Wow. What a Weekend.

Hint hint: we made it!

I don't even know where to begin with all that happened this weekend. I guess I will break it down by day. And I mean really break it down because there is just too much to put into detail.

Friday:

I saw my new rheumatologist. He was very nice and listened to everything I had to say. I believes that I have late stage Lyme disease (third doctor conformation on that) but is also worried about other things that may be happening. He wanted to fully diagnose the Sjogren's disease, so later that day I came back for an ultrasound on my salivary glands and do a Schirmer Tear test. We also pulled a bunch of blood and I learned one of the things we are looking for is Leukemia. Scary.

Fast Lane Johnny was fast.

Happy!

After that, I went to the track to get our handful of horses ready for a few of the races we were in. Fast Lane Johnny was in the Idaho Cup Sprint. He came out of the gate and never looked back. It was an easy win and super fun to watch. I wasn't sure if we could win the next one with Rocky Mtn Freedom, but once again, Rocky went to the front in the Claiming Stakes and stayed there. We also had a mare in for a trainer friend, and she won her race easily as well! It was awesome.

Handsome Rocky

Go buddy go!

Winners!

Saturday:

We got up bright and early to drive about an hour away to pick up 3 tons of hay. Husband was already a little crabby, so when he realized that we were going to run into a triathalon race, he was not amused. We got our hay loaded onto the trailer via tractor, and the best hay man asked if we should try to put some more on top. Why not? Blake strapped the hay down, and again we battled traffic and bikers and it wasn't fun. I told him that things could be worse. Well, we were two turns from home. We had to make a sharp turn, and once the stack started moving there was no stopping it. So, we lost at least half of our stack into the road. We parked the truck and trailer in the parking lot next to us and ran out in between cars to drag bales onto the side walk. Three people stopped to help us. I felt pretty useless (these are 95lb bales of alfalfa) but we got them all out of the way and didn't lose a single bale. One man stayed to help us re-stack and we made it home.

Mr. Mayhem and his daddy.

Boogle had flies all over his face, so he wore a fly mask.

It was also the last race night and we had two in. Nibbles (Outrageous Deal) was in the first in a 3 year old fillies stakes race. This was only her second race, and she is a pretty nervous girl, but Lindsey did a great job ponying her. She ran pretty green, but still tried her heart out and ran a game third place. Tribal Money (Blackie) ran in the last race. It was a mile and 3/16ths, the longest he had ever ran. He came out of the gates flying and got hooked with another horse. They led the entire race, bobbing head and head. They went flying down the stretch for a photo finish. We lost by a nostril. Still, it was an exciting last race and he ran awesome.

Go Nibbles!

The Black beast on the inside.

Sunday:

1.1 Mile area. Sawtooth Wilderness.

Hike day. We were ill prepared because of all of the chaos of the weekend. We got up super early and got ready the best we could before we met up with other friends and started the three hour drive to the trailhead. My brother was late to meet us up there, but finally, we were on the way. We started at a good pace and I had the directions in my hand. We came to the first sign at the 1.1mile marker. My directions said to turn left towards the Alpine Way trail. The sign did not say anything like that. So we kept going on the main trail. We hit another marker. It did not say Alpine Way. So we kept going. After about a quarter mile, we stopped and evaluated. I was pretty sure we were going the wrong way and should had turned left at the first sign. So we went back. The directions started to make sense and I knew we were on the right path.

Going the wrong way led to this awesome picture though.

Cross the "bridge"

Scree. Scree is the devil.

Over the creek and a bridge. And then we encountered some steep switchbacks. This is where I started to have some difficulty. They just kept going up and up and up. I had used my inhaler before hand and taken a hydrocodone. And good thing I did. Finally, we got to a spot that was mostly level. We shuffled through some dense forest area for another mile until we came across our next marker. A sign that said Alpine Way Trail. Huh. Whoever wrote those directions was a little off. 

Evil boulder face.

Brother on top of a rock that has a face.

Just keep climbing. Just keep climbing.

The next battle was climbing the face of a boulder. It was the only way to the path, and it was slick and steep. It involved lots of crab walking and slipping. We made it up and started another ascent up some serious steep and slippery terrain. Two members of our group were exhausted and worried about the climb back down, so they sat out for the rest of the climb up. I could feel my legs screaming at me but I kept going. If I slowed my momentum it was not good, so we just kept pushing. Finally we made it to a ledge where we got a grand look at Goat Falls. A nice man was coming down from above and told us that Goat Lake was just ahead of some scree. We crossed Goat Creek right above the falls and climbed through the scree.

We started at the bottom.

My grandpa's doorag did a good job keeping the sweat out of my eyes. Also, that's the slippery crap we were climbing up.

Almost there!

And there it was. It was so surreal. Turquoise blue waters and still some snow on the surrounding peaks. A mini waterfall of melting snow pouring into the ice cold lake. We took it all in. Ate some sandwhich (yay I ate food!) and my brother and I played across a beaver dam. We couldn't stay too long because we had to get back to our friends but it was amazing. I took another hit on the inhaler and another half of a hydro and we began our descent. 

Goat Falls!

Goat Lake!

Husband enjoying a sandwich.

Look how pretty!

I lub him. Snow behind us.

Oh god. The pain I was feeling was extreme. My legs shook every step of the way down. My knees felt like razor blades. It was steep and slippery. Another friend did not have the grippiest shoes on and she slipped and fell a few too many times. We got back to the boulder and tried a different route. It was the wrong one. Blake got down first. I was crab walking my way down to him. Katie (the slippery one) was behind me and started to slide down the face into me. Blake caught me and her, thankfully, and we didn't plunge into the ravine behind him. 

Brother and I adventuring.

Going back.

March, march.

Come on friends!

We caught up to our other friends and kept heading back. It hurt. It hurt so bad. I wanted to just tuck and roll down the mountain. But I kept silent and used my mental games to keep me moving. At one point I got so far behind everyone. Husband made me take the rest of the hydro before continuing. I shuffled the rest of the way. We finally made it back to the truck. I was done. If I had pushed any harder, I think we may have gotten into trouble. I could feel every breath. But I was pretty proud of myself and my friends. That was not an easy hike. We saw another group on our way back that said that was their second attempt at making it up to Goat Lake in 4 years, and they still weren't going to make it. And I did. Another strike against Lyme.

Look at him go.

Good lookin' crew right there.

Such a weirdo.

I am sore in every possible way today. I was sore before we started the hike yesterday. But it was all worth it. This song is one I was playing in my head yesterday, and it is so incredibly fitting. I encourage you all to take a listen.