Just days after John's return from Paria Canyon was his thirty-fourth birthday - on Saturday, September 30. Although he had initially made plan to go skydiving for his birthday, I managed to talk him out of it, stating that we needed to do something together. When he finally relented, he asked me to pick a car-camping trip and a day hike that we could do as a family, and we would do it.

Of course, I really wanted to go to the Chiricahuas again. That was where John and I had spent our one-year wedding anniversary during the weekend of July 15-16. However, since I was nine months pregnant at the time, I was unable to do any of the fun hikes in the Monument. (Now that my strength was finally returning, I was aching to do the things that I wanted to do but couldn't do because of my pregnancy, for example, the hikes in the Chiricahuas, backpacking trips, etc.) When I mentioned doing the Chiricahuas to John, he insisted that we wait for a three- or four-day weekend before we return there, so that we could spend time really exploring the area. I couldn't argue with that, so I chose another destination.

Keeping in mind that it was probably going to be too cold to camp in the high country, I tried to choose a place where we could camp at 5,000 feet and hike at 7,000 feet. The best place for that was in the Huachuca Mountains, just south of Sierra Vista in southeastern Arizona. We could camp in the lower elevations (i.e. School Canyon, where we had camped before) and hike the Ida Canyon-Oversite Trails as a loop, since we had failed to do so on our first attempt (in February 1999). Naturally, John thought I was nuts. He pointed out that we would be gaining 1,800 feet in elevation over 3.5 miles on the Ida Canyon Trail and that we would lose the same elevation over 2.5 miles on the Oversite Trail, making for a very steep descent. I told him that I knew it would be difficult, but that I needed and wanted the challenge. "Okay," he said, "we'll do it!"

Upon John's return from Paria Canyon, he took a day to try to repair the damage to the van - he had to replace the carrier bearing, which had been damaged during our trip over Four Peaks. However, even after he finished the repairs, he found that there were still problems with the van: it was still grinding at 35 m.p.h. He didn't have time to fix the problem because he had to go back to work early - he needed to be back early because he was trying to get a promotion at work - so we decided to take my car on the trip. (Remember, it's an Oldsmobile, it goes anywhere.) Then, on Sunday, after we returned from our trip, he would finish the repairs, with his father's help.

Since I was still on maternity leave and had lots of time, I made all of the preparations for the trip, with two exceptions: 1) John printed up the topos for the hike, and 2) he also had to pack the water jug because I couldn't lift it. On Thursday afternoon, I started packing the car - and I was amazed how much we could fit into the trunk and backseat of the Oldsmobile! Even after I loaded the ice chest Friday afternoon, there was still room in the back for Mary's car seat, as well as a place for me to sit to feed her during the long drive.

Thursday night, we found out that we were going to be celebrating more than just John's birthday that weekend: John had gotten the promotion! He had been put in charge of the payroll department where he works. To celebrate, I made sure that I packed an extra bottle of wine - two bottles total - so that we could have one Friday night and one on Saturday.

Of course, John didn't know this until I picked him up from work on Friday afternoon. "Only two bottles?" he asked jokingly. "What are we going to drink Saturday night?" We decided then that we would have to stop in Sierra Vista to get a box of wine.

We left at 2:30 p.m. Friday afternoon, after I picked John up from work, and we began our long drive to the Huachuca Mountains, along I-10. Not even an hour after we left, though - just outside of Eloy - it began to rain on us. (Naturally, it had been such a dry week that I wasn't expecting rain!) That wasn't a good sign, considering that our poor 9X8 tent still had a broken zipper!

Except for the rain, our drive to Sierra Vista was uneventful. Then, after we turned off onto SR 90, the adventure began. Just minutes after we began driving south on 90, we began to hear a beeping. I knew exactly what it was: it was John's birthday present, which was wrapped and hidden inside a tote bag. "What's that beeping?" John asked. Naturally, I couldn't just say, "Oh, that's just your birthday present!" because he would have known immediately what it was. So, with a straight face, I replied, "What beeping? I don't hear anything." Then, it stopped, and that was the end of that.

We arrived in Sierra Vista around 5:00 p.m., as the sun was beginning to set. We turned onto Frye Blvd., Sierra Vista's main drag, to look for a grocery store. The first one that we found was several miles down the road: it was a Bashas' Mercado. We assumed that, since it bore the name Bashas', it would be just like any other Bashas' Supermarket, but we were wrong. They didn't even carry wine - not even the box stuff! We gave up on that, so we continued along until we came to a Safeway, where we were able to find the wine in a box, as well as crackers and cheese to go with it.

Once we had taken care of that detail, we continued towards the Coronado National Memorial. By that time, the sun was going down, and we knew that it was going to be dark by the time we reached School Canyon. John pointed that out, so I told him that there were other places we could camp - for example, the side road where we had "played naked" back in February 1999. It was right across from FR 771, which was where we would find the Ida Canyon Trailhead - it was the ideal place for us to camp, and it wasn't very far from Montezuma Pass.

Of course, it was still dark before we even reached Montezuma Pass, so when we found our campsite, we had to set up camp by the light of our headlights. By that time, John was very aggravated, so he immediately went for the wine while I set up the sleeping bags and pumped up the air mattress.

Soon after we arrived, we saw a pair of headlights coming off of Montezuma Pass. The headlights slowly approached us and, much to our surprise, the vehicle pulled onto the side road where we were camped. We discovered that it was the Border Patrol, driving through to check things out. They must have seen us driving down FR 61 in the dark, pull off onto a side road, then turn off our headlights - a move that was sure to alert suspicions. But when the Border Patrol agent saw that we were just a couple of campers and not a group of illegal aliens, he went about his business and left us alone.

After our campsite was set up, John pulled out his telescope and began stargazing, but with the cloud cover it was hard to focus on anything. He gave up on that quickly, so the three of us sat around the camp table and enjoyed the nice, cool evening. John and I drank wine until we were silly; then, around 9:00 p.m. we staggered into the tent and fell asleep.

At one o'clock in the morning, Mary awoke and began fussing, so I fed her and managed to get her back to sleep...only to be awakened again at three a.m. for the same reason. That was during the coldest part of the morning - or, what should have been the coldest part of the morning. It wasn't cold at all; in fact, part of the reason Mary was fussing was that we had dressed her in a bunting, and she was too hot because of it. Once we took it off of her and got her back to sleep, she slept until dawn.

John and I both slept rather soundly that night, despite the air mattress deflating and Mary's fussing - it had to be the wine! The next morning, we both awoke with cotton-mouth and a slight hangover - curse that box wine! I guess that's why they call it "buzz in a box"!

We woke up at 5:30 a.m. that morning, when our eight week-old alarm clock began to fuss for her breakfast. While I fed Mary, I wished John a happy birthday, then Mary and I gave him his birthday presents. Mary gave him "Peter, Paul and Mommy" by Peter Paul and Mary. Then, when I gave him my present, I asked him if he remembered the beeping he had heard last night. It was coming from his new watch! He laughed, stating that I had gotten him good; he never even thought that the beeping could have been coming from a birthday present!

After getting ourselves and Mary ready for the day, we prepared to leave for our day hike. I started to make sandwiches for the hike, but John asked me if we really needed them. "It's a seven mile hike," he pointed out, "and part of it is all downhill. That means that we'll probably be back by noon, if we start hiking at eight."

"You're probably right," I said, so I put the sandwich stuff away and packed only a few Power Bars. I really did expect to be back by noon, even though I knew that the trail was going to be a big challenge for me.

When we were ready, we started for the trailhead, along FR 771. Although we were camped just a few miles from the trailhead, it took us a little longer than anticipated to get there, because the road was worse than we thought. It was so bad that we decided to park at the gate instead of the trailhead, because we didn't want to risk getting the car stuck or damaged. This, of course, would added two miles to our hike, but fortunately, these added miles were easy.

So our hike began at the gate, and for the first mile we walked along FR 771 until we reached the fork in the road. The right fork continued on towards the Oversite Trailhead, and the left fork was where we would find the Ida Canyon Trail. Having gotten lost on the Oversite Trail before, we decided to take the Ida Canyon Trail first and finish on the Oversite Trail.

The Ida Canyon Trail, though steep in some sections, is a very scenic trail that switchbacks up to the top of Ida Canyon then wraps around the mountain, enters a lush, cool forest where one can find Bear Spring, and finally ascends steeply towards Bear Saddle. Along the way, there are some wonderful views of the valley below the Huachucas, as well as some great views of the mountains into which we were climbing. There are several mines to be found, including one where we also found the engine of an old truck and a winch. As we hiked, I couldn't help but stop often to admire the scenery as I caught my breath - it certainly felt good to be back in the wilderness again!

This was Mary's second wilderness area, and unlike her first two hikes, she was very alert during the whole hike. Her big blue eyes were bright as she watched the world go by, as though she was fascinated by what she could see (keep in mind that she could only focus twelve inches from her face). We were both happy to see her so rapt by her surroundings.

By 11:00 a.m., we finally reached Bear Spring, which was the halfway point of our hike. That was when John realized that we should have packed sandwiches - he didn't know that it would take us that long to get to that point, but he also couldn't predict how fast I would be able to hike up the hill. My pace was much slower than it had ever been, because of the fact that I had had surgery eight weeks before, and I was getting very tired.

We stopped and rested for a long time at Bear Spring. While John refilled our camelbacks from the spring, I put Mary down on a receiving blanket on the forest floor, so that she could look at the pine trees and butterflies around her. She was calm for a few minutes; then, she began to flail her arms, kick her legs, and smile and coo as she watched the pine boughs sway in the cool breeze and as the butterflies fluttered overhead. Could it be that she enjoyed being in the outdoors, just like her parents?

Although I was very tired, and I had a blister on my ankle, I insisted that we continue hiking towards Bear Saddle, which was still a half a mile away - and it was going to be a brutally steep half-mile! It was so steep that it took us about an hour to get there; we finally made it to the saddle at 12:30 p.m. I couldn't believe that I had made it, despite all of the pain and trauma that I had been through during the first eight weeks of Mary's life. I can't even begin to describe what an incredible feeling it was to have accomplished such a challenge.

From Bear Saddle, it was another four miles back to the car: a half a mile on the Crest Trail, two and a half miles on the Oversite Trail, and another mile along FR 771. The half-mile on the Crest Trail was quite easy; it went uphill for about a hundred feet, but then it began to descend again just before we reached the junction with the Oversite Trail. The first mile of the Oversite Trail was also pretty easy, and we were able to make very good time on that part, which was good because we could hear thunder rumbling in the distance. If we didn't hurry, we were going to get soaked when that storm hit.

Then, we hit the switchbacks, and once again our pace slowed to a crawl. The switchbacks on the Oversite Trail were not just steep but ridiculously steep. Some of the switchbacks were almost vertical, making it almost impossible for us to hike down them. Even John was afraid of slipping and falling, because he was the one carrying Mary. (Fortunately, he didn't fall, but he came close several times.) During one particularly bad switchback, he lost Mary's bottle; it rolled down the hill, into the trees. As soon as I made it down the switchback, he handed Mary to me then carefully hiked down the hill to get it.

There were two other very bad switchbacks, one of which I slid down on my butt. The other one, John helped me find my way down a shortcut ... and I managed to drop our brand new camera down the hill! Again, he waited until I finished the switchback; then he hiked down to retrieve the camera.

After struggling down the switchbacks, we finally made it to the creek, which meant that the hard part was over. Fortunately, the storm had dissipated by that time, without ever hitting us, so we no longer had to worry about that, and once the switchbacks were behind us, the rest of the hike was an easy jaunt downhill all the way back to the car. It didn't take us long to finish the trail, and around 3:00 p.m. we found ourselves at the gate - the hike was over, and we had completed the loop! Despite the fact that I was extremely tired and hungry (Power Bars just don't fill you up!), I felt incredibly good.

Upon returning to camp, the first thing we did was pour ourselves some wine; then, we pulled off our boots and put on our sneakers, and finally, we changed Mary's diaper. Once all three of us were happy and comfortable, we sat down and relaxed until dinnertime.

For John's birthday dinner, we had steak and a bottle of Merlot. Then, we washed that down with the rest of the box wine - the buzz in a box. Pleasantly buzzed, we then opened up the last of the wine - a bottle of Chardonnay. With that, we were nicely drunk - so drunk that we were asleep by 9:00 p.m. that evening. (Fortunately, Mary had fallen asleep an hour before that, so she was already in the tent.)

The next morning, we decided to forgo the hike to the Coronado Cave and head home early so that John could work on the van - we were also planning to do John's birthday with his parents. We finished breaking camp by 7:30 a.m., and shortly thereafter, we were on the road.

We chose a different route to take us home. Instead of returning via the Coronado Memorial or through Nogales, we took SR 83, which took us by Parker Canyon Lake and into the winery town of Sonoita. Most of SR 83 was dirt, which made John remark that Arizona must be the only state in the union with unpaved state highways! Just before entering Sonoita, at the Santa Cruz county line, the road was nicely paved, to which John added, "At least Santa Cruz county takes care of their roads!" Then, after passing through Sonoita, the road, though paved, became bad again. There were rectangular sections of the road that had been dug up but never resurfaced, and we had to swerve into the opposite lane to avoid them. John was certain that we had entered Pima County, because the road was so poorly maintained!

We eventually merged onto I-10, just outside of Tucson. That was when John got a great idea; he suggested that we drop by my mother's house so that she could see Mary briefly. My mother was very happy to see her granddaughter, and John scored son-in-law points for suggesting the idea.

We arrived home around noon, and around two o'clock we went to visit John's parents to tell them of our adventure. After the van was fixed, we sat around and drank - what else - more wine from the box!

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