Getting Back Out There

It has been humid. I mean sticky. Disgustingly icky. Despite sayings to the contrary, Arizona is not always a dry heat in August and September. Combine that with temps over 100 and it can be rather unpleasant. There were a couple of tropical storms/hurricanes in the Pacific that brought us this fun. It brought rain too, but Fountain Hills didn't see as much of it as other cities in Arizona did. We did see enough to bring out the mosquitos though. Thanks to that, I wondered how many people would brave the park for free movie night. The movie was Legos. We asked friends with kids if adults would enjoy this movie too, got a yes, so thought, why not?

The night wasn't overly buggy and was much warmer than the last movie night when we froze our butts off, ironically while watching Frozen. Our biggest disappointment was that the same temporary snack stand that had been there last time selling what you'd expect to eat/drink at a movie wasn't there. Instead it was Chik-Fil-A. Obviously they were sponsoring the event (thank you), but who wants a chicken sandwich during a movie? Okay, it turned out lots of people did, but still. They're not even a local business. We sulked a bit that we didn't have popcorn (obviously, we'd have brought some if we'd known), but eventually got over it.

The movie itself was weird. It took a long time for the kids to calm down (over an hour), so we missed a lot of the dialog, and people just stood or walked in front of other people as if they were in their living rooms or something (you can see an example of that in that photo below right - those adults stood there like that long into the movie), but what we did hear/see was strange. Funny, but strange.



Anyway, it was a nice way to spend a Saturday night out. Sunday, I decided I couldn't take it any more, wrapped my foot up and hit the 2 1/2 mile (if done both ways) Overlook Trail by the fountain. I normally do this trail (jogging) about 2-3 times/week. The last time I was here, a month ago (aack!), I was just feet away from a coyote that was crossing the trail in front of me. I gave him the right-of-way.



I haven't worn the boot since it was given to me. It was truly overkill, and I have things to do. I have refrained from running and hiking though and was starting to go through withdrawals. So off I went. It was the perfect length. Can you tell I was enjoying myself?

It felt good, but would have become more painful if I'd picked a longer hike, particularly one with steeper/longer downhills. It was just what the doctor ordered, just don't tell my doctor - ha! It was so worth it.

No swelling, much less bruising. This was just to make sure it stayed that way.
Jack doing his Renee impression in the background.

We had another dust storm roll through, as well. We were at our favorite sub place, Uncle Sam's, clogging our arteries with their big cheese hoagie & fries (no one's good all the time), when a dozen smartphones, including mine, blared out an alarm. Everyone looked down at the same time. Everyone mumbled "dust storm" at the same time. It was kind of surreal to have everything go in unison like that. The alert said to avoid travel, but of course, we headed right out. It was south of us, and we drove parallel to it. They're always cool, if you're not driving in them.

It's supposed to be a drier week but with humidity creeping back in by the weekend. I'll be leaving town for a week, so am going to miss the Ballet Under The Stars on Thursday (free),

And Octoberfest ($5) over the weekend.

Maybe Michael will go and take some photos. I wonder if temps will be under 100 when I get back. Yes, please.