April 23-30: Visiting my friend P in Scotand

I guess one of these days I should stop being so busy doing nothing and summarize my trip to Scotland.

Great hanging with my friend from college, P.

Ate both veggie and regular haggis. I particularly enjoyed the veggie haggis burrito. Mmm.

After many years of hearing P rave about how beautiful the Isle of Arran is, I finally got to see it.

Took a bus tour.

More later.

more pix

April 20-21: Road Trip with M, Part 3, Bouldering at Rumbling Bald

The last stop on our road trip was Rumbling Bald in North Carolina for some bouldering. We drove out to our campsite, passing a sign inviting us to visit the "original Carolina hillbilly." (We opted not to.) We got settled, grateful that the forecasted rain stayed away, even if the cold and wind hadn't. We built a decent fire, but it would have been better if we had had some smaller pieces of wood to get the thing going. (Note to self: get some type of axe to cut the logs.) The rest of our group arrived in the middle of the night, since they left after work.

Eventually, we all rolled out of bed and made breakfast, a delicious combo of bacon, scrambled eggs, avocado and cheese, served on the plate or in a breakfast taco. It was nice to share the cooking and cleaning duties with others. Sufficiently fueled, we drove to the boulder field and got climbing. We were very happy to see that the place either didn't get much rain the day before or dries quickly. We warmed up on a few V0's in the Gateway Boulders area, then worked on a V3; congrats to S for topping it out. Next up were some more V0's on the Devil Boulder. The problems themselves were quite comfy, but the heart got racing once I noticed the snake sunning itself on the top. It wasn't near the problems, just something you passed while getting off the boulder.

Look out for snakes at the top of the problem!

We tried a V2 with a super long move that none of us made, then gave the pretty Crescent Crack a shot. We walked around a bit, then played around on the Classic Overhang boulder before heading to Bart Simpson. We had fun on Marge, but Bart still remains a mystery. After one more climb, we hiked back out to the parking lot to meet L for dinner.

S on Crescent Crack

After another tasty breakfast Sunday morning where we finished off the last pound and a half of bacon,  we packed up and went to the east side at Rumbling Bald for a few more hours of climbing before we had to drive back to Louisville. We hopped on some V0's and V1's on the warm-up boulder, then got on the very nice Land of Dreams (V1). After a few more problems, it was time to leave. We stopped at Wicked Weed in Asheville for one more meal. The menu had many excellent choices and we each chose a different sandwich, which was awesome, because then we got to try all of them. I went with the fried chicken + kimchi + miso mayonnaise. Mmm. L's burger with lobster and avocado was quite tasty as well and the trout, veggie burger with fried okra and bison burger were all nice. Sharing food with friends was a great way to end the road trip. Looking forward to doing it again soon!

fried chicken + kimchi + miso mayo

The Climbs

Saturday - Rumbling Bald, West Side 

Gateway Boulders

A few V0’s and worked a V3

Devil Boulder

A couple V0’s, tried a V2 and Crescent Crack (V2)

Classic Overhang

Played around a bit on the Classic Traverse (V2) and did Right Side V1

Bart Boulder 

Marge V1. minus the top out

French Maid V0

Sunday – Rumbling Bald, East Side

Breakfast area

Warm-up Boulder - V0 and V1

Morning Star Boulder - Land of Dreams V1, Travis’s Arete V1, Flounder V1

Berry Patio Bouder,- Mega Scoop V0

April 18-19: Road Trip with M, Part 2, Rest Days in Asheville, NC

After climbing for five straight days, it was time to rest, so we packed up the car and headed to Asheville, NC to hang for a day or so before continuing our climbing trip at Rumbling Bald over the weekend. For the record, whacking your funny bone on the edge of the car door is not funny at all; it hurt less when I broke my wrist, although I was glad that nothing was broken. Oh well, it gave me the opportunity to learn I can drive my car while having an ice pack strapped to my elbow.

We checked in to the Sweet Peas Hostel, then ventured out to explore Asheville. Our initial destination was an art store we passed on the way in, but before we got there, we saw the Gourmet Chip Company. Since this sounded delicious and we were both hungry, we stopped for a snack and we were glad we did! After a thorough reading of the menu, we decided on the Americana chips, a delicious combo of gouda, bacon and pepper. Mmmm. We decided that we'd have a progressive meal, having a bite to eat a various places as we walked around downtown in the afternoon and evening.

Course 1 - Americana Chips

As we finished our chips, the worker brought us and the other customers some bonus chips, Belgium Caramel flavor - chocolate shavings, caramel drizzle and sea salt. Heaven!

Course 1.5 - Belgium Caramel Chips

Our next food and beverage stop was Wicked Weed Brewing Company. We split some citrus marinated olives.

Course 2 - Olives

After some more walking to rebuild the appetite, we walked into Asheville Brewing Company. The menu said the salsa was amazing and M and I agreed. The queso was pretty good, too.

Course 3 - Chips, Salsa and Queso

The bathroom decor in this place was awesome as well!

Love it!

Our next course was liquid, ginger ale for me and a flight of beer for Mandy at Green Man Brewery. We played darts there and I won. Not that it was a very good game of darts.

Course 4 - Ginger Ale and Beer

Four hours into our progressive dinner, it was time to get some actual dinner. We went to Farm Burger and split chicken pot pie fritters and a burger with cheddar, caramelized onions and FB sauce (aka The Number 1). Both were fabulous and I finally found a burger that topped the one I enjoyed (several times) when I was out in J-Tree. They served the burger medium without even asking and it was prepared perfectly; it would have been a shame to cook this burger to well-done.

Course 5 - Chicken Pot Pie Fritters and No 1 Burger

We got our second bonus dessert of the day, a mini vanilla shake. I guess washing our hair and leaving the baseball caps in the car pays off!

Course 5.5 - Vanilla Shake

We headed back to the hostel, since our planned dessert stop was located in the same building. Unfortunately, it's not the only bar located in that building, which we found out when we walked in and discovered we were at The Southern. We decided on a spontaneous course of deviled eggs, which we had seen on the menu at several other places. M discovered a beer that she really liked, so it was a fortuitous mistake. The eggs were tasty, but by this point in the evening, I felt a bit like Cool Hand Luke eating them.

Course 6 - Trio of Deviled Eggs

Our seventh and final course was dessert at The Lab. There were many tasty choices, but we went with the rhubarb sundae - rhubarb ice cream, candied peanuts, chocolate coveted pretzels, rhubarb caramel and cinnamon whipped cream. It was a great way to end the meal!

Course 7 - Rhubarb Sundae

Despite all that we ate the night before, we were hungry when we woke up. The guy working at the hostel recommended the Early Girl Eatery. It was a great recommendation. M and I both got the Early Girl Benny (grit cakes topped with tomato, spinach, poached eggs, tomato gravy and avocado) with a biscuit. Both the meal and the condiments were delicious; the jam was tasty, the O'Yeah sauce provided a touch of heat with excellent flavor and the Fire from the Mountain Smoked Habanero hot sauce gets my coveted* "Not for Wimps" designation.

Early Girl Benny

Yummy Condiments

We did more exploring and then went to some beer store so M could pick up some brews for the weekend, but mainly we were just killing time until we were hungry enough to eat again. Second breakfast was beignets. It made a fine pre-climb snack, since we were heading over to the local climbing gym, ClimbMax, afterward.

Beignets

The only thing better than a pre-climb snack of beignets is a post-climb meal at Farm Burger. Given all the tasty restaurants in town, it seemed a bit silly to repeat, but that burger was really good, plus, we didn't sample the fries. We ordered the No 1 again, plus the No 6 (bacon, sunny side up farm egg, pepper jack cheese, salsa verde) and an order of the pimento cheese and jalapeno fries. Delicious again!

Burgers

Fries

Our time for eating in Asheville was over. We drove to our campground and got ready for a weekend of climbing and camping.

Asheville is a great place to get your eat on!

* Coveted by exactly no one.

April 12-17: Road Trip with M, Part 1, RRG and The Obed

It's time for another climbing trip with M! Our first stop was the Red River Gorge in Kentucky. We stopped for dinner on the way and I was excited to see sopapillas on the menu. Unfortunately, my excitement turned to disappointment, as there seems to be confusion over just what the heck a sopapilla is. I was served a flat, fried tortilla, similar to the one pictured below. While it was tasty, it was not a sopapilla. 

THIS IS NOT A SOPAPILLA!

We joined other volunteers with the RRGCC for a trail day on Saturday morning. Our group helped move a bridge on the approach to the Motherlode. I found rocks, dug sand and clay and stayed out of the way of people swinging tools. There was still plenty of time afterward for climbing, so we headed over to Chica Bonita. My highlight of the afternoon was leading my first 5.10a, Raindancer. Gotta love those short (30 foot) routes! We met some friends and had pizza at Miguel's. Also met a young woman who honestly seemed to believe there is no difference between turkey bacon and regular bacon. I am glad my taste buds work better than that!

At the top of Raindancer
more pix

We headed back to the PRMP on Sunday and joined the crowd at The Shire. Fortunately, only one group had members who probably should have written up in the ongoing weekly idiot report forum. I'll just leave it at that. We got up three routes (I led two) then met with the rest of our group at Left Field. They were stuck on a 5.9. J dragged up the stick click to get to the crux bolt, but got no further. I gave it a shot, but backed off. M, however, went for it and made it to the top! Our bail biners would have to be used another day. We said goodbye to our friends who had to be at work on Monday, then headed over to The Rockhouse for some tasty dinner.

We took advantage of the lighter crowds and headed over to Phantasia Wall. After a nice steep, but short, climb we warmed up on Lord of the Flies. We hoped to do Pogue Ethics next, but another group was on it. We walked the other direction and got on a fun-looking 5.10b, Overlord. This was the first time for both of us to put up a 5.10b and together we did it. Yay! Looking forward to both of us leading it cleaning the next time we go. Pogue Ethics was still being climbed, so we headed over to Creature Feature. What a mistake! Two-and-a-half unfun hours later, we gave up and the next party retrieved our gear. (Thanks!) We headed back to Miguel's for a refreshing shower and back up camp before driving to the Obed Hostel, our home away from home while we climbed at The Obed.

We went into town and hit the hot breakfast spot, Hardees, to fuel up before a day of bouldering. Although quite a few boulders/problems were wet (must have something to do with the trees and moss on top of many of the boulders) we found plenty of problems to keep us busy. We warmed up on some V0's and V1's on the warmup wall, then headed over to the KB Boulder to work a couple of V2's we hadn't finished the last time we were here. (M finished one of them last time, but I didn't top out either of them.) It took a little work, but we both topped out (but not very beautifully) KB Arete and Honker. After we explored the bouder field looking for problems that were both interesting and dry, we conquered Maestro Madness, avoiding the worm that was hanging out near the top of the problem. I'm pretty sure this was my first V3. We did a couple more problems, then went back into town and grabbed dinner and groceries. The evening's entertainment was watching the lambs eat grass.

Wednesday's forecast wasn't great, with the chance of rain increasing as the day went on, but we decided to risk it. After a decent hike, we reached our warmup route, Cocoa Puffs, in the South Clear. It proved to be a bit of a challenge, as the rock was a little slicker than I'm used to and it was necessary to make a top-out style move (not my strong suit) to get to the anchors, but I managed. Next up was Best Seat in the House, so named because the view from the top is quite nice. I was first up on lead, but was having difficulties unlocking a move, so turned it over to M to see if she could get up it before the rains came, because at this point it was becoming clear it was a matter of when than if. She figured it out and then cruised to the top. As the skies darkened, it was my turn to get up and clean the route before the rain came. At least, that was the goal. A light rain greeted me as I reached the anchors. If it had just stayed a light rain, it would have been fine, but it turned into a downpour shortly thereafter, drenching me, M and the rope, which ended up in a puddle that formed very quickly at the base of the route. I got down safely and we headed to the shelter of a roof to eat lunch while the rain passed. Once the rain stopped, we made the trek out, which was a bit more challenging than the trek in, because now we had a few creek crossings to navigate. It was a soggy end to our trip to The Obed. Looking forward to going back and getting on some more routes.

The same spot, before and after the rain. Notice anything different?

The Climbs

Obed Bouldering

Warm-up Wall

Hot Dog V0

Something we made up V0/V1

Soldier V0

Dipsy Do V1

KB Boulder

Tippy Toes V0

Eco Terror V0

KB Arete V2

Honker V2

Piano Boulder

Maestro Madness V3 (first V3)

Beer Boulder

Bud V0

Obed Sport

Cocoa Puffs 5.7 

Best Seat in the House 5.9