February Shenanigans

I have not had much to blog about since our trip to the Philippines and the holidays...until now. The past week or so has been a bit busier with noteworthy activities.

One of the families we have become close friends with are moving (PCSing) off Guam in about a month and so we started the Good-bye tour a little early. Last week we had a Ladies Dinner out in town at Carmen's which is one of the Mexican restaurants on Guam. Good food (including homemade tortillas), great calamansi margaritas, and great friends!!

L to R: Lissette, Allie, Nikki, Emilee, Jennifer P, Alicia, Julie, Me, and Jessica!

Also noteworthy...Bubbles had a second surgery last week. This one was very minor compared to the last one but we are hoping that this will be it. She had another open wound that had not healed from the dog attack last April. This one is fairly small and was hidden by her hair, so we didn't realize it was there for a long time. The vet took out the unhealthy tissue and sewed it up. Only took three stitches which she will be getting out next week. Bubbles is still wearing her royal red cone of shame but you would never know she had surgery. She's been running around and trying to wrestle with Edge like nothing ever happened!

This is the scar from her first surgery.

This is the new spot - very small.

Carlton finally got a weekend off this past weekend, so we were able to go out and do some hiking!! He has been very busy with work over the past month, so we hadn't really been doing much. But this past Saturday we finally got to hike one of the many trails we have been wanting to check out!

It is called Tarzan Falls and is a popular hike. There are three waterfalls you can hike to and a couple pools to swim in if you feel so inclined. It's one of those hikes that you want to do during a dry spell so the trail isn't so muddy but then the waterfalls aren't as spectacular. You could go after a wet spell but then your chances of slogging through mud are pretty high.

This trail is also used by people on dirt bikes and 4x4 vehicles, so there are places on the trail with deep ruts from tires. Luckily when we went, it was fairly dry. We were able to avoid most of the muddy spots without too much trouble. It is 1.4 miles to the waterfall - although I do not know if that is to the first waterfall or farther. My guess would be the first waterfall and then you can continue down the trail even farther if you like. Most of the hike is downhill as you are heading to the waterfalls.

Trailhead

Carlton near the beginning - note the ruts in the road

View before we start to descend

Top of the 1st waterfall

It drops off past the boulders

Looking upstream

Portrait by the waterfall dropoff

Selfie!

First waterfall

Better view

You can see people at the top

And people at the bottom right

We continued hiking to the next waterfall...

This one was smaller but still lovely. The water was a bit suspicious looking, so neither of us really felt like getting into the pool. In this second picture you can see people coming to the top of the waterfall - they had a little boy with them who got in and was swimming around.

We did continue hiking for a bit longer planning to go see the third waterfall, however, the trail took a very steep dive and we decided we had gone far enough. So instead we turned around to head back. The hike back was definitely challenging! Lots of climbing and lots of steep areas! Our legs definitely got a workout from this hike!

Funky seed pods we found on the trail

Towards the end of the hike...steep!

Not sure if you can tell from the last picture, but the trail was steep and still muddy in areas. We heard stories from friends who lived on Guam previously and one of their daughters got her leg stuck in the mud up to her knee hiking this trail. She was about 12 at the time. Not only is the mud thick, it is also very slippery! Hiking shoes with good traction is a must!!

Now that we have tackled that hike, we have to try out another one sometime! We hope you all had a very Happy Valentine's Day!!

XOXOXO