Saturday March 2, 2024,
I woke up at 1 a.m. and wrote my blog until 4:30 a.m. I was now caught up on my blog and it felt good. I went back to sleep and sleep until 7:30 a.m. Angel had woken up earlier and kept trying to wake me up and I kept asking her to let me sleep. Finally I gave up on sleeping longer and got up. I made Angel toast and fed Little Bit and made tea and a smoothie. I drank the rest of yesterday’s smoothie and ate a tangelo. Fresh picked tangelos are so amazing.
Angel and I decided our first adventure of the day would be climbing a mountain. Angel wanted to climb up the mountain above Tucson that had an “A” painted on it. Missy said it was called Sentinel Peak and I looked up how to get there. I made a smoothie, packed snacks and water and we headed out. When we got to the parking area there were a lot of people there and the parking lot was full. I found a place to park along the side of the road. Angel wanted to climb up to a peak that was next to the road but was not the one with the letter “A”. We found a trail and headed up. It has been a few years since I climbed a mountain and it is much different than the hills in Texas. I could feel the burning in my calves and muscles being used that weren’t used to being used. I enjoyed the feeling and happily climbed away, going at a steady pace. Little Bit climbed along with me, smiling and happy. Angel climbed ahead of us, full of energy and at full speed. She would get way ahead and would rest until I caught with her, then she would be off again at full speed. I took pictures of plants as I climbed and enjoyed the view. There were beautiful wild flowers everywhere and when we reached the top, we were greeted by a field of lovely yellow flowers. I love mountains so much. They are so majestic and beautiful.
We stood at the top taking in the view for a few minutes. Then Angel asked to go back down and climb the other peak that actually had the letter “A” on it. We found a trail that went down the other side and had an easy walk back down. Angel wanted to walk the road to the other peak and it was much easier walking the road instead of a trail but not as much fun. When we were almost to the top, Angel had had enough of the boring road and we took a trail up the rest of the way, stopping at one point to eat and drink some water. I ate a tangelo and Angel ate a peanut butter and honey sandwich.
Angel was excited when we reached the letter “A”. We finished climbing to the top and there was a group of people up there with a tour guide. We took in the view but didn’t stay long since it was crowded. We found a trail down the other side that looked like it headed back to where the car was parked. We started on the trail but after a while it turned and was taking us away from the car. I kept watching for a side trail that would take us back the other way and finally came up to a small trail headed in the direction we wanted to go. We hadn’t gone very far down that trail when it suddenly disappeared. So the rest of the way down the mountain we picked our way through the shrubs and cactus. It was slow going, the rocks shifted and slid under our feet and some places were impassable with thick cacti and we had to find another way through.
Finally we made it to another trail going the right way but by that time Angel discovered she had tiny cactus needles in her arms and on her clothing, poking her in the leg and stomach. I picked out what I could but they were the tiny orange hairs that you can barely see and there was no way I could get them all. She was uncomfortable but we made it to the car and headed back to Missy’s. When we got there, she changed clothes and with Missy’s help, we got the rest of the needles out.
Next we were going swimming at my nieces pool at her apartment building. I made another smoothie (I had drank my other one already) and fed Angel before we headed out again. Angel was super excited to go swimming. My niece greeted us when we got there and we went out to the pool. It was a heated pool and felt amazing. I asked my niece all about herself and enjoyed getting to know her. Then we played water tag with Angel which was great fun as well as a good work out. I am getting a lot of work outs in while I’m here and I’m glad. After years of being sick and suffering from chronic infections, severe mental illness, obesity, IBS, horrible arthritis and inflammation, just to name some of the ailments I suffered from; I am always grateful I found a way to heal. Feeling young and vibrant is such a blessing. Thank you fresh fruits and vegetables for keeping me youthful and allowing me to thrive. Thank you to God for showing me the way and creating the plants and trees that provide fresh fruits and vegetables.
While we were swimming, I got out for a minute to check my phone and I had a message from a Facebook friend named Chris that I hadn’t met before but we’ve been good friends on Facebook for 15 years or more. We both used to be on a website called 30 Bananas a Day that promoted eating raw food. He asked if I would be interested in meeting in person at a public park. I had an immediate yes to that. I’ve enjoyed his positive posts on Facebook and he’s always been very respectful. I knew he was the real deal. We set up a time in about an hour. I knew that my niece had other things she wanted to do and didn’t want to take up too much more of her time. We swam for a while longer and then said goodbye and thanked my niece for letting us swim at her place.
We met Chris at a park about 15 minutes away. His mom was with him and it was great to meet them both. We talked for a couple of hours or so while Angel played on the playground equipment. There were a lot of kids there and she was happy to have other kids to play with. Chris, his mom and I had wonderful conversations and all shared our stories about why we changed our diets to vegan and raw. It’s so inspiring to hear other people’s stories about how they reversed their health problems through changing their diet and lifestyle. When it started to get dark we said our goodbyes and shared a group hug. I felt honored to officially meet them. They are beautiful, kind hearted people.
When we arrived back at Missy’s house, Angel colored and I did a crossword puzzle. Then Missy and I played a game of scrabble while Angel bathed and laid in bed listening to a Bobbsey Twins audiobook. The scrabble game went on for a couple of hours. Missy and I are pretty evenly matched and we each took a long time doing our turns. We finally finished the game and Missy won. I took a quick bath and got into bed. I told Angel good night and went to sleep at around 10 p.m.
Thank you for reading my blog and being a part of my life. I dearly appreciate you.
Love,
Victoria