Wednesday

What a great day today was! I was a little nervous about the hike, and really nervous about one of my afternoon classes, and everything was great! Just in case you forgot where I am:

This is the sign along the road.

So today my van went on a hike called "Third Ravine." Yesterday two people fell on this hike, and after yesterday's steep inclines and scrambling over rocks, I was wondering what this hike would involve. This hike is my favorite, so far. That's not to say that it was easy, but I did like the way it ended (on a decline, as opposed to Camelback in which you have to go back up to get back to the van).

Looks pretty tame, so far, right?

This is the third ravine. (I guess the first two were so small, we just skipped right over them!)

A petrified elephant we encountered along the way.

See the far end of this "valley"? Yeah, we are climbing up that to get to a cave.

The group ahead of us retreating from the cave.

The inside of the cave.

My hiking buddies: Tina (also my roommate) and Trista

The view from just outside the cave. Utah is really beautiful!

The next part of the hike. You can see the trail going along the left, 

then cutting over just in front of that big rock.

Another spectacular view. Again, the pictures do not do it justice.

The end of the hike. This is the picture I took just before I fell and scraped my knee. (It's just a flesh wound!) 

The sacrifices I make for my art! =)

This hike was the best way to spend the start of the day. It was a real confidence booster in that it was challenging enough, but not overwhelming. I liked climbing, climbing, climbing on the front end of the hike, and then really enjoying the scenery and chatting with my hiking buddies along the way. The one realization I had today was: What in the hell did I ever do without a Camelbak before?! (Although, the knock-off I have is fine, the real Camelbaks are MUCH easier to fill!) I will never carry around a water bottle on a hike again.

Have I mentioned that the food here is amazing? Here's today's menu:

Can you say "Yum"?!

This has eggs, tomato, chicken apple sausage patty, 

basil leaves and CHEESE!!! Yay, cheese!

We got cheese in our soup, too! Mmmmm

Not my favorite

I have to say that this lunch was not so good. There were dill pickles in the salad and some strange dressing that made the salad taste like grass. Plus, I just didn't feel all that hungry. (Weird, right?) I ate what I could of the salad, and took apart the pita and ate it slowly. Glad that's out of the way. Let's get back to some delicious food!

Yes, that's salmon, and yes it was delicious! I would absolutely eat this again. The couscous? Fantastic!

A nice, refreshing end to the meal. 

As I was talking with my hiking buddies today, I came to the conclusion that I would rather spend 2 hours on a hike than a hour in the gym. To me, the gym can be overwhelming (although I am learning "routines" that I can bring home with me so I know what I am doing) and boring. In the past, I have gone to a gym where I can at least watch TV while I'm doing my cardio on the treadmill (my machine of choice). At least here at the FRidge they have huge, floor-to-ceiling windows along one wall of the gym so that I can at least look at this while I'm working out:

Just one part of this gorgeous mountain (?) range just outside the windows of the gym. 

Today, one of my classes after breakfast was Stretch—always a winner after the hike! Then I had the choice of a Circuit class or Deep Water Suspension (pool) class. I absolutely chose the pool class! It makes a huge difference in how my ankles and feet feel the rest of the day. I knew I had a pool class (H20 Circuit again) right after lunch and the lunch lecture, so I stayed in my suit for about 3 hours. Which also meant I could run around in my flip-flops (and keep my feet out of my sneakers) for that long. Fantastic! 

One of the trainers, John, led the Step and Pump class the other day and it was VERY hard. (It is nicknamed Step and Puke.) So, when I saw that John was leading our H20 Circuit class, I was scared! Now, again, it wasn't an "easy" class, but being in the water is SO nice. And, John ended the class in a very silly way. For the last 15 minutes when we were stretching in the pool, he put on some songs that we could sing along to (Close to You by The Carpenters, for one) and we used some pool noodles to do some impromptu choreography. We all forgot about how hard John had worked us in the pool because we were laughing and singing. 

My last two classes were Kickboxing (fun in its own way) and Mountain, which, again we talked the trainer into playing music we could sing to while working out. We ended with YMCA, which was very difficult to do on our last 3 minute interval at our highest output. I did it, though, and I didn't fall off the treadmill! 

Today I scheduled a hot stone massage after dinner and our nutrition class. Heavenly, to say the least! No need for the hot tub tonight!

It's hard to believe that my first week here is halfway done. I'm feeling very proud of myself for taking this on (especially after yesterday when I was really questioning my sanity!) Already I'm feeling stronger. I have the choice of getting weighed an measured again on Saturday, but I'm not sure if I want to know at this point. I may just wait until I test out next week. I'll keep you posted.

5:30 am comes around pretty quick. . .

Goodnight, y'all!