Page 188 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL SPRING 2025 GRAND VOYAGE
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needed to find a way out of this tub. ran desert hike I did a couple of years ago;
Civana, the name of the resort where I we were seven hikers, all speed demons,
was staying, is a Hohokam Tribe word following a guide who raced up a dirt trail
meaning “well-being,” except that tribe dis- surrounded by cacti of every kind. Sud-
appeared from history which would happen denly she tripped and fell backwards right
to me if I couldn’t figure this out. I needed into a cholla cactus with beautiful magenta
to calm down and refocus my thoughts. I blossoms. There was nothing beautiful
closed my eyes and concentrated on what about the dozens of needle-sharp spines
I’d done since arriving in Scottsdale. Nor- now sticking into her legs and torso. We
mally, when I go to a spa, I do the hardest took turns with tweezers to pull out the
hikes and classes listed, but because my spikey thorns. The desert might be other-
knee was taking so long to heal, I could worldly in beauty, but it is also filled with
only soak up the gorgeous weather and re- hidden danger.
lax. Not a bad way to put my life on pause. A roadrunner raced past. I laughed as I
I began the morning not by running be- thought of the beep beep sound and how
cause I couldn’t, but by sitting on my ter- the roadrunner always outfoxed Wile E.
race, breathing in the heady scent of Coyote. I’ve been told roadrunners symbol-
mesquite and Palo Verde trees. A jackrab- ize perseverance and inner strength, a re-
bit darted by in the distance. I stared at the minder to view struggles as opportunities
saguaros ,amazed they can live up to 150 for growth. That’s what I was doing as I sat
and even 200 years. I remembered a Sono- on the terrace, trying to forget my knee
188 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE SPRING 2025
