What is one of the worst things that can happen to a home baker during the holidays? The oven goes out. That’s right. What started with a dry Thanksgiving turkey ended with an error code. Wait, it gets better. We spent Monday afternoon in the ER after I took a tumble jogging with Lucia. No worries, just an enormous holiday shiner to contend with along with a bruised ego.

Last Friday, black eye be damned, I left the sunglasses behind and headed out to Dreamy Draw Recreation Area for a hike with Dave and the pups.

It was a simple loop hike, about four miles roundtrip with close to 900 ft of elevation. From the back of the Dreamy Draw parking lot, we took trail 100 to 1A, stopping at a bench to look out towards north Phoenix.

Eventually, we turned left onto the VOAZ (Volunteers of Arizona) trail, which is where views became spectacular. 

Dreamy right? Dreamy Draw was named back in 1916 when miners in search of copper, discovered some potentially large deposits of cinnabar. Cinnabar is the mineral that gets processed down to extract mercury—and mercury is a neurotoxin. According to John Southard, a Phoenix-area historian, the miners in the area would leave and be in a dreamy state, so they were returning from the Dreamy Draw.

With everything that happens in the world these days, it still amazes me how being outdoors can elevate one’s outlook. Although we have done this hike many times, the beauty of it still overwhelms me.

There is a phrase I remember hearing back when I lived in Baton Rouge. Whenever anyone was feeling sorry for themselves, someone would respond with, “Why don’t you go out into the garden and dig up some worms?” Strange saying, but applicable in my case. Thankfully, all we had to do was go out the back door and climb some mountains.