A Walk in the Park

Today I went for a walk in the park with Kris, John and Ladder. It was a beautiful day.

alone time

Yosemite pictures taken from yosmite pool at flickr.com

Being that I have been on the road for the past few months...alone time is few and far between. My family left me last night to an empty house. It was and still is a very weird feeling. I am alone with all of my thoughts and it is so quiet. It is also weird how you can feel a bit scared and untrusting in an empty house with windows and the blackness of night outside, but the second you are outside (living outside like I was) you are surrounded by nature and those thoughts don't even cross your mind. It is only when you are in an enclosed space that you feel uneasy about what might be lurking outside. Maybe I should have slept in the backyard. It would have felt like I was back in Hueco again with the wind blowing all night long rocking me to sleep.

I attempted to go biking this morning but decided it was too cold after two blocks and came home. My lungs have a very sensitive temperature range. If I could replace on thing on my body I think I would replace my lungs. I hope I can adjust to the high altitudes of Rocky Mountain National Park this summer.

Since I have started climbing I never realized how much I TRULY enjoy it until I can't do it. I went to the tiny local gym here in Appleton and it eased a little bit of my crazy climbing urges, however you can't use chalk there and that is absolutely heinous.

I might be working for the Colorado Mosquito Control this summer. I have only filled out an application so we will see. If so, I would be walking out into the middle of swamps with my wand and backpack full of bacteria stuff that kills the larva. Danielle is doing it for sure this summer and we are psyched that we might get to work together. We are both scared of the rattle snakes!

Today I am going to Kris' house in Rockford. I guess I won't be doing much climbing there either. Lots of brownie eating and canoodling and reminiscing about the sweet old Yosemite summers and always plotting away to get back and never become lifers.

a day with mom

Today I worked on more school stuff. This transfering is a pain in the ass. But I feel it will be very worth it.

I went to my mom's bible study with her today. Then we went to the labyrinth and shared some moments. It is a really neat thing the labyrinth. You think you are going to get to the middle and then all of a sudden it turns and leads you away from the center once again. I also enjoyed being outside. No matter what the weather, being outside makes me so happy.

i like to ride my bicycle i like to ride my bike

This color is like a purple jelly bean.

Today my mom and I went to the bicycle shop to get new tires for my bike. The bike shop guy said the my tires were 10 to 15 years old. My dad gave me his old Trek 500 and I am psyched. We walked out of the bike shop with two new tires, two new tubes, a CO2 bike pump (sweet), fixing tools, handle bar tape, and a waterbottle. The bike guy got the best of us with his persuasion. My tires are goat head proof (Danielle)! I can't wait to ride in Colorado.

My nose is full of snot.

life is even slower at home

Sorry to all of my beloved blog reading fans (if there are any) that I haven't written in a while. My adventures have brought me to my wonderful little ranch house in Appleton, Wisconsin. It is darn cold here and there is not much to do. However, I have enough to do with taxes, financial aid, and transferring to keep me busy for days. I can feel my muscles shrinking as I sit here on my butt watching Grizzly Man and Harry Potter tres.
I love my puppy Tatum, she's 9, not so much a puppy anymore. She's been hanging out with me and we even ventured into the cold weather today for a walk around the neighborhood. As if life coudln't be any more simple than climbing, spending time at home is too easy with all of this food and showering and stuff. I went to a PRIDE performance tonight, only because my mom dragged me, and it brought back a flood of memories. There were songs and skits that promoted a drug free lifestyle. Ahh if only life were that simple.
Brian and I spent the last week in Fort Collins, Colorado. Our future home. Yes we are officially moving and we are both excited. He got a job at the very first place he walked into. He has mad skills. I am going to go to school at Colorado State University to study Natural Resources Recreation and Tourism with a concentration in Environmental Communication. More importantly we are going to climb on rocks! From our bedroom porch we can see Rocky Mountain National Park. It's like a dream come true for us.
Off to bed I go. It will be weird to have the whole bed to myself tonight because Brian is back in the cities getting ready for the move.

life's little details

View of Rocky Mountain NP from Estes Park


Brian and I continue to enjoy Fort Collins and tend to life's important details.

Meanwhile our friends are enduring tornadoes and torrential down-pours in Southern Illinois.

The sun has finally allowed us to enjoy its warmth and beauty this morning, and it has revealed the beautiful panorama of foothills that stand to the west of Fort Collins.

I met with two advisors at CSU and the lady that takes care of transferring business. It all seems too easy. I received more attention in two hours than I ever have from any faculty at the UofM in the three years that I was there. There were no lines...no appointments...and sincere politeness and enouragement. The school is nice...not too big not too small with a back drop of the Rocky Mountains out of each window.

We climbed at the Spot climbing gym yesterday in downtown Boulder, and I don't think that I will ever desire to return. Too many people, and no steep stuff. I really appreciate VE now that I have seen other gyms. The 60 degree wall just doesn't compare.

I spent the past two evenings with my dear friend Jessica Fraher. She is living with her boyfriend Benjamin Mulligan in Westminster (suburbia hell), Colorado. They are wonderfully happy and spend most of their time together wrestling on the floor and farting on eachother. It's true love. He just received the exciting news that he will be working on the Pike Hot Shot crew for the summer. It's dream come true for him.

I cannot deny that I am excited to go home and spend time with my moms and the dog.

Apologies to the climbing friends that this blog gets personal when I have not been climbing. However, I hope that I can make it to Horsetooth Resevoir to climb John Gill's classic Eliminator problems tomorrow. According to Danielle it is the hardest V3 in the world and I am excited to climb on a rock with a lot of history.

Brian is currently job searching and new car searching somewhere in Fort Collins right now. It seems that he is a little over-qualified in irrigation to find anything good yet. We shall see.

Off to do my taxes and make some phone calls.

slave to bad weather

We left Hueco on a whim and here we are in Fort Collins in the snow and grey. We were ready to go but have quickly realized that the weather there is just about the best climbing conditions in the country right now.

Yesterday we drove around the Fort of fun and checked out the town and CSU. We did the beautiful drive up to Estes Park to learn that all of the splendid peaks were covered in clouds and snow was whisping about only to remind us of being in Minnesota. We checked out some tourist shops, and headed up to Lumpy Ridge. On the way up we saw Elk and Bighorn Sheep. What an amazing place to live. It's like heaven on earth...to me at least.
We hiked up to a boulder called Angry Man, and quickly realized we weren't at 5,000 feet anymore. Our hearts were pounding and telling us how out of shape we are after driving and sitting for two days.

So the snow continues to fall and the forecast keeps predicting bucket loads of rain for Southern Illinois. I am getting antsy. I long to climb on sandstone in the dirty south and so does Brian. Stupid weather! We are going to stay here I guess until the sun shines somewhere.

Tonight I am going to Boulder to spend the night with my long lost Jess, and Brian is hanging out with Colin.

I just want to be living out of the truck again and climbing on rocks. Is that to much to ask?

juarez, tequila, tours, heat, pain, good-bye's

I finally made it to Juarez. Julio (owner of the coffe shop we sit at) took me, Reidun, Layla, Shannon, and Danielle to Mexico in his big truck. First we went to his office (he's an engineer) and then we drove to the Mercado Juarez. He quickly briefed us on "No gracias", and told us not to buy anything if we didn't want it. The second we pulled in we were surrounded by people trying to sell us stuff. We went into the market and started bargaining. I bought a bracelet and we all bought designer sunglasses for $5. We got Chanel, Gucci and Louis Vitton and proceded to wear them for the rest of the night. In the tequila store we got to "taste test" some different types of tequila. Basically we each took about three shots and then went to the restaurant for 1 dollar beers. Julio translated for us and it was a good old time. He really enjoyed being in Juarez with 5 young white women. We attracted a lot of attention.

That evening we met up with more people at a restaurant named Los Bandidos de Carlos & Mickey. The girls got their own table and the boys all sat together in the corner. The girls got a little wild and ordered a bunch of margaritas while the boys remained mellow in the corner (they were the drivers). I am surprised we didn't get kicked out of the restaurant, but they must be used to it because of the size of margartas they serve. They are huge! Reidun (from Norway) found a pen and went around to all of us girls and wrote on our wrist "Drekka Tid". Then she would say, "What time is it girls?!" and we would say back, "It's drinking time!" The boys had every right to be embarrased and annoyed with us but we had a splendid old time.

The next day we all went climbing to my surprise. Well, I layed on Danielle's crash pad with her and drank Gatorade for the first half of the day and then went and worked on Mopboys Traverse, V6. Brian sent Shutter Speed, V10. Yeah! He also did Mopboys and figured out all of the beta for me.

The next day we went into the park and got on a tour to East Spur Maze at the last minute. Brian sent El Chupacabra Right, V11, on his second try! We went to the egg and Angie fell off the last move a bunch. That sucks, however she is so strong on it she will go back and do it right away. We then went to Mr. Serious,V8, and Swiss Crisp Mix, V10. Angie sent Mr. Serious and Jamie sent Swiss Crisp Mix. Then Brian and Jamie went down to work on Rumble in the Jungle, V12. They worked out the moves and want to go back and send it. Then we proceded to Uncut Yogi, V6 which no one could do except Brian. After that we finished up the day with Belly of the Beast, V7. I had a bad day because I would work on something and then it would be time to go. We would get to something else, I would work on it and then we had to go. By the time we got to something that I was actually psyched on, my skin was gone and I was too tired to send. I hate tours for that reason. They are stupid because you cannot project anything and you have to go where everyone else is. I was aggitated, sunburned, and mad by the end of the day and I felt like I wasted a day. I got a work out though. That night we ate dinner and went to see Ultra Violet, because Mila Javovich is hot. It was such a terrible movie!!!! Way worse than Firewall. Don't see it.

We decided that Sunday would be our last day, and climbed our third day on. It was so HOT. I went up to Big Nose Millie and gave it one last try and failed. I met up with Brian and Dan at Power of Silence and we hiked up to do some number chasing on PFOS, V9, and Paleozoic, V9. Brian and Dan both did PFOS and I layed on my crash pad for a bit and then worked out the moves. That night we talked everyone into going out to eat for our last night to some bad Italian restaurant. In the middle of dinner everyone was telling us not to go and Brian made plans to go on a tour to Rumble in the Jungle on Tuesday with Dave, Jamie, and some other guys. Layla turned to me and said, "I guess you are not leaving."

So after some argueing about staying or going... we are still here. In the hot desert. Dave swears that the temps will drop. I don't believe it.

At least I have some girls to climb with even though I feel like death and can't even appreciate thoughts of climbing right now. I am so tired. I will take two rest days and go from there. We should end up in Colorado by the weekend, and eventually, hopefully, to Southern Illinois.
To the MN climbing posse: if I have anything to do with it, we will see you soon in So Ill!

miss you mom

big sends

Well, I finally sent Adjust Your Attitude! I am done underclinging for the rest of the trip and having epic top-outs. Brian did a problem called Predator, V10 (hard). He did it really quick which is bad-ass!
It has been so hot out the past two days. We all have low energy and we are all getting on each other's nerves. If this weather persists we will be out of here in a week or so. Off to Colorado for a few days and then to Southern Illinois with the MN posse for a week. That is our tentative plan.

Brian and Jim went over to the front side of North Mountain and worked on a problem called Shutter Speed, V10. Jim did it pretty quick, and Brian kept greasing off of the black sloper that was baking in the sun. He will get if if the temps ever go down. Vealchop sat around with his Rubik's cube all day and he was very entertained.

That night we went to El Rancho Escondido with everyone. I think that is the last time we will be going there because the service and food have become increasingly bad. It took us 25 minutes to get water and only because Dave went and got a waitress and brought her back to our table.
The food was just aweful too. I ordered a guacamole burro and opened it to find something that resembled steak. Layla took one bite of her beef taco and spit it out and Dave wouldn't even touch his food. Brian enjoyed his...but he has a strong stomach.

The next day Shannon, Angie and I warmed up in the Martini Cave by running laps on Baby Martini (which is now an on-going joke) and then we met up with Layla and Dave and hiked up to Adjust Your Attitude. I gave the girls my wonderful beta (which they don't use) and then worked on McBain, V8, for a little bit. The heat got so horrendous and we all entertained thoughts of going swimming. We then hiked over to Barefoot on Sacred Ground, V12, and hung out while Dave worked out all of the moves. Shannon and Laya both fired up See Spot Run, V6 highball.

Vealchop put a lot of work into this V4 called Pseudo-feather...it was pretty hilarious. Dave became frustrated on Barfoot and stood up and said, "I'm going to flash Dan's project!" He went over there and flashed it and in the middle of it he said, "This is piss." Dan said, "F%$# You Dave Graham!" Vealchop is always making everyone laugh and keeping us entertained.

We went to the coffee shop for dinner and once again on the way home I fell asleep in the truck. I feel exhausted always and can't get enough sleep somehow. I need 5 rest days or something.