December 28th, 2021
For many years now our eastern visits have been mild and without snow over the holidays, the opposite of what it used to be when I was a kid. Last year when we didn’t travel, the northeast was buried in snow. Feets of it! And now this year the forecast was of course looking grim as usual. You can imagine how ecstatic we were then when getting this unexpected message from my mom the day we were scheduled to arrive: SNOW! To our delight flurries came down hard the last 45 minutes of the drive and our crummy bald-tired rental car barely spun it’s way up the driveway. We arrived around 9pm, kids kissed grandma and Aunt Katie hello, grabbed a quick bite of homemade pizza and then ran straight outside and played in the white stuff until half past past midnight. All the next day, more of the same! Wonderfully perfect snowman and sledding snow!
And then then the day after that – it was gone.
posted by ARR
December 23rd, 2021
Stop one on our whirlwind tour of eastern friends and family: Our dear long time friend Tammy and new, to us, husband Bissell (who officially gets the family thumbs up on awesomeness), now living in western Massachusetts. Looks like we’ve now got a great reason to venture to some northeast rock. 😁
posted by ARR
November 28th, 2021
Our 6th annual November Yosemite Valley trip has finally come to a close and we’re in the van now, driving back to Tucson. Yesterday’s climbing day had the psyche but not the juice to pull off any big sends. No big deal though, as we are all very tired and extremely satisfied. Stats from our stellar trip:
- Days climbed: 10 out of 14
- Days rained out: zero
- Problems sent: too many to count
- Routes climbed: zero, although we did rope up to suss the moves out on a highball boulder problem – Spock Was Here, v6
- Hikes: two big ones and many small ones
- Bike rides: too many to count
- Dinner at the Curry Pizza Deck: twice, exclusively reserved for days of big sends
- Marshmallows cooked over a campfire: a whole bag minus 3
- Dog poop incidents: one, involving Ivan and his bike
- Bear poop incidents: one, involving Silas and his shoe
- Major first aid incidents: only one! Last trip Silas banged the blunt end of an ax on his head, this trip he just peeled off…oh I dunno…5 or 6 layers of skin from his middle finger in a bike crash
- Minor first aid incidents: two. Ivan cheese-grated his face skidding off a slab climb and Paul bit it on the fire ring walking across camp to go pee late at night without a headlamp
- Number of times the kids in the campground didn’t become instant lifelong buddies of our kids: once. This is officially a first! Ivan was told by these two boys that they didn’t want to play with him anymore. He came back to camp all confused and sad. After some prying, I believe it maybe had something to do with these other boys being bigger and older, racing on fancy geared mountain bikes and getting beat by Ivan. Just once or many times? I asked. “All the times.” 😬
- Interesting animal sightings: bear, wolf, heron, deer, ravens, and two bucks with big racks fighting
- Average hours of sleep per night: a blissfully glorious 11. Every. Single. Night.
- Showers: one. With all the climbing, hiking and biking, we couldn’t really find time to ever fit this in
Until next time:
posted by ARR
November 24th, 2021
One day, maybe even one day soon, these boys won’t be loading their backpacks down with dozens of matchbox cars, hauling them out to the crag with all the pokey parts digging into their backs through their backpacks, creating detailed mazes of roads and parking lots and vrooming their motors with noticeable accuracy to the real deal, while Paul and I suss out the crux on a nearby boulder. You sure you guys don’t want to try this one? Nah, they say. Too absorbed in their little boy play. One day soon, they may actually decide that climbing is more fun than pushing matchbox cars around in dirt. And when that day comes I will be both sad and happy at the same time.
posted by ARR
November 19th, 2021
Oh our Silas and his highly involved and industrious ideas. Today, it’s making pancakes out of acorns. According to Silas, first you collect a bunch of acorns that have fallen to the ground, then you sort out the cracked and worm-holed ones so you’re left with only the good ones, then you roast them over the fire until they crack, then you peel the shells off so you’re left with the inner white part, then you grind the white part into flour, and then finally you mix up some pancake batter with the flour and cook up a pancake. I tell him I will look back on this and remember it always, but only one of two ways:
Remember that time you wanted to make pancakes out of acorns?
or,
Wow! Those were really good pancakes!
He rolled his eyes at me and continued with his sorting.
posted by ARR
October 24th, 2021
To celebrate our 17 year wedding anniversary: a ride on the Durango to Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, a cozy cabin, and a gorgeous hike in fall colors.
posted by ARR
