I have a confession to make. I sit through two hours of the biggest loser every week! and it's not that great of a show. I like the transformations, and that's pretty much it. I watch a show just for the images of the people losing weight, seeing those pounds literally come off - cause let's face it, it's awesome to see those kinds of transformations.
This season was a bit different than the ones I have seen before. I think there was more "game play", as Graham says "damn Richard from Survivor for coming up with the alliance". I think Graham is right, these so called alliances have ruined what "reality TV" could have been.
The Biggest Loser could be a really great show. I wish they would implement the following changes:
1. Actually show the contestants learning about eating properly, and teach the audience at home at the same time. This would take the place of the blatant product placement("learning") they do now. The concocted scenes are really lame and should just be a regular commercial - during commercial time!
2. The show should be only one hour, there is no need to show the same things over and over and over and over and over - seriously, I am not dense.
3. There should be no player picked eliminations. This show should center on percentage of weight loss only. Have a smaller group of people and kept them at the ranch the whole time, the challenges could be for prizes or extra help. Then the winner at the end would be out of everyone - not just out of 3 people. Still have the weekly weigh in's so we can see the progress and failures.
4. Actually talk about how much the contestants are actually working out. How they are tracking their exercise and food. Again, teach the audience.
5. Cut out the crying, not all of it I am sure - but seriously the tears were overflowing this season - It was a blubber fest.
6. Quit having the host ask questions of the contestants like she doesn't know what is going on - I am sure she knows exactly what is going on.
Sure with these changes the show wouldn't have all the made up drama - but that's what I don't want to see. I just would rather be watching real drama, people working hard to lose weight and those interactions; not work hard to stay there, and using people - i.e. this season's Heba and Vicky. They were both so mean spirited the whole game no one was rooting for them - it's even sadder that they don't see it and blame the editing. Sure editing can make someone worse then they are. However there has to be some footage to put together to do so - and apparently in their case there was a ton!
Anyways, next season looks like it's going to be interesting. The new contestants are a lot heavier than usual. Maybe I will just tune in for the last half hour and just see the weigh-ins, that's the only part that's really worth it.
Super Adventure weekend
We did quite a bit more exploring this weekend. Saturday we followed the same trail as last weekend, but veered off trying to make it to some big gold mines that were on the map. We didn't make it because the road was so bad, it had big crevices all through it from the rain run off. We ended up walking to the top of a hill to see if we could see the mines - nope! While we were up there Graham got to shoot off his new 9 mm semi-auto - It was so LOUD!! it echoed off the surrounding hills and my ears were ringing. I was not expecting it to be so loud for some reason. I guess it might be a bit strange to some that Graham was caring his gun, out here in the mountains almost everyone carries a gun and mostly right on their hip. When we moved out here Graham could not wait to carry his gun on his hip. Most of the people we saw this weekend had them. You just never know who you run into in the middle of nowhere; snakes, mountain lions, big horned sheep or crazy gold prospectors that don't want you around.
The view from the top of the mountain trying to see the the mines.
We ran across some strange looking plants, these are so crazy, they have this strange bulb on them and the colors range from green to maroon.
I am also so surprised by the florescent colors in the plants. Hot pink on the cactus and bright lime green stuff growing on the rocks.
On our way out we ran into another couple that was looking for gold, they had their metal detectors and they were really nice. They belong to a gold hunting group out here - we are thinking of joining so we can learn more about how to find gold. The guy had even found some gold and showed us. I guess we don't feel as crazy being the only one's out there looking for gold.
We went back out on Sunday, we decided to hike down a different road that we were not sure we could make in the bronco (the book we had said the road was not good for driving) The road was not too bad, but was a bit steep. My calves are killing me!! at lease I got some exercise. Going back up the hill about killed me I was out of breath like a fool, apparently I need to kick my morning workouts up a notch!
While walking down Graham spotted a burro. There are a lot of burros in this area, they are the descendants of the early gold miners burros, when the gold miners left they abandoned their burros. The burros just stayed and multiplied; now they are everywhere. We have seen them up by the Lake, now in the mountains and there is a pack of them in a small town called Oatman, it's pretty popular with the tourists who feed them carrots.
How many burro's do you see?
There are three!
The black one really stood out, and for a moment we only saw him (or her) then we saw two, then finally all three. Gray really camouflages out here I guess! They just stayed there staring at us on the way down and up.
It was good we took the hike because we ran across GOLD MINES!! They are really everywhere out in the hills, but they are a little tough to spot sometimes, some of them go straight down - when not marked they can be deadly. These are just small mines that were not dug with heavy equipment, just someone with a pick and a shovel. There were three mines all pretty much next to each other, one was filled in and the other two were still open.
Graham checking the mine for possible animal inhabitants of the not so friendly kind. He brought the shot gun today after hearing from one of the gold hunters yesterday that she had a run in with a mountain lion - yikes!
This mine in the pic below was big enough to crawl in with room to spare, we decided I should be the one to check it out for some reason. I forgot the camera so I have no pics from inside. The mine went to the left about 6 feet down as you can see from the pic below, it went left for about another 6-8 feet and then turned right. That's as far as I got, the shaft did continue right for at least 12-15 feet and turned again to the left, I was a bit creeped out by then so I headed back out. When I got out my butt hit the top of the opening and a chunk came off, so I had rocks down my pants, that was pretty funny - but definitely a reminder that it can be dangerous (not that I forgot my knees were shaking the whole time!).
It was cool seeing inside a mine finally. We really want to figure out how they pick the place to dig the mines, they always seem to be in the middle of nowhere! We have a lot to learn about finding gold, but it's a fun hobby.
The view from the top of the mountain trying to see the the mines.
We ran across some strange looking plants, these are so crazy, they have this strange bulb on them and the colors range from green to maroon.
I am also so surprised by the florescent colors in the plants. Hot pink on the cactus and bright lime green stuff growing on the rocks.
On our way out we ran into another couple that was looking for gold, they had their metal detectors and they were really nice. They belong to a gold hunting group out here - we are thinking of joining so we can learn more about how to find gold. The guy had even found some gold and showed us. I guess we don't feel as crazy being the only one's out there looking for gold.
We went back out on Sunday, we decided to hike down a different road that we were not sure we could make in the bronco (the book we had said the road was not good for driving) The road was not too bad, but was a bit steep. My calves are killing me!! at lease I got some exercise. Going back up the hill about killed me I was out of breath like a fool, apparently I need to kick my morning workouts up a notch!
While walking down Graham spotted a burro. There are a lot of burros in this area, they are the descendants of the early gold miners burros, when the gold miners left they abandoned their burros. The burros just stayed and multiplied; now they are everywhere. We have seen them up by the Lake, now in the mountains and there is a pack of them in a small town called Oatman, it's pretty popular with the tourists who feed them carrots.
How many burro's do you see?
There are three!
The black one really stood out, and for a moment we only saw him (or her) then we saw two, then finally all three. Gray really camouflages out here I guess! They just stayed there staring at us on the way down and up.
It was good we took the hike because we ran across GOLD MINES!! They are really everywhere out in the hills, but they are a little tough to spot sometimes, some of them go straight down - when not marked they can be deadly. These are just small mines that were not dug with heavy equipment, just someone with a pick and a shovel. There were three mines all pretty much next to each other, one was filled in and the other two were still open.
Graham checking the mine for possible animal inhabitants of the not so friendly kind. He brought the shot gun today after hearing from one of the gold hunters yesterday that she had a run in with a mountain lion - yikes!
This mine in the pic below was big enough to crawl in with room to spare, we decided I should be the one to check it out for some reason. I forgot the camera so I have no pics from inside. The mine went to the left about 6 feet down as you can see from the pic below, it went left for about another 6-8 feet and then turned right. That's as far as I got, the shaft did continue right for at least 12-15 feet and turned again to the left, I was a bit creeped out by then so I headed back out. When I got out my butt hit the top of the opening and a chunk came off, so I had rocks down my pants, that was pretty funny - but definitely a reminder that it can be dangerous (not that I forgot my knees were shaking the whole time!).
It was cool seeing inside a mine finally. We really want to figure out how they pick the place to dig the mines, they always seem to be in the middle of nowhere! We have a lot to learn about finding gold, but it's a fun hobby.
4x4 Adventure
Graham and I decided to go on a off-roading adventure on Sunday. We used 4 Wheel Drive Roads of Mohave County, Arizona by Luis & Paula Vega as a guide - it's a book available here locally. It's very cool; all the trails have GPS coordinates and landmarks as guides. We programed our GPS and tried out the Secret Pass trail. The trail was around 20 miles long, it took us longer than what we expected, but it was only a couple hours. Next time we will check out some of the gold mines that are along the trail.
The trail was very worn, so there was no "where are we going" feeling. It was just nice to have the directions so we knew we were on the right trail, there were a couple of others that intersected.
There was so much to see along the way. The different types of rocks and plants were plentiful.
These orange rocks were a crazy color I have never seen in nature before, my picture does not really show how orange it was.
Large masses of rock just jet out of the hillside.
Rock face that is so massive.
The view from the top of the mountain, the trail was not even that steep - but we really came up in altitude. Somewhere past those peaks in the distance is Bullhead City.
Bronco Billy made it! Graham was a bit nervous we were going to break down along the way, we have not had the bronco very long, and it's been pretty babied it's whole life (it's a '80 something model with 50-something thousand miles on it!).
I can't wait for our next trip, now that the weather is cooler we can go off-roading more and hunting for GOLD!
The trail was very worn, so there was no "where are we going" feeling. It was just nice to have the directions so we knew we were on the right trail, there were a couple of others that intersected.
There was so much to see along the way. The different types of rocks and plants were plentiful.
These orange rocks were a crazy color I have never seen in nature before, my picture does not really show how orange it was.
Large masses of rock just jet out of the hillside.
Rock face that is so massive.
The view from the top of the mountain, the trail was not even that steep - but we really came up in altitude. Somewhere past those peaks in the distance is Bullhead City.
Bronco Billy made it! Graham was a bit nervous we were going to break down along the way, we have not had the bronco very long, and it's been pretty babied it's whole life (it's a '80 something model with 50-something thousand miles on it!).
I can't wait for our next trip, now that the weather is cooler we can go off-roading more and hunting for GOLD!
Thanksgiving
Take a look at that spread!
We had a great Thanksgiving this year. The food was awesome, courtesy of my talented Husband. We were not able to make it to San Diego this year, but everything turned out better than expected. We had dinner at Graham's Dads house, they were in town. Graham's sister Michelle and two of her boys made the trip from San Diego. It was a fun group.
I wish I would have taken more pictures of everyone! I only got a couple people. Here is the typical after meal lounging around, that's Graham and his Father Doug.
The view from Doug's house here is so cool, it's right on the river (lucky). All of the bushes across the river are changing color. The desert can definitely be beautiful.
It rained on Thanksgiving, and left us with an awesome sunset.
Graham had to work on Friday (thankfully just a half day); he missed hanging out with his sister before they left. The boys had to make a trip to Sonic so we went for breakfast. Sonic is a must stop for any of our visitors from San Diego - can you believe they don't have one there! (but I heard they are getting one in Santee next year, it's about time).
When the boys left they forgot a pillow - a SpongeBob pillow, when we spoke with Michelle we found out they left it on purpose for Mia, because she like it so much while they were here.
The light blue pillow under her head is the one they left. She is always such a lady when she is getting comfortable! She loves her new SpongeBob pillow! Thanks boys!
We had a great Thanksgiving this year. The food was awesome, courtesy of my talented Husband. We were not able to make it to San Diego this year, but everything turned out better than expected. We had dinner at Graham's Dads house, they were in town. Graham's sister Michelle and two of her boys made the trip from San Diego. It was a fun group.
I wish I would have taken more pictures of everyone! I only got a couple people. Here is the typical after meal lounging around, that's Graham and his Father Doug.
The view from Doug's house here is so cool, it's right on the river (lucky). All of the bushes across the river are changing color. The desert can definitely be beautiful.
It rained on Thanksgiving, and left us with an awesome sunset.
Graham had to work on Friday (thankfully just a half day); he missed hanging out with his sister before they left. The boys had to make a trip to Sonic so we went for breakfast. Sonic is a must stop for any of our visitors from San Diego - can you believe they don't have one there! (but I heard they are getting one in Santee next year, it's about time).
When the boys left they forgot a pillow - a SpongeBob pillow, when we spoke with Michelle we found out they left it on purpose for Mia, because she like it so much while they were here.
The light blue pillow under her head is the one they left. She is always such a lady when she is getting comfortable! She loves her new SpongeBob pillow! Thanks boys!
