the mountain itself was a site to behold. reddish mud, rocks and boulders speckled with marble and mica, arizona flora (we didn't see much fauna...although nemoji insists he saw a snake/chipmunk mutant creature under a rock~(on a side note) if THAT exists, then my albino weevil mole rat exists for sure). the trail was a bit steep- ok, a lot steep- at points (sometimes we crawling up on all fours), but it was all nothing for our trailblazer Rach- her energy motivated us all!
this was something different- doing something physical for fun with my friends, rather than a movie or what not- it was really exciting...yesterday i could barely sleep waiting for today! to make the experience even more memorable Nemoji introduced us to his OTHER gf (j/k) today, so some of us got to make a new friend- Samer ( hottie potottie, samurai sam, achaa ladka, samerji...basically everything but "samir", that's a big no no)- who, for the record, is NOT indian. i hope we didn't scare him too badly with our antics and our inability to shut up...
a few highlights from the trip-
about half an hour into the hike we got to this point where we could veer off the trail and explore a little. our wandering paid off. we found a very picturesque point on top of this rock (right beside the home of the famed snake/chipmunk mutant creature), we all climbed this thing and then chilled there for some time, soaking up some sun and taking in the view of the city below (nemoji, i still think you'd be a fabulous tour guide, consider it).
oh, my fav part of the trip was when i met this guy- treking it with his two dogs and his son. i got into a convo with him about his dogs water drinking habits ( it didn't seem so boring at the time, i swear) and then gou and i hear this sound, like water flowing. we look up, all three of us, and this mans son is peeing on the trail...
man- "HOGAN, what're you doing?!?"
son- "peeing"
man- (to gou and i) "it's bad enough that my dogs do it, but my son too????"
gou and i- (as we run off) "hahahaha".

afterward, when we were all good and earthy, we wound down with some coffee and a bit of chatter, the perfect ending to a day filled with scary bald men (dooo deee dooo dooo), children with blantant disregard for port-a-potties, "treasure chests" (whoooo hoooo), sunglasses lost and sunglasses found, and of course tons of bruises to bodyparts we didn't even know existed till now.

ha, i can't wait till our next one.