HIGHEST PEAK

For years, I have wanted to hike to the top of Humphrey's Peak. Yesterday I finally got to check it off of my bucket list with three of my amazing trail running friends. While the trail post showed the summit as being a 4.8 mile one way hike to the top, our smart watches calculated it being somewhere closer to 5.8 miles. We hiked a total of about 12 miles in just over 8 hours. It was hard and beautiful and exhausting and gratifying. He had some high highs and some low lows. We sang, we danced, we ran. And we most definitely poured a bit of blood, sweat, and tears into the hike. We made friends with strangers and gave them affectionate names like Tacos. We annoyed the hell out of people with our obnoxious demeanors and Disney music. And we freaking climbed to the HIGHEST POINT IN ARIZONA. I would do it all over again with these awesome people! Just not any time soon. TEAM PIZZA!

WONDERful NIGHT

I don't normally post images so quickly after an adventure, but this one was too good not to share. Last night, we spent a special evening at WONDERSPACES with a friend I've known since I was five years old. I had just photographed her and her boyfriend at the Gilbert Riparian. While at the Riparian, I invited them to join the mr. and I on a double date. Unbeknownst to my friend, her boyfriend had contacted me a week earlier to ask if I could help him plan and capture his marriage proposal at WONDERSPACES. Absolutely. Everything went perfectly. The four of us then enjoyed the remainder of the exhibit, experiencing a number of incredible art installations. It was spectacular.

MISSION MISSION

We had a [rare] free Saturday a few weeks ago, so we decided to go on a day trip. I browsed possible National Parks and Monuments to visit with our Every Kid in a Park pass (if you have a fourth grader, go get yourself a pass!). One place in particular stood out, so we loaded up and headed south to Tumacácori-Carmen, Arizona. Tumacácori is a National Historical Park that is dedicated to the preservation of the Mission San José de Tumacácori, a mission founded by Father Kino in the early 18th century. We got to visit the actual mission, the adjoining cemetery, the storehouse, the orchard and garden, as well as a little museum. The kids received National Park badges for their visit and were given awesome National Park books to document their visits to National Parks across the state. Since the nearest neighboring National Park was an hour and a half drive along the Arizona/Mexico border AND we were short on time, we decided to head back north and visit the mission at San Xavier. Mission San Xavier del Bac was also started by Father Kino, but finished nearly a century later. The elaborate paintings and embellishments were incredible, especially knowing that the mission was constructed about 230 years ago. We enjoyed our adventures in Southern Arizona, learning more about the culture and history of our great state.