Um ya, hi, it's me!

Oh MAN. I am wiped. I changed my schedule at work from Mon-Fri to Sun-Thurs and I didn't realize what a tole it would take on me! 

Last week I had to work on Friday, had Saturday off, and then had to start my 'new' week and go to work on Sunday. On the Saturday that I had off, I volunteered to take pictures of a bike race that was happening on the mountain, which consisted of a few mile hike and a bad sunburn on my face and ears. For the first couple hours I was by myself taking pictures while Vince was down the trail offering people water and making sure they didn't take the wrong turn.

This was my first time taking pictures like this, and it was fun!

After a while, most people were walking the hard part of the trail that I was taking pictures at, so I found Vince and took pictures near him of the riders going uphill.

{This guy was STOKED to have his picture taken!}

For the majority of the day I was wearing a long sleeve shirt so I didn't get burned, but I stupidly didn't put sunscreen on my face or ears! I finally put some on about an hour before we left, but I was already burned by that point. Now my face is peeling because of it, which drives me nuts.

After all the riders had gone by, Vince and I decided to go hike on a trail that was part of a HUGE fire last year in June. I don't think I ever blogged about it, but it's one of the saddest things that has happened in my life to Flagstaff. Some idiot started a fire at the top of the mountain by leaving a campfire unattended, and it just spread and was unstoppable for a few days. About a thousand homes were evacuated but miraculously, no buildings were burned and everyone was safe! Here are some pictures {that I did NOT take} of the fire that burned about 15,000 acres of forest:

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When the fire was burning, the neighbors and I climbed on top of our 2 story roof and we could see the actual flames because they were so monstrous. Airplanes and helicopters were constantly flying over our house. It was incredibly sad; Vince cried, the neighbors cried...it was heartbreaking. These were the trails and mountains that we hiked and that Vince rode!

So anyways, we went to one of the trails that the fire destroyed and it was breathtaking. I knew that the fire was extremely close to a huge neighborhood, but I didn't realize HOW close until I was up at the top of the mountain looking down. It was so crazy to see all the black dead trees and to see exactly how much 15,000 acres really is. It was also interesting to see how washed out and eroded everything was. Now that there is nothing to slow rain water from monsoon season down, the neighborhoods at the bottom of the mountain got flooded last year with tons of water and debris, and probably will again this year. Here are some pictures of what it looks like now, that I took:

So after all that hiking and sad views, I was tired. I definitely didn't want to wake up super early on Sunday before work and shuttle Vince and a friend to the top of the mountain so they could race, but I did! 

I definitely didn't get enough down time on my one day weekend, so I am now going to thoroughly enjoy this TWO day weekend! Maybe I'll catch up on some blogging, too...