We have a Plan!

We spent almost a week in Salt Lake, goofing around with PJ and Sarah, cross-country skiing, climbing at the Front, and visiting the Perry Family's wonderful 3-story, custom built, "cabin" in Park City. (Thanks Richard and Joey!) During the downtime, when PJ and Sarah were at work, we were trying to map out our next destination on the LTD tour. It's a complicated affair, trying to work out just what you want to do when you have plenty of time and some money in your pocket. Tough work, but someone's got to do it.

After checking the monthly forecast and potential job markets in several different locations, we settled on a southern tour; beginning in Red Rocks, Nevada. We'll climb here for about a week, and then continue on to San Antonio, Texas, where we'll hop on a plane to Miami. Once in Miami, we'll meet up with Cody's parents, on their sailboat, for a two week stay that will hopefully include a crossing to the Bahamas. When we fly back to Texas, we'll drive to Mexico, meeting up with a few pals, (The Brian/Bryan team), and head to El Portrero Chico, near Hidalgo, for some sweet sport climbing on Mexican limestone. That's the plan, anyway. We'll let you know how it all turns out!

Until next time, we're off to live the dream!

Back in the Van!

Cody and I have arrived back in good ol' SLC, after a wonderful holiday season spent with our family in Washington. We're, once again, staying with our good friends Pj and Sarah Mannion, and still a little unsure about what we're going to do with ourselves in the near future. We're waiting for my new passport to arrive- as that will open up some options for us. Maybe we'll go visit Pat and Lorrie, who are sailing in the Florida Keys at the moment, or perhaps to Mexico for some escalando de los rocas, or maybe we'll move to Hawaii, get hotel jobs, and take up surfing. It's all up in the air.

But for now, the van is running like a champ, despite being abandoned for 2 months on a steep hill in the cold weather of Salt Lake. We went on a nice hike this morning with Pj and Sarah and their dogs, and we're looking forward to seeing more of our Salt Lake friends soon!

Until next time, we're living the dream, one day at a time.

20 Days in.

Okay. Deep breath. Focus. Muster up motivation to update the blog.

Alright. I'm ready. After a long day at work, it takes some oomph to start writing instead of zoning out in front of the tube. But, here I am, finally. It's been 20 days since we arrived in Charlotte, North Carolina, and unfortunately, we haven't seen much of the South except the inside of the climbing gym. The job is cruising along though, so at least we have something to show for our time here.

The prow of the free-standing boulder. Pretty cool, huh?

Cody just finished the second and final layer of plywood sheeting on the toprope wall, which means that he can help me with my jobs: filling the cracks with wood putty, drilling out the holes for the T-nuts, and sanding. John called my jobs "remedial" today- which made me laugh. I think he meant "menial," which they certainly are, but I'm not sure what they remedy- my wimpiness, perhaps? Or maybe my patience? Menial as the work may be, I can still listen to my ipod as I work, which keeps me sane and happy.

I've been downloading podcasts recently, to try and engage my brain a little. Podcasts are pretty amazing little bits of technology- today I listened to David McCullough talk about "Why History Matters," and Michael Pollan discuss "Where our food comes from." It's so cool to be able to listen to smart people discussing interesting and relevant topics whenever and wherever for free! So, work is going well. Cody and I will be home on Bainbridge for Christmas, most certainly. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving break- I'll have to tell that story another evening. Because now, it's time for bed.

I hope you all are out there living your dreams. I know we are. Well, sorta.

Inner Peaks Climbing Center

Cody and I are currently in Salt Lake, staying with our good friends Pj and Sarah Mannion. On Monday morning, we're heading to Charlotte, North Carolina to do a job with Vertical Solutions. The Inner Peaks Climbing Center is adding a free standing boulder and a top-rope wall to their existing gym. Check out the sweet design and video here.

The job is scheduled to run for six weeks, which means that we won't be able to make the annual Allen Family Thanksgiving weekend. Believe me, we would rather be playing mexican train dominoes, eating Aunt Jenny's apple pie, Aunt Cynthia's cinnamon rolls, and spending time with all my favorite Allens (and LaPlantes), but the opportunity to make some money is pretty hard to turn down. We'll miss you guys!!

However, Cody's parents are sailing down the east coast (check out their sail blog here), and he has aunts, uncles and grandparents within a few hours of Charlotte, so we won't be spending turkey day alone. Also, the chance to visit Amy sounds pretty good too!

Until Monday, we're living the dream!

Photo Update: September and October

I apologize for the long gap between postings. I hope this group of photos makes up for my recent negligence. Out last post was from the Starbucks in Squamish, but I decided to include some photos from the Bumbershoot music festival in Seattle, which happened before we went to Squamish.

Cody and I went with Grace and had a nice day wandering around the booths, eating fair food, and listening to some good music. We saw Katy Perry and The All American Rejects at the main stage, then Eric Hutchinson played later in the day at a smaller stage. We hit the weather just right- it barely sprinkled on us. The next two days were really rainy and cold- the papers printed pictures of festival-goers wearing ponchos, looking wet and miserable.

The All American Rejects played a fun show.

Grace was able to squeeze through the crowd and get some great shots!

If you look closely, you can see birds on the arches of the Science Center.

It was such a beautiful evening- the stage was right under the Space Needle.

Eric Hutchinson playing his hit "Rock n' Roll."

This was the last show of the night- and what a fun one!

When the rain finally stopped in Squamish, Cody and I hiked up to the summit of the Chief.

A little bird perched atop the Chief in Squamish.

Kite-boarders in Howe Sound. There must have been 50 of these guys out on the water!

The proper Canadian spelling.

After Squamish, we stayed with Grace while Mr and Mrs Allen vacationed in France. It was a relaxing two and a half weeks at home, full of cooking, dinners with Gramma Jane, and hanging out with Grace. Once Mom and Dad returned home, we headed out to Lander, to see Bryan Wolfe for a few days, and then continued on to Laramie.

Cody sending Prize Fighter (V6) in Vedauwoo.

Halloween in Laramie!

(L-R): Cody the Lion, Callie the Golfer, Jesse as Richie Tenenbaum, Beth as Annie Oakley, Kelby as The Todd (from the TV show Scrubs), and Abi the baseball player.

Stick 'em up, you yeller-bellied beast!

I hope all of you had a fun Halloween! Today we're heading somewhere else... Colorado perhaps? Or maybe back to Lander? We'll let you know.... Until next time, we're livin' the dream.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Cody and I left Bainbridge yesterday morning, hopped on the Kingston Ferry and drove up to Squamish, BC.  Our drive went smoothly, inturrupted only briefly at the border for a series of questioning and a quick search of the van.  Apparently, it's unusual not to have a permanent job or residence, and the mounties at the border don't want American vagrants drifting permanently into BC.  Once we had assured the friendly officer at the customs desk that we really were planning on leaving Canada by the 19th of September, and he had determined we weren't carrying contraband,  he waved us through.  

We're so trendy!

We arrived in Squamish under overcast skies, but found it was dry enough for a little bouldering before dark.  We wandered around in the Ewok forest at the base of the Stawamus Chief for an hour or two before heading back to the van to cook some dinner.  That night, just as we had pulled the covers over us, it began to rain.  As far as I could tell, it rained steadily all night, and was still drizzling as we woke up this morning.  Currently, we're sitting in Starbucks, sipping chai lattes and waiting for the library to open at noon,  and are planning to catch a matinee later today.  The weather forecast looks pretty good for the rest of the week, but we're going to have to be patient and wait for the rocks to dry out.  We're not too concerned- time is one thing you have plenty of when you're living the dream.   

City of Rocks and back to Boise

With some time to kill before we head for Seattle we decided to go to the City of Rocks ID.   Brian Wolfe couldn't bear to say goodbye, so he met us there for a couple of days. 

The first day we were there was pretty relaxed, Beth and I scoped out climbs, we decided to climb this attractive looking 5.10.  After I realized the dangerous potential of the second half of the climb I decided to back off.  Slightly frustrated, we did a fun scramble up Bath rock which brightened our moods.

When we got back to camp Brian had just pulled in with his new dog Abbey.  The next day brian lead his first trad climb, a 5.6 cleverly named "first lead", he did great!  The next few days were filled with generally scary climbing.  Quite large run-outs on round featured slabs;  we have come to realize that the climbing here is just not for the fearful.  Two nights in a row we went into town and relaxed in the hot springs until dark.  On our last day we decided to do some gear hunting.  The previous day after finishing Columbian Crack we walked over to the rappel and saw that people had dropped gear, into a crack near the anchors.  We made a retreival device out of a tent stake taped to a tent pole.  It worked great and within 45 minutes we had pulled tons of gear and trash out of the crack.  Free gear is always a good way to end a trip.

We arrived in Boise thinking that we would be climbing in the new gym and hanging out with friends.  That was not the case.  The wall we left one month earlier was still not done.  It was a grim looking place, and morale was very low.  We agreed to stay and help get the place done.  We stayed a little over a week and the wall is finished, we got to climb on it, but its still not open.  They've had lots of problems with the subcontractors and the city.  Hopefully it will open soon.  

We just arrived on Bainbridge last night, spent the morning picking blackberries and relaxing.  We're going to a music festival with Grace in 2 days, and then off to Squamish for some climbing.  

Until next time....  We're living the dream.