Sorry for the delay. This was to be posted Monday but I was enjoying the weekend WAY too much to worry about actually blogging. Lol Now reading blogs….that’s a different story. :-D
This past weekend turned out to be relaxing (for the most part). After a presentation Friday morning at work and little else to do Friday afternoon (and more importantly after my boss left), I bounced and my weekend finally began. That evening we did little much other than enjoy the fact of knowing that we had 3 more days of doing nothing that we didn’t want to do.
We eventually made it out of the house on Saturday at around 12:30-ish to go climb Pinnacle Mountain. We were supposed to leave earlier that morning but you know by us being black folk and all, CP time reigned supreme. Anywho, we loaded up the pups, got on the road, and about half-way there it starts drizzling. Seriously?! UGH! I look at Z, he looks at me and we both decide to keep on and just play it by sight. I was going to wash my hair that day anyway so It really didn't matter. By the time we arrived, the rain had stopped as we guessed it would.
Any of you that live in AR that have ever climbed Pinnacle know that sucka is a beast and a half. Unless you are a freak of nature, you seriously will be breathing like a gorilla by the time you reach the half-way point or before. Lol Little did I know this was going to be THE most trying climb I had ever experienced. Problem #1, my mind tricked me into thinking that just because I can do a Tae-Bo dvd straight through that I would be fine. Problem #2, I decided to wear my N,i.k.e tennis shoes that matched the workout capris I had on. Why not be cute and sweaty at the same time….right? Wrong!!! Cute will kill you and it almost did me in! Now I knew that these shoes were not comfortable in any shape, form, or fashion to workout in. Even walking the dogs in them makes my arch hurt but oh noooooooooo, I just had to match. *sigh* So we are going up, my breathing is becoming more labored and then I feel it. Damn. I tried to push through the pain but those shoes were testing me. I tell Z to hold up for a second (or 180) so I could rest. He asks if I’m okay, I say no but told him we could keep going. As we continue up, we hear thunder and see lightning so we are hurrying (read I am trying not to keel over) to try and make it to the top. By this time my feet are killing me and I, for the first time ever climbing this thing, throw in the towel. I tell Z to go on ahead and I’ll wait until he gets back down. He has that are you serious look on his face to which I answered, yes I’m serious. Lol I couldn’t take it anymore. He told me we could just start going back down but I told him to go ahead and that I’d be fine. Hell I was high enough to get the same benefit as being at the top. Lol He just laughed and said okay and that he wouldn’t be long. After I caught my breathe a bit, I take Emma, who wasn’t the least bit tired might I add, over closer to the edge of the cliff so I could at least take some pics. (I’ll have to post those later. I forgot my camera today). While we are waiting on Z and Cochise to come back down, I am looking at the scenery and also watching people as they come up and down. There was one family that had kids from about the 7-12 year age range. One of the little girls was bawlin as she made her way up. Her face was red and all she kept saying was “it hurts, it hurts” and her mom said “it’s supposed to hurt”. The child was a bit on the chubby side so that I am pretty sure that was the most exercise she had ever had in her life so far. I felt bad for her though, cause I truly felt her pain. Lol I hope she made it up okay.
Z finally makes it down and tells me that I wasn’t that far from the top. I look at him and look up at the steep incline of boulders and rolled my eyes. I take a few pics of him and the down below shot but refuse to let him take any of me. I told him next time we come, which will be sometime again this summer, he can take as many as he likes because I will make it to the top in my raggedy tennis shoes this time thank you very much. Lol As we are going back down, Z asks me if I see that snake. I ask where and he points it out. After making sure it wasn’t hanging over my head or right in front of me, I took off like I was in the Olympics. But what about your feet you say? Shooooooooooot, I wasn’t stuttin nothing but the end of that trail by then (which we were fairly close to at that point). I didn’t get too far running because it started raining and I didn’t want to slip and fall. (FYI....I'm rather clumsy and walk into walls regularly) I figured I had gotten far enough away from the snake so I slowed down until I made it to the end. By the time Z caught up with me, he was still laughing his @ss off at me running away from the snake. I told him to KMA, because what I saw was thick, long, black, and in no way resembled anything I wanted near or around me. Well, unless it…………nevermind.
So that was our walk. The rest of the weekend was just really laid back with a trip to the movies to see “IronMan” (it was a’ight) and a little BBQ on Monday. It was just what the doctor ordered.
Update: Pics from close to the top Pinnacle
