Picking up Rocks

The weather is beautiful here.

And as I picked up the 30 spf sunscreen gel, Princess admonished me . . .

"You can't use that."
"What?"
"It has too many spfs in it."
"But I don't want to look like a lobster."
"Here." (hands me a bottle of tanning oil . . . with spf 4) "Use this."
"I can't use that . . . I'm whitegirl."
"And you'll still be if you use that . . ."

So we are on the Princess plan of tanning. Since the last time I even thought about "tanning", in the sense that I actually wanted a tan, was seventh grade, it's been an interesting experiment. The first day we only worked on our "fronts" with lots of spray on oil . . . that reminds me of the cooking spray I have at home, just with a more coconut smell. There is the mandatory rearranging of your bathing suit, to avoid "bad lines". (that isn't easy with this rack . . . let me just say . . .) And then there is just lying there. Baking.

Once you are done filling Princess in on all the gossip (and some guy from Omaha, that was listening to every word) . . . well, then it's just boring. But luckily, I had a lot of gossip, so we filled the first afternoon.

I ruined day two of the "tan of the isles" Princess plan by going to Sedona. I only have 200 pictures, which I will share with all of you . . . obnoxiously, in minute detail . . . later. Cause I, of course, took pictures of: my lunch, cracks in the sidewalk, random flowers, a broken beer bottle in the middle of the desert. Along with 146 pictures of red rocks, of course. Oh, and cactus. And twisty trees. And bark. Yeah.

I wore something strapless (again, not easy with this rack) in an attempt to please the tan nazi. And at this stage, I am vaguely pink. Which will fade back to white in a day or two. My skin, it was built for overcast climates.

Today's plan? Lying "out". Which is tomorrow's plan too. Princess was by the pool all of yesterday, because trips to Sedona interrupt tanning. Everyone (except me) knows this. One thing about Princess . . . when that girl sets a goal . . .

Went to Scottsdale last night, when Princess ran out of sun. I don't recommend it . . . but more on that later. Maybe it was just the restaurant we stumbled upon, but even Princess has proclaimed that Detroit has better bars. And that . . . is a sad commentary.

To bring it back to the title: The fairy godmother that we are staying with picked up and gave me a red rock in Sedona. No scorpions jumped out. But I was worried about ruining the delicate ecosystem. If everyone who visits Sedona takes a rock . . . well, won't they run out of rocks?

"Look around. They've got lots of them."

Well, yes they do. And I suppose people have been taking rocks for a hundred years. So it's in my suitcase. Thank you Fairy Godmother.

Oh, and I bought a red cowboy hat. Cause it looks good.