Good Times in Cali Part 2

Mon Oct 25- Oct 29

 Jeff and I were starting to feel the void of not climbing so we went to an indoor gym close by which was mostly a bouldering place and we climbed for a few hours. After dinner we went to an open gym at a gymnastics club and learned quickly that we weren’t very good.  Chase was teaching Beau and I some tricks and I figured out I should stick to climbing and basketball.  We were a little shy at first because everyone seemed so hardcore and we were completely out of our element but then it hit me that I am in California and I don’t care if everyone thinks I’m a fool.  So after we broke out of our shells we had a really silly and fun time.  On Tuesday the 26^th we drove into Malibu to climb at Malibu Creek state park.  We did a few climbs and then decided to drive down the beaches.  My favorite ones were Manhattan beach and Redondo Beach.  For dinner Jeff, Beau, Chase and I went to the Cheesecake Factory and had a great time feasting and reminiscing about “the good ol days”.  We finished off the night how we have most nights, and that is we all snuggle up and watch episodes of Modern Family online.

On Wednesday we drove to Oceanside with intentions on surfing but when we saw the monstrous waves that day we decided to settle for boogie boarding and body surfing.  We felt a little embarrassed, it was like we were fruit booting instead of skateboarding but it was a great time and I do have to mention that it was a balmy 30 degrees!!  We played and read our books all day then headed to the San Diego Temple.  The next day we hit up Huntington Beach and let cancer sizzle upon us in another day of 30 degree weather.  We would play in that water until the salt got to us and then we threw a football around and just hung out.  I have no complaints about beach life, but Jeff is worried his fingertips are getting too soft from all the water that they wont be able to climb as hard…he is a cutie.  After we went shopping at Irvine Spectrum (a big outdoor mall) and then came home to get ready for Knotts “scary” farm.  It is a big theme park but all decked out for Halloween.  There aqre people everywhere dressed up more creepy then you could imagine and they walk around and scare you.  The scariest ones were ones with knee sliders on and they would run up and slide at you and the sliding would create sparks everywhere.  The other scary ones were these creepy clowns with chainsaws that would chase you.  Needless to say I hated life that whole night.  There were a bunch of rides that were a blast and they also had mazes that were so terribly scary with people everywhere scaring you.  It is crazy how big Halloween is in the states.  We left the park around 1:00 am then went to norms (which is like Denny’s) and feasted.  On Friday we finished up this part of the trip at six flags with Beau and Chase.  We had some pretty hilarious moments there.  However Jeff has learned on this trip that he gets really motion sickness! We left the park around 10:30 then went to In and Out Burger.  Eventhough it felt like we didn’t make it to bed before 2:00 am once..it was the greatest time and we made so many fun memories!  Now we just arrived in Vegas and are ready to climb hard! Hope everyone is well and we miss you all very much! Happy Halloween!
We aplologize there are no pictures..we left the camera in california and it is getting mailed here! They are coming soon.

Good times in Cali part 1

Oct 20- Oct 24

We have spent the last 10 days in Anaheim California and we were fortunate enough to be able to stay with Jeff’s good buddies Beau Lawler and Chase Greep.  I don’t even know where to start to explain how much fun we had with them and all the cool things we were able to do.  We arrived in Anaheim in the evening of October 20 and started our stay there with a big yehaaw at a line dancing club.  Jeff and I were thinking “sweet a little country place with a few old people line dancing…we know how to line dance, we grew up in Calgary”.  Well this was no Cadillac ranch my friends.  The DJ would call out a dance and everyone would flock to the floor and like robots everyone knew what they were doing, minus the clueless Canadians.  These dances weren’t just your average country line dancing, it was like hip hop with crazy spins, jumps, booty shakes, and all sorts of things that were foreign to us.  It felt like in the movies where everyone is at the prom or something and then all the sudden everyone knows a choreographed dance.  The coolest part was that they had couples dances to..too bad Jeff and I were focusing so hard on our footwork we couldn’t actually enjoy that we were not at a nightclub and we weren’t surrounded by freaky naughty things going on.  The next day we recuperated from our humiliating skills on the dance floor and went climbing at the Riverside Quarry for Jeff’s birthday (no surprise he chose to climb on his bday).  The rock itself was awesome and the climbing was great but it was kind of hard to get over the fact that we were in the middle of a local dump.  I struggled belaying cause I swear there were rats lurking around.  In the night we went to Beau and Chase’s favorite Vietnamese place called Pho and topped the night off with a hilarious game of catch phrase.  The next morning we went shopping at the outlets a bit then went to the Santa Monica pier and Venice beach. It wasn’t the hottest of days so we just walked along the beach down to Muscle Beach and checked out the stores and street shops. We came home to Beau, Chase, their roommates, and a bunch of pumpkins ready to be carved.  The competition was more intense then I thought it would be so Jeff and I pulled out our A game and made an epic spider web with a spider on it.  Unfortunately those Californians were biased and Beau won with a mediocre presentation of a Harry potter pumpkin.  On Saturday the 23^rd we went to Universal Studios, and I don’t know what was better- actually being on the rides, or looking at the pictures of Jeff’s face after.  We went on the tour of where the filming is and saw some of the sets from movies and TV shows and that was really cool to do.  The next day we had a full day of fun with Beau and Chase.  We started the morning with a pancake breakfast then went and played an extreme tennis game.  After we came home and played a big game of dunk ball with their roommates Johnny and Erick then cooled off in the pool.  We drove into Temeculeh to have dinner with the Greeps and then played a very entertaining game of guesstures.  The best part was when it was chases mom’s turn..she was pretty comical watching.

Yosemite = Hard and Humbling

                                                            The 2 Jeffs's Looking at El Cap

                                                              A king swing we decided to play on

                                                                      A nice tree belay

                                                              Jeff in sending mode

                                                                The Giant sequoia

                                                         ...i think we have a bit of gear?

                                                              A view of the beautiful valley!

We arrived in Yosemite on Wednesday the 13 late at night...or early morning and slept in our car for a few hours then at around 5:00 am we woke up to wait at the camp 4 registration booth till 8:30.  We were told from several people that if you want a spot you have to get there super early, so that’s what we did.  Because we had driven into the valley in the dark, when the sun rose on Thursday morning we were in awe of how massive the mountains were and how beautiful the scenery was.  We set up camp and with high hopes and very little sleep we did our very first TRUE crack climb at the church bowl.  We figured we would start on some easy single pitch and very quickly we learned that nothing was easy.  We started on a 5.8 layback crack and Jeff took a good 15 foot fall on a lovely nut (small protection that you slide into a crack) and it was exciting to say the least!  We moved onto a 10.a crack that Jeff onsighted (climbed top to bottom with no falls or takes on the first try) and I surprisingly did as well.  At around 2:00 it was getting too hot for our very redheaded friend Jeff Runions to climb without frying himself so we took a drive around the valley and conversed over a cold pop!  After the first day we were super confident that we would be able to do a big wall so we hiked over to El Capitan and sat in silence admiring the 3000 ft clean face with the sunset glow beaming on it.  We mapped out our route then headed back to camp for dinner.  Camp 4 had such a neat feeling to it.  We were surrounded by some of the strongest climbers (including Kevin Jorgeson), and people from all over the world.  Everybody is super friendly and we made really good friends with 4 guys that stayed at our campsite as well.  On Friday we woke up early to get first dibs on a Multi Pitch named Frenzi- a 5 pitch 5.9.  We climbed with a girl named Anika we met in Smith rock and we quickly learned that she was the only one who had climbed crack before.  My whole life I have never been known to be slow..but I was seriously a turtle in molasses getting up this thing.  We decided to bail off at the start of the 4^th pitch because there were some pretty adequate climbers below us waiting at every anchor.  The repel off was super fun and we still had some confidence that it would get easier, so we had lunch then went to swan slabs and climbed a 5.9.  It’s a hard thing digressing from 5.12’s to 5.9’s (which we normally warm up on) which made our egos  pretty sore so the next day we did a 5.7 multi pitch and I had a blast on it.  At this point our optimism toward climbing El Cap was diminishing fast, but at least we were having a fun time with everybody at the campsite. On Monday we “attempted” a 3 pitch 5.10a splitter crack that required handjams (jamming our fist into cracks and crying cause it hurts) Jeff jammed out a send on the first pitch but we were shut down after the second pitch.  Okay, so now our big wall balloon was completely depleted and Jeff, Jeff and I sat there on Monday afternoon debating our level of adequacy to get up this monster.  Unfortunately it came out a no for many reasons, a) we have never aid climbed b) we are getting tormented on 5.9’s , and c)bad weather was rolling in.  After much debate we decided to blame our inability to climb a big wall on the “weather” so we packed up our things and headed west…we didn’t know where west but we were going to the ocean.  On Monday night we stopped in Monterey CA and now we are making our way down the beaches of the California coast.  We feel a little ashamed/guilty that we only stayed a week in the crack climbing mecca of the world, but we learned a valuable lesson : we are sport climbers. We leave Yosemite with the positives...it was the most stunning mountain valley, the campground was so diverse in culture, and we planted a seed for what we might be able to do years down the road.

Smith Rock..Check! Yosemite, here we come!

Okay so I apologize for throwing out climbing lingo with no definitions so I will try to make a point to describe what were talking about!
Where to start about the great time we have had in oregon.  We have been here for 9 days and it is not nearly enough for all that we wanted to climb.  Today Jeff and I found new "short term" projects because we know were leaving soon. He worked on a 12 b called crack babies, and I projected an 11c called bloodshot.  I am super stoked that I am leading most things I climb (unless its way out of my league and I want to humor myself and toprope it) and I had my project down to 2 falls.  The first fall was on the crux (hardest part of the climb) and I about ripped my fingerpad off thrying to hang on to a minescule crimp a.k.a. a thin seem.  The second fall was uber frusterating because I had pushed through where I normally get too pumped out but then my foot blew and I went for a good fall.  If we had more time here I would be able to redpoint(climb it top to bottom with no falls or takes and on lead) it but for now I am satisfied that I am pushing myself a little more than usual.  Jeff got his project down to 1 fall.  It is a super overhung and dynamic route..and he was just a little too gased to do it all together clean.  Looking back on the past week and a half it has flown by.  We have absolutely loved the climbing, the atmosphere of people here (mostly because they make us look like clean freaks!) and have enjoyed meeting so many new and interesting people around the campsite.  Now we are off to the most intimidating and bold part of our trip, Yosemite California where we will attempt to climb the big walls.  We are meeting a good friend Jeff Runions there and we are planning on climbing Salathe Wall on El capitan in 5 days.  We will warm up on some single pitches and some day multi pitches to get used to the granite and then its go time.  Just ten minutes ago jeff and I were discussing that we still need to buy..well I dont know how to say it other than a "poop shoot".  Because we will be on the face of a mountain for 5 days (sleeping there as well) there will be no way for us to um..have a bowl movement but keep a PBC tube with us and hang it off our portaledge (bed on a wall).  Im excited we are going to yosemite I am kind of nervous but mostly super anxious to see how we deal with the challenge.  It is kind of like we are runners, but now we are about to do an Iron man.  Also I apologize in advance to our mothers, and maybe my sister who is a new mother and has always sorta been my mom too, who may not sleep that well while we are on that climb..but we promise we will call right when we get down!  Hope all is well for everyone at home and we hope you will tell us about your own adventures too! Mucho love.

                                        This has been our home for the last 9 days!

                                               Coming down from Bloodshot- 11c

                                     Me at the top of my first outdoor 11 c Lead!

Climbing with Alex Honnold..no big D

So for all you non climbers out there reading this, I would like you to think of a celebrity or person you would like to meet..it could be celine dion, micheal jordan, or it can even be the situation from jersey shore.  Now think of running into your celeb crush..good. Well thats what I freaking did today! It might have taken a bit of stalking but I met Alex Honnold (climbing hero/ crazy man).  Jeff and I were enjoying some delicious steak fajitas when one of the local hippies of the campground said his name.  My ears perked up like a dog when you say "treat" so I budded into their conversation and learned he has been climbing here for the last month and is still here.  We found out that he isint camping at the site but he is staying with a local friend so we drove over to where you hike up from all the craggs and pulled out our books to wait it out.  It was starting to turn dark and we were about to pack it in when we saw the north face glow come around the corner.  We jumped out of the car and walked by them trying to play it casual.  I had the whole time reading to think of what I wanted to say but all that came out was.."alex honnold..so cool". I thought it was so lame..but we started talking to them after and he thought it was refershingly bold and it was way better than people just staring and pointing.  He is as chill as he is in all the movies and climbing hard too..but I was just so excited I got to meet him, hopefully tomorrow we can watch him climb and get put to shame again!

Rope Shinadigans!

My husband...the genius!

This entry is just a little story about the wonderfully brilliant husband I have. So on our rest day Jeff decided to go wash the rope in the river that flows through  the smith rock valley while I went for a little trail run.  Half way into my run I see this crazy person swimming in this freezing cold water and I notice that it is that silly boy I said yes to 2 years ago at an altar or something like that.  I watch him for a couple seconds and notice that he is mad..because he normally doesn't punch and curse at water.  So i ask what the heck he is doing and he aggressively replied "your husband is a mornon thats what!". I thought for a bit and realized that that comment could relate to several aspects of like..so I said "what"? Even more aggitated at himself and with a tear in his eye he replied "I lost the rope in the river". Now I havent really been in this situation before but for some reason I thought that was just hysterical so I laughed provoking Jeff's anger streak to escalate...He didn't find it funny that he threw 200 dollars and the thing that saves our life everyday climbing into the water.  He kepy saying "im so sorry sweetie" but I was seriously just a) getting a kick out of the whole situation and b) worrying about how cold he must be.  Jeff had decided he would just give up so he started walking towards the "shore" and all of the sudden his face lit up with exceitement and lo and behole the rope had swam back to him! After a 10 miunute cheering fest and a quick snuggle with his rope, jeff finished cleaning it and I carried on with my run!

Smithers

Eventhough we are so very fortunate to eat mongo sized pieces of humble pie everday day climbing here, we are slowly adjusting to the rock here and are starting to redpoint in the 12's.  Jeff has been working on a 12 a called Heinous cling and yesterday evening we hiked down to give it another try and he sent it!! It was his sixth try and he looked like a little boy on christmas day on his way down.  I have decided im not quite strong enough to send climbs in the 12's but I can get up them in a couple falls usually so it puts a good challenege for me to push for.  Yesterday we climbed with  two brothers from BC who did a 11b trad route and we were lucky enough to toprope it. Jeff has a new new project to lead it on gear.  We also climbed a 11c short sport route that I had to dino for the finish hold..im actually quite suprised/impressed that I stuck the finish!  Today (sunday) we took a rest day, went to church, had lunch in a park full of red leaves and talked to the families online while they stuff their faces with turkey and pie...jealous, but I still have to say our meals have been no different than they are at home.  The biggest difference is Jeff all the sudden loves cooking, okay maybe not cooking but he loves his camp stove and being a mountain man so much he cooks! but hey I got NO complaints!  I am thoroughly enjoying the lifestyle we have going for us right now and Jeff and I have been having so much fun together.  It really is amazing that we arent sick of eachother one bit..maybe it's cause we are getting way more sleep then we would at home...  Most nights we play cards, hangout with people we have met, or read our books, I guess I cant complain too much!

Smith Rock- The land of unlimited projects

Alright..so Jeff and I thought we are somewhat adequate climbers and were somewhat confident walking into climbing centers and craggs.  Well any form of ego we had got put to shame..no it got absolutely stomped on..not just by the hard grades at smith..but by climbing next to to french team petzl all day torching 5.13's and sending 14's. It feels like every single climber here is warming up on 12's and whipping up splitter cracks on hard gear.  I gues we gained a good balance of humility of how bad we actually are, and inspiration of what we could become to be.
The first day we got here around 3 and we hiked right down to the craggs and climbed a 10.b and an 11.b in the cocaine gully.  It starts to get dark around 6ish so we hiked back up and set up tent.  The campground is crawling full of your stereotypical "high all day and night hippies".  We were immediately greeted by a super nice guy named joel who has lived out of virtually a sleeping bag at Smith for the past 3 years and have met similar people everyday.  The neat part about the campground is that all the cooking must be done in a designated area so we get to meet alot of interesting people and have ended up climbing with them as well.  On tuesday we got started early and climbed a 5.7, 5.9, 10.b, 11.a, and 11.c.  I am starting lead more and have been really enjoying the new adrenaline you get from it.  The sun is sooo hot in the day and I have been loving regainig a tan..but the nights are freezing!  Wednesday we got started a little later and climbed some easy trad routes, we really enjoyed a 5.6 called cinammon slab.  We decided it would be a good day to start trying some hard stuff so we jumped on a 5.12 called henious cling..and man is it ever heinous.  We watched a 45 year old woman not just walk up it..but cake walk up it and after she sauntered up to a 5. 13 to the right.  Jeff and I are comforatable working on our little 5.12's as the smelly frenchies destroy routes left right and center! I am getting kicked out of starbucks so I will update you more when I can..love it here and can wait for more!! Let us know how your doing so we can keep track of what is going on in CANADA.

Keep Portland Weird...

So I know this post about our time in portland is a few days late but as my teachers always said to me..better late than never so here it goes!  We got there friday afternoon, checked into our hotel and then went down town to taste some of the interesting food everybody raves about.  There was a really cool place called 50 plates that had a signiture dish from each state that we tried to eat at but being downtown portland on a friday night we settled for chinese food instead.  One thing that we learned about portland is that it has quite the selection of trendy resteraunts, deli's, cafe's, and anytype of food you can dream of.  On saturday we woke up and went to the famous saturday market full of all the trinkety things you can imagine.  The greatest part about the market was all the food carts with some pretty scrumptious food and treats!  The only thing we bought was a ring for me to substitute for a wedding ring on the trip (i didnt bring mine in fear of losing it).  I dont know if anyone reading has ever been to portland, but it says "keep portland weird" on their lisence plate for a reason!  It was the most excentric place full of..i dont know how else to say it but randomness.  There was such a unique look to everyone and I really enjoyed observing the lifestyle and pace of the city.  After the market we hung out and read in a park, set up a slackline and just hung out a bit.  The next day we went to the OMSI, which is basically a big science center, and Jeff got to impress me with his math skills on several brain teasers they had... I gave up quick, never really liked math.  After a few hours there we walked around nob hill and looked through some really trendy independent stores and we eventually learned that is where all the "unique" people bought their clothes.  Overall portland was a fantastic place to get a taste of a cultured american city and Jeff and I had a great time eating, shopping, and being tourists..that being said we were more than ready to get outdoors and start climbing hard, but first we had to stop at voodoo doughnuts and get a carmel chocolate peanutbutter oreo covered doughnut (i guess we will have to climb extra hard to work all the food off!)

Seattle Breeze

 Jeff and I just left Stunning Seattle and we decided that eventhough we had a jam packed fun four days, it still wasnt enough.  We arrived tuesday night and went out to eat at a place called Bahama Breeze and checked out a massive mall before the stores closed.  The next morning we went to the outlet mall I was so impressed with Jeff for being a trooper there for a whole 4 hours.  On the way back we stopped at Golden Gardens park which is a beautiful beach that is right off of the downtown strip so there were a few "interesting" people there.  We made some soup and ate it as the sun went down over the mountains.  On thursday we left for a full day excursion into downtown seattle.  We took the train into pike place which is a public market that has every nicnac, flower, fruit, and fish you can imagine.  It is overlooking the ocean and has local music and art everywhere..the very first starbucks was there too so we checked it out.  We ate lunch on a roof of a building overlooking the water and had a little reading time (napping time for jeff).  We shopped around the ritzy stores downtown and were baffled by the amount of money people spend on...crap.  After our feet were killing from walking the steep streets we went and ate at a nice place and enjoyed an ice cold diet pepsi!  Stuffed and refreshed we went to our very first professional baseball game and watched the seattle mariners get smoked by the oakland A's.  We quickly realized that the money we spent on the tickets was not for the actual game..but for the whole experience.  It was fun seeing the lights and destroying our teeth on the biggest carmel apple ever, but the baseball...BORING (no offense) the most exciting part was when we got the wave going!  This morning we woke up and drove to portland along the so calles beautiful coast line.  It could have just been the fog..but the drive was fairly unimpressive and was mostly sloughs..so hopefully the road to california is a bit nicer.  We did stop at seaside oregon and there were some pretty good waves...and amazing freshly made salt water taffy..my favorite was the peanut butter.  Now we just got back from dinner and are ready for another fun and exciting day!  Miss you all..and comment and let us know how you are!!