Coming Soon.. Taking on Hurrican Wilma in the Gulf
The cruise is cancelled due to lack of funding... no wait, we're still going on BP's dime... Hurricane in the gulf, no go... hurricane turns towards florida, we're on...
In other words, I hope to see you all again someday. For now I am headed right into hurricane alley... oh meclazine, save me...
Vegas and Red Rocks
Last weekend became a small Alice Lloyd Hall reunion when I met up with my fellow Michigan alum in Vegas. We spent two days on the strip and yet I managed to pry a couple of the partiers away from the bright lights to climb in Red Rocks. The soft sandstone is red from banded iron formations. The red seems to accentuate the heat of the dry desert air.
We climbed at Panty Wall, a vertical wall with a variety of ratings. Ezra managed to find a belay station in the shade. I lead a 5.8 and then a 5.7. The routes are heavily bolted and I felt confident on the hand and foot holds. It amazed me that such gorgeous, alien landscape exists naturally, so close to the artificial playland of the strip.
Tahquitz and Suicide Rocks in Idyllwild, CA
Wow! No better way to spend Labor Day weekend than hiking up the hills to the most amazing rocks I've climbed yet. Our large party could have made for a logistics nightmare, but Jeremy took the lead and everything went smoothly. The first day, we set up a top rope garden on the right face of the Buttress of Cracks on Suicide. We did a good range of climbs from a 5.7 to 5.10a, and even attempted a 5.11 on a toprope.
The next day we broke up into teams and managed to get all seven of us up three pitches of 5.3 Fingertip Traverse. It was an easy climb but the exposure made my heart leap! For the third pitch, we moved onto a 5.6 slab to finish. The fourth and final pitch was easy and so Jeremy actually let me lead it.
We were having too much fun at the summit and suddenly noticed the sun was setting. The walk through the woods seemed to be leading us nowhere. I got ahead and luckily found a stack of rocks that seemed to indicated a trial... an hour and a half of stumbling later we found the main trial back to our cars. Back at the camp, marshmallows never tasted so good...
Rainy Season in Costa Rica -- under construction
COSTA RICA
Somehow I managed to sleep through most of the red-eye flight to Washington DC. From Dulles to San Jose, Costa Rica, Lora and I were wide eyed with our noses in the guidebooks. We were ready to explore the country as soon as we landed...
HOTELS
Rancho Armadillo (!!!!)
Definitely a great find.. and what I would call a stroke of good luck.
Lora and I were parked at the beach trying to find a hotel in our guidebooks that we could afford. It was probably going to be a hostel night, costing $10/per person. Maybe no hot shower, but a bed to lay our heads down. We must have looked like the most helpless girls, because an SUV pulls up beside us and an older man asks if we're lost.
We tell him we're looking for a cheap hotel and he makes a few suggestions. After he's finished, we thank him and turn back to our guidebooks. Wait, he says, how much are you trying to spend? I tell him $15, maybe $20. He tells us he owns a hotel up the road and he'll rent us a room for $20. Sure, we hop in our car and follow him up and up and up the road...
My jaw drops as we pull up to a mansion nestled in the hillside overlooking Playa Del Coco. The man is Rick, a former Chef from Detroit, who now owns the Rancho Armadillo. The bed and breakfast has a gorgeous pool and breakfast bar with an ocean view. We are given a clean room with a rainforest shower, told that breakfast is free, and even hooked up with a local dive charter.
One nights stay in Play Del Cocos turns into the rest of the week. The location of Rancho Armadillo is great for exploring all the beaches of Guanacaste. Dive chartes leave from nearby for local dives as well the Catalina Islands.
Rick even cooks us dinner two of the night. His barbecue ribs are to die for! We are given access to the kitchen and liquor cabinet and inside tips on places to explore that some guidebooks don't even know about.
SIGHTS
Lora and I went to the Volcan Poas but unfortunately we weren't able to see much because of the cloud cover. The rainy season was difficult in that way. We still hiked around and saw a snake on the road and stopped for fresh strawberries and local coffee.
Our next stop was the Volcan Arenal. The clouds obstructed our view of the active lava flows. We were still able to enjoy the hot springs and the next day managed to glimpse the top of the volcano. At Arenal, we joined a canopy tour and horseback riding in the jungle.
Once we reached Playa Del Coco, our trip was all about the beaches and diving. We joined a dive at a turtle shaped island and saw sharks and rays and many eels.
Mexico-- Never Boring...
Sometimes disaster just strikes. I think I like to save it all up to happen all at once. It's more interesting that way. I just wait until I'm bored.
When I came back from the cruise, I was greeted by a messy house, drunk roommates, bills, cat care, no sleep, regular hours at work... I needed to get away from it all. I decided to take a couple of days off work and planned a long weekend in Mexico with Courtney. Not just any place in baja though. I wanted to go to the middle of nowhere. And so we did.
Luckily and unluckily the truck can take us there. We spent a night of bliss on a beach with not a soul around us. The only sounds were the waves crashing. The next morning we woke up to find a fog had settled over us. I wanted to get out of there quick as it was getting chilly. We loaded up the truck and started the long haul back into town. I was coming up a slight slope covered in sand and revved the engine a little bit too hard. All of a sudden the clutch went out! I couldn't get into any gear.
Long story short, I managed to flag down some campers. We had luckily entered a more populated area. They were able to get some friend to tow us for a bit. The friend managed to get the truck into first gear and we drove it to a local mechanic named Don Lalo's. He wouldn't be able to get a part from Ensenada for another few days, so we called Jamie to pick us up from San Quintin. It's a good friend who drives four hours there and four hours back to rescue you from Mexico.
Vancouver - Rock climbing and First Birthdays
View the accompanying photo albumWhen Lora, Garth and Jinshan all flew to their respective homes, I was left alone with the rental car. I explored Seattle a bit, finding a very interesting used bookstore where I bought a book about New Zealand. The owner showed me some other books on New Zealand and let me use his internet to check my e-mail. I sat in a coffee shop for a while, writing and then started to long drive to Richmond, BC.
I arrived in the afternoon, and was happy and nervous to see my new baby cousins. I don't really have a lot of experience with babies. But they warmed up to me immediately. Alexandre, the boy, ran and gave me a big hug when my aunt introduced him to his "cousin Pat." Isabelle was a little more shy, but allowed me to hold her hand while she learned to walk.
Aunt Arlene and Uncle Matthieu took me to a bar/restaurant on the bay, where we drank Sangria and I had a delicious dinner of dungeness crab. After dinner, my aunt and uncle let me give Alexandre his milk before bed, he would suck on his bottle and play with my hair. His chubby little form fit almost perfectly in my arms. I went to bed early since I was climbing the next day. The babies woke up one in the nigh to cry, but were otherwise well quiet. I slept just fine.
I woke up at 6am the next morning to drive to Squamish to meet Andre Ike of West Coast Mountain Guides. The traffic was somewhat backup up due to a ferry accident the night before. It was also Canada Day. When I arrived in the tiny town on Squamish, I couldn't help but ignore the giant rock formation that loomed next to the town. This was the Stawamish Chief. I was going to climb it today. I gulped.
The weather was bad, so Andre said we would do a six pitch climb up the apron and then see how we felt. The apron had an interesting 5.7 climb with a mix of slab and a dihedral with a crack, called Diedre. Andre always checked my knots and kept an eye on me, but otherwise did not treat me as a beginner. We both flew up the first six pitches. When we reached the top, I was eager to continue.
I struggled with the next pitch, a 5.9, called Calculus Crack. Although my czech made shoes were great on the slab, they were horrible in foot jams. I could feel the rock through the thin rubber. It was agonizing, but I made it to the top. Between cracks there was a lot of scrambling, but the cruz pitch was a 5.10 thin crack. I had already climbed 12 pitches and although I started it well, I began to flail helplessly in the middle. Andre said I had the technique right, but my legs were just too worn out.
The final pitch was easy, and we came over the top together. I was amazed at the crowd at the summit! Several tourists had hiked up the less steep backside and were sitting enjoying the sunshine that had burned through the clouds. They were amazed that we had climbed up the face. Fourteen pitches. I felt very proud of myself.
We hiked quickly down the backside, my legs ached when we reached the bottom. We did stop once to drink real mountain water.
The next day was the twins' first birthday party. I woke early-ish to help my aunt prepare party favors. The weather was beautiful and my aunt set up a fun little party in the backyard. There were many babies and young children. I stuck with my cousins, playing games and helping them explore the yard. Isabelle was particularly interested in practicing walking up and down the stairs. Up and down. Up and down. But it was adorable that she enjoyed the challenge. Alexandre and the other kids had discovered a water table and they were all soaking wet and laughing within minutes.
After the party, I was as exhausted as the babies. I was still super sore from the climb and I collapsed in a chair with a glass of wine. Isabelle was put to bed, but Alexandre was too comfortable in my lap. I was happy to have him there and let him take a little nap with me. That night when we put them to bed, I gave Alexandre his milk again. He was a little restless, so we read "Fox in Socks" together (with my little embellishments) and let him play with my hair a little more. If he wasn't such a good climber, I'd want to turn him into a hairdresser. My aunt wants him to be a rocket scientist, though. (Not so farfetched, my aunt is a Satellite Engineer).
When I left the next day, it actually broke my heart when I kissed my little babies goodbye. I am trying to convince my mom and dad to let me come back over Christmas. The whole family should come!
Seattle and the San Juan Islands
View Accompanying Photo AlbumBut the best part of our trip was when we got back to Seattle. We tried to do the tourist thing and see the Space Needle, but Seattle bored us. The only place we really enjoyed was the Funhouse. There is a basketball court in the back and basketball+beer is always a good time for all. At night, the little dive bar transforms into a music venue.
I had also planned a little jaunt up north to the San Juan Islands. This group of islands is in Puget sound between the Anacortes peninsula and Vancouver Island. There are three main islands and we spend most of our time on the largest, San Juan Island in the main city of Friday Harbor.
Ferries run all day from Anacortes to Friday Harbor. There are both direct ferries and those that run to all of the Islands. The direct ferry costs $11 per person and takes about 45 minutes. Parking overnight in the ferry lot is $20. It would have been cheaper to take the rental car over to the island, but then we would have had to wait another 3 hours to book a spot on the next ferry. We decided to walk on.
The "Juniper Lane Guest House" (www.juniperlaneguesthouse.com) was supposed to be in talking distance from the Friday Harbor ferry port. About 1/2 a mile into our walk, I decided I was going to try hitchhiking. I had no idea what I'm doing, so I just stick out a thumb. The next thing I know a truck pulls up with a woman and a dog. We load up our luggage and bodies in the back and ride the mile to the Guest House.
Juniper greets us. She's a young woman with lots of style. The guest houses are decorated to reflect her eccentric tastes. It was more suited to young travelers like us than the other gaudy, frilly bed and breakfasts I had browsed online. In the kitchen, there is a map with pins marking the locations all the guests have travelled from. Our group adds San Diego, Ca and Qingtao, China. Our bunks are decorated with purple quilts and I pick a bed up at the top. Our host hooks us up with Crystal Seas Kayaking to book a kayak trip for the next day and we call Island Dive and Watersports to book a boat dive.
Crystal seas has no more tours for the day so Garth decides we should rent some bikes and cycle around the western side of the island. This part of the island is well known for viewing Orcas in the channel between San Juan and Vancouver Islands. We cycle the hilly roads until we're red in the face, finally arriving at the scenic west coast. There were no orcas to see, but the views from Lime Kiln State Park were beautiful. There were several tidepools with interesting creatures, and lots of old lava rocks to climb.
At the end of our exhausting ride back, we stumbled into the Front Street Ale House serving local beers from the San Juan Brewery (1 Front St, Friday Harbor, WA 98250 (360)378-2337). The jalepeno fish and chips hit the spot and we tried a range of the local brews. Dessert was a mountainous carrot cake! Our waiter, Van Dyke, was a Michigan Dutch just like Lora! He took our numbers and promised to give us a local tour.
We biked home in the pitch blackness, howling at the slivered moon. The bed at Juniper was a great end to an adventurous day. The next morning we were up at 8am to join up with out boat dive.
Lora and I had to battle somewhat with the employees at Island Dive and Watersports to get the price advertised on the internet. Finally the owner agreed that it would be false advertising to charge us a different price. We boarded the boat to one of the nearby islands and began our descent into the cold water. I expected the shock to be much worse, but I actually felt very comfortable in the 52 degree water. Sticking my face in at the surface I could see interesting anemones and sea cucumbers and sea stars all over the wall. The visibility was nice.
We began our descent but when I signalled OK to Lora, she shook her head and began to ascend. Something was wrong. When she got to the surface she said her throat hurt and felt dry. She also began coughing. We waited for a bit, but she wasn't getting any better. In the end, she returned to the boat and I continued my dive with an assistant.
There were countless sea cucumbers on this dive! There weren't many fish, but plenty of invertibrates. The starfish were huge with multiple arms. One had a span of about 3.5 feet. I was majorly overweighted for the cold water and the other diver kept swimming ahead. I was fighting to keep up and got exhausted halfway through the dive and had to bail to the surface.
When I returned to the ship, Lora was coughing up a clear fluid. Her lips were also starting to look a little blue at the bottom middle. I didn't want her to panic, so I didn't tell her, just telling her to breathe slowly. I stayed as long as I could at the surface, but she told me to go ahead and do my second dive.
The second dive was absolutely incredible. Forests of white anemones covered the rocks. I swam through them letting them brush over my body. A large fish swam out and startled me. It was almost as long as I was! The wall was rich with life. At one point I spotted a white shape moving into a hole. Hoping it was a giant octopus, I followed it, and discovered a huge wolf eel!
We hung out with David Van Dyke again and he showed us some cool mud flats. We tried to dig up clams but didn't succeed. I also spotted a bald eagle.
To make up for the diving disaster, I promised Lora a sunset Kayak tour. We were supposed to see Orcas but they had decided not to indulge us again. The water was glassy and gorgeous and the views of Vancouver Island were stunning.
