Hiking and Zac Brown weekend

Good morning (or shall I say afternoon) my bloggy friends. I would like to tell you that I have had a jam packed weekend. It started Friday night when Chad and I went to look at a house. Long story short, this place was SCARY. Not scary in the sense that it needs paint and a repair here and there, I mean scary in the sense that a mass murderer may or may not have lived there. We are talking ceilings of different heights, 6 doors to the outside, and one door that leads to nowhere. Clearly we will not be calling that place home.

Then, yesterday morning I woke bright and early to go on a hike with my dear friends Kristine and Chelsea. We went to a place about 15 minutes from my house called Rattlesnake Ridge. I have done this hike once before and I remembered it being a little tough, but nothing too bad. Let’s just say that was about 40 pounds ago. This was ROUGH. I thought for sure they were gonna have to airlift me out of that joint. But we did it. It took about 2 hours total for me (the other girls beat me by about 10 minutes because they jogged part of the way down. I tried this, made it about 5 feet before rolling my ankle and slamming into a couple of innocent bystanders rather than roll down the mountain, and promptly called the jogging a failed attempt). According to MFP (which you should find me on… CarlyAnn13) I burned 1300+ calories. Whoa, baby! (Full House reference, anyone?). Not bad for a couple hours on a Saturday morning. Here are a few pictures I was able to snap. Don’t judge us based on our appearance, please.

Couldn't resist taking a picture of this little sign. I would like to say that there was a nice dog poo pile right below the sign.

About half an hour in. We had NO idea what we were in for...

This may not look like a huge incline, but let me tell you... IT IS.



Trees for MILES

We made it!!! Don't judge my hair, please. It was windy...

View from the top!

After the hike, I went home to shower and get ready to head over the mountains for the night. We had tickets to see Zac Brown Band at the Gorge. Luckily, rather than having to camp at the campground there (for a mere $60 a night… in a tent… when it’s raining) our friend Sam lives about 20 minutes away. So we went to his house, had some dinner and caught up, then headed off to the concert. We got there about 30 minutes early so we could find a good place to sit on the grass (note: we also forgot all our chairs. FAIL.) The opening acts came on, which was kind of exciting at first, because it meant we were that much closer to ZBB starting. But they played for about TWO HOURS. That was about an hour and a half too long for my taste. Then after they were done, there was another half hour of dead air before ZBB came on. No bueno. But once they started FINALLY, it was GREAT. We were on our feet and dancing and signing along. It was a lot of fun. I only got a couple pictures because my phone was dying, so the flash wouldn’t work.

After the concert, we left and went back to Sam’s house. I was POOPED from a combination of the hike, the driving (it took about 2.5 hours to get to Sam’s house) and the concert, so I went to bed while the boys stayed up and talked and had some (more) beers. Let me just tell you, that between the hike and then sitting on the ground for 2 hours, my butt was KILLING me. I literally was laying in bed not moving and my whole lower body was just throbbing. I tried to stretch a little bit, but it was awful. I had some ibuprofen in the truck, but I’ll be damned if I thought I could get up and walk that far to get it.

So, after a rough night of barely sleeping, we got up, went to breakfast at this little place that is a café/convenience store/liquor store, and headed home. This restaurant had the BIGGEST breakfast I think I have ever seen. I got chicken fried steak (the size of my whole plate) and ended up eating about 1/3 of it and being full to the brim. Anyways, we got home, and I took myself a little bit of a nap (aka 3.5 hours) and here I sit, telling you about it. I have about 45 minutes before I have to go to my handbell choir rehearsal, after which I will probably head straight back to bed to continue the recuperation process in order to be ready for work tomorrow.

I hope you all had a great weekend like I did!