« May 2005 | Main | July 2005 »
June 30, 2005
We're Going to Maple!
This year's 4th of July adventure takes us to Maple Canyon, Utah. We leave tonight...actually, in about 5 minutes. We're waiting for our friend Marcus to finish his thesis and hand it in so we can drive by the University of Arizona with our hatchback open and he can jump in. We plan on driving to Flagstaff tonight and finding a place to camp. Then tomorrow is "tourist day" before the climbing madness begins. We're hoping to swing by Zion without melting like popsicles for a quick peek. I've never been to Utah. Neither has Morgie. Wooo!
Myself, Paul, Marcus, Tammy, Vince and the two pups: We're psyched!
See you at Maple.....
Posted by April at 07:16 PM | Comments (0)
June 26, 2005
Jack's Canyon
Yep, we finally made it to Jack's Canyon, finally! Miles, Matt, April and I loaded up the car after work on Friday and headed out.
We made a quick stop in Phoenix to pick up a new (nice and thick) thread. I decided to go with a more expensive than usual 10.5mm, 60m, non-dry rope. We picked it up from REI on our way, with our GIFT CERTIFICATE.
After picking up the rope we met up with some of Mile's friends at a Thai place near Scottsdale, AZ. It was really awesome. April and I have been in search of a place that serves some Pad Thai that gives Spice Island Tea House (our favorite Pittsburgh Thai resturant) some competition. This definately does. It was very good. Of course I forgot the name...someone post it in a comment.
After the Thai place we were back on the road. Wait, after a quick coffee break at Starbucks we were back on the road. The road to Jack's from Phoenix was very uninteresting at night except for THE ELK! Geeze. Every couple of miles I had to slam on my breaks to avoid scaring huge elk that were right on the side of the road. Around 1:30AM we managed to find the dirt road that leads in to Jack's Canyon. We set up camp and quickly went to bed.
Saturday and Sunday were spent enjoying the cool temps in the shade and the super fun climbs. We all had a really fun time. I sat out both days due to a tweaked middle finger. No biggie. Talking with Matt, April and Miles was great. Plus, little Morgie and I played all kinds of games. Check out our pictures. Notice how green everything is in the Canyon. This is yet another place that I can't believe is in Arizona.
Posted by Paul at 10:57 PM | Comments (2)
June 18, 2005
Nogales
After a brutal morning of trying to remove an old tree stump in our courtyard April, her Father and I left the USA. We traveled to Nogales Mexico in search of a Talavera sink. When we arrived we saw an awesome set of dishes, bowls, cups and a few other things. We entered Mexico with a set amount of cash and found out we didn't have nearly enough when it came to check out. We wheeled and dealed and managed to get everything we wanted except for the sink for all the money we took with us, plus all the change in our pockets. We promised the guy in the store that we would return to buy the sink therefore he let us have everything plus a few shots of tequila. Wow, that was awesome! Check out the set of dishes we got. Also, check out the new blinds April put up in our kitchen.
Posted by Paul at 09:38 PM | Comments (0)
Dead Tree R.I.P.
Yesterday April's Dad and I rented a chainsaw and cut down the dead tree that was in our front courtyard. We got a nice late start in the day here in Tucson. It was about 3:00PM when we made our first cut. I'd say the temps. were in the high 90s? We managed to keep well hydrated with plenty of beer. April stayed inside but was probably more hot than us. She was battling a clog in our bathroom drain with a snake and never managed to get it out. Yuck. She fought the monster for a couple hours. After we cut the tree down April and I headed to 4th street to chill with some new friends that we met through work. We chilled at the Epic Cafe and watched all the "normal" people walk by on a Friday night. Today we are leaving the USA! But only for a few hours.
Posted by Paul at 07:57 AM | Comments (0)
June 12, 2005
Wigged Out
Man...I'm so tired right now. I'm going to be quick and say that we had another awesome weekend. April's father is in town visiting with us while doing business and we managed to squeeze in some time to head up to Mt. Lemmon today. We got in some awesome sport climbing and a little bouldering. Temperatures were perfect at 6500 feet! Vince and I got on a route called "Air Monsters 5.12a." YIKES! I realized what many months of bouldering does to you...it makes you WIGGED out! Check out our photos but they don't do the justice. Get on the route for yourself and see why it gets the name. It was sooooo much fun.
Posted by Paul at 11:11 PM | Comments (0)
June 07, 2005
Trad, Sport, Bouldering
On Sunday we decided to stay local and hit up Mt. Lemmon. Courtney, Marcus, April and I headed up to Windy Point and spent the day mixing it up. We managed to do some trad, sport and bouldering all in the same day! Overall it was just a super fun day and we've decided to mix it up a lot more on future climbing trips. Perhaps we'll set our sights on something like " Levitation 29." ha ha. Stay tuned.
Posted by Paul at 08:39 AM | Comments (0)
June 04, 2005
Moving On
Well here we sit in our favorite sandwich place in Las Cruces, NM, on our way home from Hueco. Sadly, we are not talking about my send of Baby Martini (my first V6) because, well, I didn't send it...nor am I going to send it any time soon because we're not coming back for a while. I've decided to leave this unfinished business for the time being because if I attempt it anymore, I may actually begin to hate one of the best boulder problems in the park. I'm so close, so very close. Last weekend was my best attempt I think, and had I not fudged my beta....who knows, maybe it would have went down. But...on to bigger and better things.....LET'S CLIMB SOME ROUTES NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5.12 here I come, haha.
Posted by April at 03:10 PM | Comments (0)
June 01, 2005
Memorial Day Weekend...Continued
Sunday Paul and I spent the day hanging out at the house....a rare occurance for us, so it was quite nice. We even treated ourselves and slept in, haha...till 7:30am.
Sunday night we threw a little fiesta at La Casa de April & Paul. Tequila and a hottub - now what makes a better party than that?
Everyone crashed at our place (except Dan who BIKED home at 3am...crazy nut). Next morning, Paul and I turned betty-homemaker-style and fired up some home cookin' for everyone: Eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy. Yum. Then Paul, myself, Vince, Dan, Marcus, and the two pups packed into Tammy and Vince's 4-runner and headed out to The Dry for some route climbing. Poor Tammy had to stay behind....a little too much tequila for that girl. Heh heh.
Check out Vince cruzin' on Spinal Twist, 5.12b.
Click on the photo to see the footage...
Posted by April at 12:13 AM | Comments (0)