Walking the Grand Canyon

While in the Grand Canyon we walked up and down hills. This was the most challenging exercise I did. As You can see the Canyon is huge and with an greater elevation (8000 feet/2438 m above sea level), it makes the walking there more of a work out. My heart rate reached it's burn rate faster, and stayed there the longest.



This kind of walking I like, the scenery changes often and if you keep your eyes opened and looking up, the things to see was a once in a life time sight. As to the California Condor in this Photo. You can enlarge it to really see him.
These birds are rare to see in the Wild, only about 172 in the wild, all live in the Grand canyon region.
In all to plan a vacation with some challenging walking was a great choice.
You can Click on all the photos to enlarge them.





Our guide was great. Some of us walked and he had things for the ones who stayed behind. See the Castle in the background, My daughter and I walked up to the top of it, so many steps.
The exercise was well worth it.
In all to plan a vacation with some challenging walking was a great choice.

If you would like to know more about the California Condors visit A RareSighting.

Our Sweet Tooth- Our Weakness

Why is it that we have such a Sweet tooth? I got to thinking while on vacation, How come those desserts sound so good, Cotton Candy at the fairs are a must, Candy Factory's are such fun and samples are every where. We went to a Old time Fourth of July Party and don't you know there was cotton candy for only 2 dollars.

Then we visited Patsy's chocolate factory in Colorado. The history was they started out making flavored Popcorn and Cotton Candy then moved to taffy (the kind that does not stick to the teeth), later came the chocolates. It was a small factory they gave tours,so we went on it. The owners fed us Freshly made Flavored popcorn, Taffy( which we watch him make and had it right off the machine), Then came the freshly made chocolates. I will say it was very good!! White water rafting wasn't any exception cookies were awaiting us after all that hard work. On every tour we took there was sweets. Cookies, candies and if that weren't enough there was the mountain ice cream.
It seemed that every where we went people where handing out Sweets.
Even at the Bubba Gumps store they were handed out samples of Mama Gump Kitchen Gourmet Chocolate, you know from the movie " Forrest Gump". Forrest Pinned the phrase "Life a like a box of chocolate, you never know what you're gonna get."I tried not to buy a box.


After each dinner there was that question " Did you save room for dessert?" We ate at this one place called "Pine Country Restaurant", on route 66, they were known for their Pies. Oh not just a couple pies but a list so long it had it own Menu. When the pies came to you it was not skimpy I believed 3 people could of enjoyed one piece and been satisfied! We ended up taking the pie pieces back to nurse on them for two more days!
So here we are five pound heavier than when a started on the trip. I am sure it was all the sweets!! Why are we so weak when it comes to the sweets?

Freedom of Choice, Still Ours?

While surfing the Blogosphere I came across a Blog "My Life as a Mother and Single Parent". She had an arcticle on the HR3200, health plan. I thought it was interesting because my Dad was just talking about it this afternoon. His feeling is if this is passed it would promote euthanasia. His life would not be important to the medical world because of his age! I do not know if I agree with him. There seems to be a lot of opinions out in the computer world,newspapers, blogs, and individuals. I agree with the statements on this is a free country and should remain that way in the Medical choices of each citizen of the United States of America. However I do feel there needs to be some competition within the health insurance companies. As it stands most companies has a board of people( not always made up of Doctors) who decide if the treatment is needed. My feeling is, if a person wants to have a certain treatment and their Family Doctor agrees it should be covered! It does not matter if the company wants to pay or not. A person has paid into the company for years and now needs treatment for some problem, so it should be allowed. Oh yes one could go to the courts and have the judge decide but, sometimes the time needed had expired and the person dies or the treatment will not work because it wasn't started early enough before the decision is render.

Now I copy and pasted this Opposion to the H.R. 3200 for those whom oppose it. I do not have an answer to this health problem in our country. All I can say is we need to make sure we are still free to choose our Medical Care. I do not want a state runned program for all!!
The HSLDA recommends emailing the following message. You can use part or all of it. Feel free to copy and paste it. “Please oppose H.R. 3200, the ‘America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009.’ I am opposed to H.R. 3200’s creation of home visitation programs through grants to the states. Parents, not federal or state officials, should make child-rearing decisions for their young children. Additionally, H.R. 3200 will expand the federal government’s role, the federal deficit, and will interfere with medical decisions between my doctor and me.”

What is your Feeling on this matter?

If I Could Blog Back Time- Cooking Stories

over at Lola's Diner today topic is "Worst Cooking Disasters". Every Thursday there is a topic spoke of in the Diner, Grab a cup of Joe and a Seat and come on in..Join the conversation. Link up at Lola's Diner.

It was the early 60's Mom was in the hospital, I am the only girl in of family of 3 boys and a Dad. This was the first time Mom was not home, She had always done the cooking. Dad ask me to cook so, I decided I could make Pancakes. That should be easy, use Betty Crocker Pancake Mix. Heat the Pan on the stove and pour the cakes into the pan. So the pan was hot I mixed the pancake mix and put it in the pan...For some of you younger folks we did not have non-stick pans! and There wasn't Microwave pancakes out, Heck there wasn't even a Microwave in our town! So the pancakes stuck to the pan and burned black. Dad made me clean the pan, it took me days!!! and I used SOS pads! Now my brothers did not want me to cook for them again.
This is another cooking story. It was also in the 60's, after the Pancake episode. Wanted to make a cake. Easy right? Betty Crocker Cake mix. I prepared the pans this time, greased and floured. The cake came out perfect. All were very pleased. Needed to ice it, did not know you needed to wait until it cooled! So the icing disappeared in the cake. Just a sugary mess. My middle brother,to this day, will not let go of that memory.
Now onto the Whip cream. Same Year, Mom made whip cream from the cream on top of the Fresh milk. She thought is would be easy for me to make...Okay I put the cream into the mixing bowl added sugar and turned on the electric beaters. Let it beat until it looked like whip cream. Who knew I could make sweet Butter!

My First Cooking tries did not turn out too good. My family still to this Day, Speaks of them. By the way did you know I have a CookBook Website? Yes I have learned how to cook Pancakes from Scratch, Bake cakes one can enjoy with great frosting, and even learned how to make Whip Cream from Scratch. I will say I have become such a good cook that all have gained plenty of pounds. Now I am learning to cook for health and to aide in losing pounds with out starving. I have come a long way for my beginning cooking years. Still learning and still have disasters once in a while.

Vacation Weight?

Staying fit on vacation is very hard. I tried to eat the right foods; fish, veggies, fruit and stay away from fast foods, potato chip, fries, baked goods, breads. Balancing the sweets and starches have been a challenge. Tomorrow is weigh-in day and I am a little worried, I think I did gain some weight even though I was careful. So tomorrow will tell. I will be at home with my own scales.
Had a lot of fun on the GoWestMyFriend trip. Tried new things and did a lot of walking. One thing that is hard is the family hinders me, Hubby can not walk due to his back and legs, Daughter is a teen and for some reason thinks like her father, Not wanting to walk. On the other hand I could Just Walk forever!! Even with my bad leg nerve! Anyway I will have to start back on the exercise routine and eating healthier. How do you weather on vacations?

Now in Colorado, just out side of Denver in the Royal Gorge. We booked a rafting trip with Water Rafting. Boy did we have fun! We did so well that we feel next time we will try a even harder course. No one fell off the boat and we all got plenty wet. The water temp was 50ish so we rented Wetsuits. I have to say I just loved the cold water, it must be my hormones because it felt very nice to me. The trip Down the gorge was 9 Miles, took about 1.5 Hours. The water was the highest it has been in some years. That meant the white water was really swirling.