Almost a year ago I started a new journey in my life and made the decision to accept a new position and move to Phoenix. It’s been such a tremendous experience and the friends I have made here and the activities I have become involved in are more than I ever could’ve asked for. Similarly, accepting the position I did, has ended up being the perfect fit. I am so happy with the activities I get to do on a daily basis and the lives I get to help.

A year has gone past since my last journey, and in a few weeks from now I will be starting another new and exciting chapter in my life. I will be traveling abroad for work and spending a few months in Afghanistan. Since I will be doing quite a bit of work and my social time to email, blog, and update people on the mundane aspects of my life in tweets could be few and far between, I figured some of you may notice my absence.

And yes, I’m completely excited for it. What I’m most nervous about is making sure I have everything under wraps before I depart. I’m getting there, but that’s why you may have noticed my calendar filling up lately. My days are completely booked with making sure all my extra curricular activities are well taken care of and that I am packing what I need to. I apologize in advance that I may not get a chance to see everyone or talk to everyone before I go. I know that a mass message is a little unpersonal, but trust me when I say that I only did this for my sanity. I just don’t have the time to call every single person I know and would’ve felt bad forgetting someone, so I kept to people that had an absolute need to know.

I am sure many of you have a million questions popping through your head. Hell, I still have a million things popping through my head.  With that being said though, there isn’t much more to tell and I would really appreciate refrain from jumping to conclusions and spreading assumptions via any method (phone, web, email, etc). If you have any questions and/or witty comments, please feel free to come to me directly and I will answer what I can.

I love you all! Please pray for my safe journey there and back and that I am able to accomplish everything I want while there. Thank you all for your support! If it wasn’t for my friends and family, I am not sure I would have the strength or courage to go through this.

Yesterday morning I woke up at 7:30 to prepare for the Four Peaks / Four Peaks Adventure my friends Eric and Kerri and I were setting out on at 8am. Packed my gallons of water, my snacks, a fleece jacket in case it got cold, sun glasses, charged camera, charged cell phone. All I needed was coffee. Mostly because pre-sustinence I looked like this:

Out mission was to go to Four Peaks and hike a couple trails, then head to Four Peaks Brewery for a post hike celebration. While this wasn’t exactly what ended up happening, we had a fantastic adventure day!

After Starbucks, we started our journey for Four Peaks. After driving for an hour or so, we turned onto this dirt trail that said it was route 143, which was supposed to lead us to the trailhead we wanted to start with. And just how long were we supposed to be on this dirt road? Only 12 miles. What started off as a fine dirt road ended up being this winding, continually elevating death trap. I got some great pictures such as this with my BlackBerry, but we decided to head back to the main road:

After a scary turn around, we evaluated further if any roads could possibly be the 143 we needed to head to the Four Peaks trails. However, we were needing a break for food and a place to get out of the car for a few so we headed to a campground. After resting we started to look for a place to eat our lunch. It was then we were approached by a ranger. He asked us if we were just getting in or if we were ending our stay. Eric tells him that we got lost in the mountains and were looking for a place to eat. The ranger thought we were seriously distraught starving people and informed us that if we asked maybe some of the campers might have some food for us. After we explained, he said there was a vineyard a couple miles away that had free picnic areas to eat.

Vineyard? Yes!

On the way to the “vineyard” we passed “Bachelor’s Cove” only the cove was closed and I suspect there were no bachelors. Bummer. I need to find me one of those. I suspect this is where they are all locked away forever from any worthy women.

Were we at the vineyard now? Yes. Was it a vineyard? No! Sure, the sign said vineyard, but we were actually just on a gorgeous view of the lake and amongst some fishermen. Nevertheless, it was a gorgeous view and gave us a chance to eat some lunch. It was now around 11am.

After lunch, we decided to trek to up around Globe, and hit 60 all the way back home. We would see what we found along the way. Our next stop was at a scenic overlook point a few miles past the non-vineyard. We made our way to just about the edge of the lake which was surrounded by mountains and saguaros. I took some GORGEOUS shots:

Afterwards we stopped at the Roosevelt bridge and dam. Gorgeous view:

Next stop? The Tonto National Monument. Silly me for thinking it was actually going to be a monument that was meant to be stared at and admired. Well in that respect I was right. However, it was a cliff dwelling with a trail leading up to it. So we did actually get some hiking in.

Once we hopped back on 60, we found the Boyce Thompson Arboretum and decided to check it out. It was a trail too and so beautiful. I saw some great cactii, breathtaking scenery, and an Australian section to top it off! I even discovered my birthstone is mined in Arizona! Here are some gorgeous photos:

Even though we didn’t hike Four Peaks, we sure as hell ended up there at the end of the day:

After our adventures, all we wanted was a hot tub. When we got to ours, it was cold Hot tub FAIL! Luckily I remembered I had been given a key for the other community across the street because of all the issues we’ve had with ours. We headed over and got to enjoy a nice relaxing dip.

To top off the night I walked to a local bar with Kerri, enjoyed a drink and some UFC fighting and then passed out on the couch with my teddy bear while watching a movie.

Saturday was a great success. I want to thank those that kept me company via Twitter and text while I was on my adventures as well

For more photos, I have the full set uploaded on Picasa and a smaller set on Flickr.