Little Horse Trail

We tried to do the tea cup hike again today....again a FULL parking lot...we are going to have to figure out how to better time this hike. So we headed a different direction and tried another hike we have never done. Which way should we go....

We first went left and took the Mystic Trail which gave us a nice view of The Chapel of the Holy Cross...can you see it?
 

How about now? We have been to this chapel several times, it is beautiful and serene and built so nicely right into the Sedona red rocks.
 

We looped back to the beginning and then took the Little Horse Trail. I just love these big old dead trees. 

Courthouse Butte is on the left and Bell Rock is on the right.
 

Yes that ledge is the trail...and is actually nothing compared to a trail we did on Bell Rock.
 

This is Cathedral Rock off in the distance.
 

We hiked an easy 2.3 miles.

Bramble Berry Fragrance Review - Beau Brummel

Today I soaped Beau Brummel from Bramble Berry. The scent is described as...

 

Tobacco and black tea are the dominate notes with hints

of fruit and spice. This fragrance is heady, masculine and

evokes images of the classic well dressed gentleman

 

I made this the day we were going on a hike, and I guess I was excited for that...I forgot to take pictures as I went, but here it is in the mold.

 



I used my guest sized mold as this batch was for a custom order.

I love this scent! My nose isn't the best at always picking up all the notes of fragrance oils...but I just know I like what I like. To me at first sniff...this scent is honeylicious!! Then I do pick out the other notes. This fragrance oil is wonderful to soap, no acceleration and no discoloration....two huge plus' in me liking a fragrance oil and wanting to use it again.  

Here I have pictured 3 different sizes, regular bar (center), half sized bars (left) and guest sized bars (right).

In our shop you will find it listed as Arizona Moonlight as we used to embed a "moon" into the soap log...maybe someday we will bring that back.

A Hike and a Soap

First the soap, gotta work before play :)

OK...That was easy...so off we gooooo.....
I have wanted to do what is called the tea cup hike for months now...so today finally gets to be the day, here we are entering Sedona...

...we drive to the trailhead........we missed the turn...turn around, but the car behind us (who also missed the turn) turns around first and we enter the parking lot behind them.....WHAT?? Sign says only 14 cars at a time.....take a wild guess who was #15???!!!!!!! We wait a minute to see if anyone is leaving...only to find the car that beat us in there....is just eating in their car??!!??!!  Sadly we leave...pure silence in the car as I am so disappointed. So The Hubs just drives...gorgeous views on the drive to ???? 

Then he parks and says we can do this trail....OK...so I still get a hike today, the smile returns. :) 
Can you believe we are wearing shorts in February?? Love our AZ weather!!!!

We are doing Fay Canyon today...

I have heard of it but neither of us have done it before...so off we go.....  

 

This is a manzanita....looks big in this photo but I stand taller than it. To me they are bonsai looking and I love the red colored trunks, they are much prettier in person than my photo is showing.

I love this rock formation we saw....

Zoomed in it looks like a face, I see hair, eyes, a nose, a chin...and even an ear!

and here is the backside of the "face"...looks so precariously perched from this angle.

 
 
 

 
 We come to the end of the maintained portion of the trail, somehow in our picture taking we gained 2 tenths of a mile as the trail is only a tad over a mile. 

So we have our snack here...overhear a conversation that 10 minutes down the unmaintained portion are some indian ruins...so we mentally note that for a future hike and start back....when what do we find without even trying?? a geocache!

I have mentioned caching in my earlier blogs, but we have been so busy  we haven't been able to go, but this year we are beginning again so stay tuned for those adventures.
 

I was sad I didn't get to do the trail I have been wanting to do...but this trail was so gorgeous that our day turned out even better than planned...look at this map.... 

...so many trails...so little time...so I guess we best get going here. :)
Some of these look long so they will be picnic days...what are your favorite snacks/lunches for hiking?

Happy Valentines Day

The Hubs and I don't always exchange much for Valentines Day, usually just something small...so this year I decided to be silly with his gift and get him a bunch of snacks and have a fun play on words with a lil note on each item...

What did I buy?
Kool-Aid - "you're KOOL"
Cream Soda - "i SODA think you are amazing"
Strawberry Crush - "i have a CRUSH on you"
Goldfish - "you oFISHally have my heart"
Hot Tamales - "you are one HOT TAMALE"
Swedish Fish - "you're a great catch"
Peanuts - "i'm NUTS over you"
Pop Rocks - "you ROCK"
Gummy Bears - "life would be unBEARable without you"
Hot Wheels - "i WHEELie love you"
Reece's Pieces - I love you to PIECES"
Almond Joy - 'it's a JOY being married to you"
Cereal - "i CEREALsly love you"
Animal Crackers - "our life may be a circus sometimes, but i'm glad we're in it together"

Then I put them all in a basket.

And topped it off with a ginormous balloon.

I left it out on the couch for him to find when he gets up at 4am for work. 

Just a fun styled Valentine to shake it up this year...and he LOVED it!!!

What is the funnest/silliest Valentine you ever gave/received?