Mt. Humphrey's Hike

Last weekend Justin and I along with my brother-in-law Doug completed a hike we have been wanting to do for awhile. We hiked the tallest point in Arizona, Mt. Humphrey's in Flagstaff. My sisters had completed this hike a few years ago when I was super pregnant with Aspen so I have been wanting to do it since I missed it then. I had been looking in to doing it for a while and as we are coming up on monsoon season I knew we either needed to do it know or we wouldn't be able to do it until the end of summer. We were able to get our super cheap Flagstaff hotel room and my mom and sisters were able to help with the girls so a couple of weeks ago we booked the rooms and planned to head up to Flagstaff. We ended up leaving on Thursday night and due to some wildfires, it took us a little longer than planned to get up to Flagstaff but we made it up there and had a super delicious meal at Dara Thai and a couple beers at Historic Brewery. We got up pretty early the next morning and grabbed some Starbuck's before heading up to the mountain. We ended up starting our hike just before 6 AM. The weather was perfect at about 60 degrees. We stopped a couple of times for a quick minute on the way up to pee/grab a snack/apply bug spray but still made it to the summit in 3 hours and 10 minutes. We lucked out and had the summit to ourselves for the entire 30 minutes we were up there. We had a beer even though it was 9 AM and ate some snacks and took a ton of pictures. The last 40-ish minutes of the way up was not necessarily hard but we were ready to be there. Once we got up we were feeling great and thought it would be literally all down-hill from there. Unfortunately, getting down was not as easy as we would have liked. I underestimated how much you have to focus on your way down so that you don't slip on any of the loose dirt or tree roots. It was mentally exhausting. I think we all also got a mild case of altitude sickness because at about 1 hour left we all kinds felt gross and just wanted to be DONE. The mountain definitely got more busy on they way down so if you are planning on doing it I would definitely go early. While it started to get a little warm on they way down, since we were almost done, it wasn't really bad at all. We didn't even have wind at the top so I would definitely recommend this hike in mid-late June (when my sisters did it in late August they were FREEZING). I did not pause my watch while we hung out at the top so I ended up logging just over 11 miles in 6 hours and 15 minutes. We were all beat when we were done and couldn't wait to take a shower. We took a nap after cleaning up before heading out for dinner at our favorite brewery in Flagstaff. The weather was amazing and it was the perfect way to recover after that hike. The next morning we got up and packed up with no set timeline but ended up getting back to Phoenix at 9 AM. It was a super fast drive back, thankfully! We missed out girls but are so glad we were able to make that hike happen. Flagstaff is always a good choice!  Here are some pictures and a little video!

Just as we were starting

 

Amazing views

 

The actual trail doesn't even start for about a mile.


Lots of trees!

Gotta get that snow pic (meanwhile 2 hours away Phoenix is literally on fire) 

Never say no to a 9AM beer

Summit Selfie

Cautiously heading down.
 

Perfect 2 days in Flag!

Strong Beer Fest 2017

This past Saturday I met up with my husbands family to go to the 2017 Arizona Strong Beer Festival. Last year I was unable to go because it was the day before my marathon so Justin went alone. He didn't really want to shell out the money for a ticket this year so I went alone and he stayed home with the girls. I was lucky enough to buy my ticket from a friend at a discounted price which worked out really well. If you ever go to this festival, you need to go VIP. Here is my post from going in 2015 and in 2012. The first year we went we had no idea what we were getting into but it was so much fun and have been coming back ever since! We got so lucky this year and the weather was great! Totally overcast almost the whole day. I feel like the beers this year were stronger than ever before. There were several 14%+ ABV beers. Luckily, I have learned, and I know that it is a long day and you don't have to drink every sip of every beer. I dump things out if I don't like them. I also drink lots of water throughout the day and I make sure to eat as well. After the beer fest we had green chili stew at The Main Ingredient Ale House in downtown Phoenix and that was a delicious end to a super fun day. See you again next year beer fest!

Get in early before the lines!

 

 

VIP got free totes and food

 

Hard to see but those are the general admission lines. Soo long!

 

Really cool brewery from VA honoring veterans.

They had to get a picture with the 12 News weather guy.

A new version of Nut Brown from Oak Creek in Sedona.

Post-drinks dinner. That stew was bomb.

Weekend in Review

We had a great 3-day weekend. It started off with the zoo on Friday and it was really nice to spend all day with the girls. Especially because I leave today for D.C. until Friday so I will miss them! Saturday morning I got up early to run with my sister because we have a 15k coming up in early December. We planned a 9-mile run that basically went nothing like we planned. Somewhere between 2.5 and 3 miles we were running by a car dealership and I saw a piece of metal on the ground but my sister didn't and somehow she got her feet stuck in it and completely tripped. It was a HARD fall and she completely scraped up her elbow and hand. She also hit her hip and ankle and is probably feeling sore today. I have fallen on the trails once but this is her 3rd time falling on the street while running. She is just straight clumsy and totally passed that trait on to her daughter! Poor Mae Mae! My mom was a saint and came to pick up my sister and I had to finish the next 6+ miles by myself, but I know I can't complain because at least I didn't get hurt! After I finished we took Mae to get bagels and eat them at my sisters house. The kids had fun playing together and then we had to head home so we could get ready to go to the NovemBeer festival. We planned to go to celebrate Justin's birthday which is this Friday. It was pretty warm when we first got there but once we got in we quickly got shade from the buildings downtown and it cooled off pretty quickly. By cooled off, I mean we weren't burning up out there but it was by no means fall weather! It was busy at the festival but we had a good group and had a good time. Thankfully my mom and sister helped with the girls so we could spend half the day gone. The girls don't mind at all. They love spending time with Grandma and their cousins. Sunday morning I had a soccer game and got some shopping done before watching the Cardinals game at home and enjoying chili for dinner. Today I head out to Washington, D.C. for work for the rest of the week and I sure am going to miss my family but am glad I got to have a long weekend before leaving.

Too bad she missed out on a good run!

Mae is the best face to see after a 9-mile run.

Perfect fall mornings

NovemBeer festival


We always have fun with this group!

Seneca Park Zoo and Genesee Brewery

Three years ago when we went to Rochester we visited the Seneca Park Zoo and Genesee Brewery and had a great time so we decided to do that again this time. We were able to get into the zoo for half price because we are zoo members in Phoenix so that was nice. It was fun to get to see the polar bear, sea lions and penguins. It is a much smaller zoo than Phoenix but still fun. After the zoo we went to the brewery for lunch. They have really good food and some of the best bacon I have ever had. Also, you can get a flight for $3 so yea. We picked up some souvenirs and had fun in the store while we waited for our table for lunch. The girls were pretty tired after that but it was a great time.

On the left, they use a fake zebra in the lion exhibit to stuff food in. gross!

I have that same pic on the right from 3 years ago!

That snake with a mouse inside him! I have never seen that before!

Managed to get out of the gift shop with only a 51 cent smashed penny

 

Also have this pic from 3 years ago with one less baby!

Love the photo booth! We have one of these from 3 years ago, too.


Got that canned in the brewery for my brother.