Doggy Backpacks and Watermelon Peaks

I love seeing the humor in this modern culture, and yesterday I saw not one, but two dogs in backpacks. These aren't just any backpacks, they are ones meant to carry babies and kids on your back while you hike. The first one I saw was a lady carrying a small poodle on her back, which made us all laugh. The other one was a guy on a bike who had on a kid carrier with a large golden retriever on his back! I have never seen such a large dog being carried on someones back, that is what makes America so wonderiful everyone.

Yesterday I was invited hiking by my friend, and I pictured a nice leisurely walk for a mile or two. I wasn't prepared for the 3 mile hike and back up and down Albuquerque's 10,000ft Sandia Peak! The desert scrub at around 5,000 ft where we started turned into juniper and pinyon pine trees around 6,000ft, then douglas fir and ponderosa pine around 8,000ft and finally aspen trees applauding us at the top around 9,000ft. I'm a pretty competitive person, so I wasn't going to show the 3 girls and their dogs that I was with that I was out of shape and dying inside. I lasted a few miles and several thousand feet into the sky, keeping up with them and hiding my pain well. Then I couldn't breath, and I felt nauseated and couldn't walk anymore. My company either flys me to South Padre Island or San Diego all the time, so I really live at sea level even though my stuff stays a mile high all the time. My friend stayed with me as I huffed and puffed while sitting on a rock under the pines for several minutes, trying to suck in as much oxygen as possible. Then I had her go ahead with the others, while I forced myself further up the mountain, stopping every few steps for more oxygen. My heart rate was going crazy. I finally caught up to them and we all headed down, much easier than going up. The massaging shower head helped, but my legs still ache. I didn't have enough energy to do anything else yesterday, laying on the sofa with a remote in my hand in my pajamas with a down comforter over my beat up body. I was so worn out, I didn't even want to eat.