(...........) and a bottle of wine....

I always hate to do this but I have discontinued my Shaw service and gone with the power of Google! That means I have a new blog spot....I hope its not too much trouble to have you follow my journey from this new site............!There is even a new post already............

http://annamcdow.blogspot.com/

Talk soon........

Well the last couple of days have been great, we have done some rather strenuous hiking, some awesome relaxing and finished of some incredible meals. This is the way a vacation is suppose to be!

Our hike yesterday was into a canyon that offered everything from a sandy wash bottom to huge boulders to hike on. Interestingly enough the trail head us behind an outdoor amphitheater they have here.......and on Saturdays they hold a wonderful little market we just had to check out before heading off into the red rock cliffs. It's called the Tuachan Theater and it is set back into the canyon surrounded by red rock cliffs....they have everything from plays to rock concerts here...even Styx is playing later this month. To much disappointment however I found out that they were in between shows this week and we not have a chance to enjoy what must be an incredible experience.

The hike.....

Dwight being a little fearful of heights made the decent a bit precarious!

I on the other hand was trying to be a mountain goat!

We took our chances at spending some time out side in the 104 degree heat and played a game they call Pickle Ball, I had never heard of it.......its like tennis only the court is smaller, the racket small and hard, and the ball has holes in it.......OK it's not really like tennis at all....anyway, it was fun. The choice to play a sport on a hot court in those temperatures definitely got the attention of a few of the locals.....thinking, crazy Canadians are going to get themselves a good dose of heat stroke....well, we did feel a little nauseous and incredible hot for about two hours after? A jump in the pools helped...

I cant write about being on vacation without writing about food and wine....well it's likely I would never not write about food and wine! We decided to have dinner out last night at the Entrada restaurant. It's a beautiful building and the views spectacular. My choice was a chicken breast covered with a pacentta and mushroom sauce paired with their signature Parmesan risotto,  which I love, it was delicious! Dwight choose the veal medallions with balsamic reduction and topped with a pesto. We paired this with a Vin de pain....a bottle they have here for only $28 and that the restaurant pricing...

Speaking of the price of wine......I cant help but mention the clearance specials they have here.....I am not sure why I can never find these types of deals in Canada but I wish I could! In the state liquor store here they have a really good selection of French wines, we noticed it the last time we were here so we ventured back to see what we could grab. Perrin & Fils is a very good wine producer from France and they have a wonderful variety of wines and this one is a second wine to their famous Chateau de Beaucastel. What that means is that when they make that wine if they have any they feel does not meet that standard they make this wine....kind of like buying designer cloths at Winners.......This wine is called Coudoulet de Beaucastel   its a cotes de rhone and its really yummy! We spend about $35 a bottle in Victoria..at the state store here it goes for $23...but.....when its on clearance its 50% off! Can you believe it.....$11 bucks for this delicious little bottle of goodness......

Clearence wine...from France, never dreamed it could be true!

We are headed to Las Vegas tomorrow, spending one day and night at the Venetian, a little pool time, a little shopping and flying home on Tuesday to start the next phase of my life living in Vancouver and going back to my career.

I anticipate there will be a lot to write about over the next while.......so I hope you tune in every now and they to see what's happening.....

Till next time, happy chatting......

I have often wondered if somewhere in my ancestory there is a family of Anastasie Indians....I love this place. I came here 10 years ago and felt the exact same way. Its really hard to explain what that way is, they best I can do is "I feel like I have come home". I have an incredible sense of peace when I am here and in particular when I am in the middle of the desert...I see so much beauty every where its almost overwhelming for me. Yesterday I saw my first real roadrunner....and no it didn't go bep bep....I thought it was the coolest bird I have ever seen and have taken up a mission to see it again!

The desert for me offers the tranquility of a big blue ocean, the majesty of the tallest mountains and the diversity of a tropical garden.

Tranquility....there are not too many places in the world any more where you can find yourself in one of the most populated countries in the world and be all alone...running through trails and not see another person for miles.....yesterday we ran for an hour at one of the local park areas and we did not see a single person the entire time. Talk about places to do some quiet contemplation....every corner allows you to have your very own serenity room.....room heck its more like your own mountain!

Majesty...looking at these red cliffs is awe inspiring, they offer an incredible variation of views depending on the light they are receiving. In the morning the are soft and welcoming...calling out to you to come and explore the various nooks and crevices. At dusk the sunlight turns them firery red warning you of the dangers that can be found amongst the crowns and valleys within.

And diversity....well most people don't thing there is a lot of life in the desert, I must correct those folks. There is a ton and we saw some of it yesterday.....the amount of flowering plants is really incredible...there are cactus here that have flowers on them as large as watermelons.....and with every step of our run these little lizards would scurry across the path. We were lucky enough watch a mother cotton tail with her babies and so many different birds that we lost count.

Oh yes there is a great amount of diversity in the desert and if you are patient enough you can see the entire desert bloom with flowers, in March of 2005 over 6 inches of rain fell in Death Valley, California. More than three times its normal rain fall, and with that the entire desert bloomed with wild flowers.....a once in a life time event...and one that proves there is more life in these environments than we think.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7182113/

OK......now a little more about our trip....yesterday unfolded just as planned. After a nice breakfast I did some great yoga....actually downloaded a Bikram class and did the session with my Ipod on.....and I didn't have to go into a hot room......why? Because it was hot enough outside!!! This is a much better way to do this stuff! After that we ventured to one of our favorite running spots....trails about five minutes away that meander through the red cliffs surrounding the town. We then ventured out to the reservoir to play in the sand dunes and cool off in the water....

This place was rather cool....the sand is really hot and endless....you walk through it to get to a part of the reservoir we had been to before...and what a relief when you get there...the water is clear and cool...just what you need!

So while playing in the water Dwight decided to provide some insightful history of the area.......a wealth of knowledge...and cute to! Check out the video on YouTube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PrcOCJLJII

After that we headed back into town...hit a few bike shops and had an wonderful dinner of rib eye steak, salad, and a rosemary olive oil bread they make here that is to die for!

A little walk after dinner and a late night swim finished off the day.....perfect!

Today's loose agenda.........likely another great trail run, I think we are going to try the hell hole trail.....ominous I know! Then a visit to the artsy town close by called Kayenta, dinner may be out tonight....but I am guessing that late night swim shows up again!

Stay tuned!

Well we did it....anticipating the lack of vacations that I will be able to take during my first months of getting my career going again we have jetted off to Utah. We flew into Las Vegas yesterday @ 10am, picked up all the necessities while on the way to St George (wine & food) and checked into the exact same townhouse on the golf course we stayed at one month ago.  And it is even more beautiful than I remember...and this time is smokin hot! 96 degrees today and hitting 104 tomorrow, needless to say I already have a tan.

The goal for this trip is completely opposite to the last time we were here....no Ironman, no "training"....just relaxing. Run when we want, swim, when we want, hike when we want....and for me maybe just a little rock climbing!

Today's menu of activities...well, we have started with coffee, Dwight reading the paper and I am typing away to you, we are doing this while overlooking one of the most beautiful views in the world. Next...a run, then we are heading out to the infamous reservoir, there we are going to visit the sand dunes that we are told are a must see and then play in the water to cool off!

All of this will be capped off with a steak and salad dinner on the patio with, you guessed it, a great bottle of wine!

And look at this steal...there are not a ton of find wine stores in the part of the USA so we made a stop at Liquor depot, and yes it has a Tavern/Steak house right beside it....no windows, and I have always been taught...girls don't go into bars with no windows! So we didn't....

2005 is one of the best vintages coming out of France and usually carries a hefty premium, this great bottle....$17 bucks! They definitely don't know what they have hiding in the shelf's.... and boy is it yummy.........

Talk soon...............

Yes, you do drink wine when moving.....and sometimes its absolutely needed..........The bottle on this occasion was one we have had in the past....Montebuena, Rioja...a Spanish wine that sells for about $18.00 and its getting so popular its now showing up in very nice restaurants. 

Stuff...........

Have you ever wondered how you got so much stuff? You know you look around and try to think “where did I get that?”...someone must have given it to me; I really don’t remember actually buying “that”. Well that’s where we are right now. We are moving, and not only that, we are downsizing and I have been busily carting stuff off to the dump, the salvation army and giving it to anyone who wants it....my stuff that is.  This exercise is very interesting, and I must admit, rather cleansing so I thought I would share my stuff experiences you.

One of my first tasks was going through my cloths....and people tell me that I have a lot of cloths. I personally think I have a number of very well coordinated outfits....with matching shoes of course. So it began.....I didn’t even do the obligatory trying on of each piece before I chucked it into the pile! Nope, it was a quick look...a few hums and haw’s...a couple of holding it up in front of a mirror, and if the initial response was not YEP, that’s a keeper! It went into the green garbage bag. I did this over a period of about two weeks......and ended up with four bags full....really, and I still have cloths left...Dwight would still say too many....I on the other hand see it as an opportunity to upgrade....yeah baby!!  Admittedly I do occasionally go into the closet looking for something that I was sure I kept and it is not there...maybe Dwight is secretly culling my closet as well???

From the cloths, which included a very fun cleansing of Dwight’s closets and drawers....hey, he said it was OK! I ventured into the crawl space....we have only been in the house for two years and it amazed me how much stuff got down there....I NEVER put stuff down there, or so I thought.  After lowering myself into the 3 foot dust bowl of concrete and timber I poked at the boxes to ensure I was not going to experience any eight legged friends I hauled the boxes up.....some you could see into and I thought....what the heck is that? Up in the mudroom the sorting began, junk, junk, yep more junk, I haven’t seen this stuff in years! Then the fun part of looking at old stuff happened....the photo albums! They were fun....Oh the hair! Everyone had so much hair!! And young....wow...I thought I looked the same I did 10 years ago....well this was a friendly cue that I don’t! Other than the reminder of times passage the memories these items evoked were great! Trips to Greece, London, Germany, Paris, Moab, not to mention the years I spent shooting for the fun of it......friends that I have not seen for years, family members that are no longer with me.....trust me, you were lucky you were not there or you would have been subjected to photo album review session from hell............!

It was apparent that it would be necessary to start an organized approach to all of this.....one area for the keepers, one for the garbage, and one for the thrift store.  I have started making a dent, or at least I think so. Dwight comes home and I proudly tell him how much I have disposed of thinking it will be noticeable.....nope.

You see all of this stuff is not even in our daily lives.......so why do we collect so much of it....and why do we keep it? I am not going to touch on any psychological syndromes or refer to any reality TV shows but did read something last week that I thought was really interesting........from a book called Evolution RX by Dr William Meller,

and don’t let the cover fool you...it’s not a self help book, it’s more about how life was like in the stone age, this is how our bodies have learned to exist...and seeing that it was not that long ago physiologically we are the same as we were then....it’s our environment that has changed. Everything from allergies, nutrition, and depression as well as our stuff obsession is covered. A very interesting read...and if you are more into podcast skepticality has a couple of episodes with the author.

Now most men out there are going to cringe when they hear me say this however trust me....you all do the same thing. There is a reason we like shopping.......I know, I know...you are thinking “nice, now she is going to rationalize the drag me out shopping episodes!” Not so...

Dr Meller hypothesizes that our inherit need to hunt and gather is now manifesting itself in this environment as shopping...... think about it, it does explain the concept of window shopping, the need to buy when we don’t need, the deal finding trips, and the one  I found interesting....the high that comes from the final purchase.  Yes the high, the studies that he refers to actually found an increased level of dopamine, they very same physiological affect that occurs when people take drugs like cocaine. This may even explain its addictive qualities and the lull when you get home....almost a buyer’s remorse when it’s not new anymore. We all love that new car smell right...this could be why.... because honestly the smell of glue, plastic, and other manufactured materials all blended together is not really that fragrant!

So we get all of this stuff and we bring it home....it has to go somewhere, so it ends up in our basements, drawers, closets and garages.........if its practical (like another pair of shoes) it becomes part of our life, if not it gathers dust until we are ready to release it to another hunter gatherer........

Wondering how I have done.....well pretty good I think. I got the crawl space stuff down to three boxes of keepers, mostly photo albums. I have decided that the closet should be more of a fluctuating space, and the garage, kitchen and books have been through round one. We should be able to finish this cleansing exercise and feel pretty good about moving a lot less stuff......now the key will be not to gather more....we have agreed on a new buy one get rid of an old one policy....we shall see how well that works!

Till next time, happy chatting..........