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Green Valley Spa - Part 2
Written by: Dominick A. Miserandino
Photography by: Margherita Miserandino
Who would go to a spa to relax and yet still hike in the mountains every day?
Picture it: There’s an 80-foot cliff and we’re both tied to a rope to go down the cliff together. I’m not sure what she thought rappelling was, but it seemed as if she finally became aware as we were tied onto the rope and looking down the cliff.
She gave me a look that seemed a cross between a cry for reassurance and an oncoming stroke. I reassured her that all would be fine. I even said it in a calming voice as I was dangling from the rope. This was no easy feet.
Ten feet further down we were barely started on our journey and she stopped. She couldn’t really grasp the concept of gravity and wasn’t coming down naturally.
I was only slightly worried.
The rain started coming down and I was just a bit more worried.
The wind picked up to 40 miles an hour and my happy bride was dangling above me alongside the cliff. I was worried a tad bit more.
"Don’t worry honey, everything is fine," I said while dangling ten feet further below her.
Anyway, back from the tangent, down below was Sam who, although not a photojournalism major or an accredited photographer, encouraged us to pose and smile and basically have a great old time.
We of course made it to the bottom safely.
Then came the next day. Damn, this involves a tangent, immediately after the last one, but two tangents in a row might just set us back straight. After all, four lefts can take us straight.
On the next hike, we met Russ, the old man who defies logic. He’s simply walking Viagra. You can grind up that man’s ashes and use the dust to cure a variety of problems involved in aging.
Russ and Sam were leading the hike up Valentine Mountain. It’s not really a mountain but a few mountains, but that’s another story. Also, everything is red out in the desert so that’s a bit over an overlap in the name Valentine, but that’s a horse of a different color.
Here’s good natured, smiling Sam and Russ. Russ looks to be an average old man, not a day under 75. We later learned that he’s close to 80 but he had the look of a grandfather. Russ looked like you’d expect an old person to look. I’ll say it:
He looked like an old man should look
Needless to say, Margherita felt a renewed sense of confidence with hiking and said, "Lets stick next to him." We were both a slight bit of age-ists and assumed that Russ would walk at a slow pace. The elderly aren’t known for running up mountains.
What we didn’t know of were his recent escapades at marathons or his hiking experience for more than 75 years. The man is not human. He ran up the mountain and climbed sheer cliffs. He scales walls like a gecko and leaps up dry rocky riverbeds like a hyperactive rabbit on amphetamines. Then, at the top if the mountain, he looks down at you with a smile and offers to carry you up on his shoulders. Later on he’ll wrestle mountain lions for fun.
Yes, Russ was clearly a highlight but I need to regress back to Sam. Sam saw my face. It was sad. I loved the hike, it was actually one of my favorites but I also took a vow within our marriage and saw that vow encountering a new dilemma. Margherita had a look of evil. She feels as if her looks are hidden to all others but the look of evil was so evil it made Sam nervous. The "evil look" wrapped around rocks, trees and other people. Even Sam felt it’s chill. Her look sucked the happiness away from the earth and caused trees to rot. Ice melted away rocks eroded from the pain of her look. The look had one clear message. It said, "Russ is going too fast."
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
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