With Kim suffering from a third day of being sick, I decided to take a couple hours and hit the lanes with an old bowling pal. I had a pretty decent afternoon, scoring a 217, 216, and 212, for a quite respectable 215 average. It’s one of the highest 600 series I’ve ever had. I wonder if it was having two days off this weekend off (a rarity in the last year or so), or if it might have been my own rebuttal to Kim’s record-breaking last week. I’m not sure, but it certainly made for an enjoyable afternoon. Too bad Kim was stuck at home.
It’s been a tough week, and I decided that I should skip out on two service projects and take the weekend off. 
Unfortunately, Kim’s pretty sick, so we weren’t able to go camping as I had originally intended. Instead, I left Kim at home on Saturday and met my mom for a short hike in the Phoenix Mountains, a just a few miles from the house.
We started at the 40th Street trailhead and proceeded up the unnamed trail towards the eastern-most peaks of the preserve. After a short while, the trail starts to get a bit steep. Mom had to stop quite a bit, and even i was feeling a bit winded, but he continued. Reaching the top, nearly 850 vertical feet later, provided some outstanding 360-degree views. You can see just about every range within 60-75 miles from up there. Despite hiking in that area for years, Kim and I had never actually gone to the top; I think you’ll find us make this trip much more frequently now. It was a pleasant surprise. Check out the photos if you’d like.
