our trip pics up on flickr

we're back.

a beautiful weekend trip ended for me in illness... cross your fingers for me that these flu-like symptoms pass soon.

day off

i decided i needed a day off... so here i am, at home in my pajamas, enjoying some coffee... i'm even going to go to yoga during the day! i can't wait!   semi-strange thing, though-- i woke up to see the time on all of the clocks flashing.  apparently the power went out.  it's strange though because it's as though someone was trying to tell me that i didn't need to get up right away... mind you, this was 8:45 though (when i looked at the time on my phone) so while i felt relieved that i had peacefully slept in, i realized that it was still pretty early... and i'm kind of happy about that; i get the whole day!

what was that?

today i am sick. i have been sick for a few days... last night we flew back from our trip for thanksgiving, and you know that feeling when your ears get all plugged up on the plane? yeah, i still have that. i can't really hear. and apparently i am moving really slowly-- some of my co-workers made fun of me. meanies.

WV photos

the full albums are here and here

WV

we are back. it was a fun trip. i don't want to go to work.

here's a photo of bridge day.

more weekend fun

this weekend-- tonight actually-- we're headed down to the New River Gorge for an extended weekend climbing trip! we will be driving starting tonight (yikes!) after the class i teach-- dan will drive the first leg of the trip while i sleep (i hope) and then i will start driving sometime in the middle of the night... in addition to climbing we'll be watching official bridge day! i hope it's fun and the drive doesn't kill us... now i just have to make it through work today, tying up a bunch of loose ends, and then it's off until tuesday night!

fun friends photos and food

what a weekend-- a whirlwind trip to new york for a wedding, plus mini visits with many MANY meals! some of the photos are posted here

refreshed

a nice long weekend of campfire and climbing. it was great! it was the first time this season we made it up to Rumney, and the weather was just perfect. i've attached a few photos.



the campsite, however, was weird-- typically when we go to Rumney we just make it a day trip (it is a 2 hr drive) but this time we decided to stay for 2 nights/3 days-- let me just recommend, though, that if you're considering staying at a campsite that advertises it has sites for camping AND RVs, don't do it. it was like stepping into another universe. last night we went out for dinner and when we came back it was extremely difficult to maneuver the car in and around the GIANT bonfire practically in the road, and the hundred or so people sitting in chairs ready for the fireworks. the fireworks were also terrifying-- the first one went off too early or something and basically landed on the pool deck, though it looked like it was headed our way! we also ran into some weird signs on the campsite-- the first night we saw a small building that said "showers" so we went for it-- the sign in the shower room said "warm water showers only"... which was actually a bit of an exaggeration: the water was cold. i actually almost got sick that night because my hair wouldn't dry, and i couldn't get my core temperature up. saturday we found the hot showers-- apparently the first showers we found were the pool showers?!?! this place was fake fancy. here is our campsite right when we arrived... before we really realized how crazy the place was. note the pop-up camper behind dan is actually another campsite-- they really pack 'em in.

what are the odds

pass, so back to the crag for us! again, we hiked iso here we are in las vegas... it's excellent, except for the teeny tiny fact that it's really cold and has been on and off pouring rain-- yes, i'm serious. today we went to Red Rock Canyon to climb. the area is absolutely beautiful! it was a bit cold this morning, but we hiked in anyway, and MOMENTS before we started to climb it began to pour cold rain. seriously. so we left to go to the Red Rock Casino, which was fun, but not what we had planned. i played in a giant game of BINGO! i did not win but it was still very fun and i must admit i am tempted to go find another game of bingo... then we realized the weather had cleared up and we had already bought the day pass to the park, so we headed back-- this time to a different area-- and i get all suited up to lead. dan cautions me that i have maybe, oh, 10 minutes until this ominous cloud comes rolling in. yeah, that was enough to freak me out, so i basically epic-ed a 5.7 sport climb as it began to slightly rain, and get really windy. probably didn't help that we didn't exactly know where the route ended... but i live to tell! we made it out, again very wet and cold, but happy none the less-- it's just nice to be on vacation. i hope the weather will warm up tomorrow, because we're going to try the cliffs one more time!!