Ooh La La France: The Novel

Adam and I started our French adventure in the City of Light: Paris.  Should be called the City of Love though with all the makin' out going on!  We had an amazing time there; hit all the hot spots: Eiffel Tower, Champs Eleysee, Louvre etc...  I played tour guide for Adam, which was a hoot.  The first night we got there I led us to the Louvre and the look on his face when I said to look to the right and the Eiffel Tower was all lit up was just priceless!  He gave me the biggest hug and kiss :)  He ended up really liking the Louvre; spending hours looking at all the Greek and Roman statues.

We were also able to met up with some of Adams friends and had fun seeing the sights and chilling with them.  He's pretty lucky to have such great peeps in his life :)

After Paris we spent two days bouldering in Fontainebleau which is the most famous place in the world for bouldering!!!  The whole place is like a hugenormous forest full of hundreds of sandstone boulders and the ground is all sand so you feel like you're at the beach.  It's also really cool because there are color coded routes on the boulders so you climb up one and then hop or scramble over to the next one and so on and so forth...it's like a boulder playground all maze-like, really unique and super fun.  

We then headed south to the French Pyranees which is at the border of France and Spain.  Fortunately, we were able to stay with a family that Adam met in Yosemite.  They were wonderful to us!  I loved the perfect limestone climbing there, Adam thought it was okay, but all in all it was a great experience.  We took the couple out to dinner our last night there to a wonderful restaurant right on the Mediterranean Sea, which was amazing.  We had the view of the sea as we started dinner and by the time dessert rolled around the all you could hear from the open-air restaurant were the waves crashing...very special.  Yeah, and it got even more special when Phillip (the dad) jumped into the sea naked after dinner...well, he has a broken foot so he didn't really "jump," more like crab-walked from the sand to the sea :)  I happened to look over and say to Adam "Is that Phillip scooting across the sand nudie?" Adam's response "yep, but it's France, no biggie"  Too funny!

Anywho, we then headed to Carcassonne, a French medieval city that Adam had heard about as a kid.

**But first, let me break it down for you as to what will forever be called "The Massacre."  Sooo, Phillip says that some other of Adam's friends he met in Yosemite are stopping by, so he decides to kill time before driving by shearing himself...ugh...it was touch and go...let me explain.  I scamper off to the driveway to pack up the car and he proceeds to use the family hair clippers.  Um, 30 minutes later he comes around the corner of the house with like two rows of hair shorn off in the middle and the rest all choppy.  With the look of despair on his face, I literally had to hold it together to not pee my pants and laugh my butt off!!!  Ok, so I go back to the scene of the crime, where the clippers are, and start trimming all his hair with hair scissors...um...it was bad...not just bad, but REALLY BAD...one of the French dudes "Alex" came out and proclaimed "Massacre!!" and that's when I walked away...after a couple of minutes telling myself to "pull it together Hartz" I returned with a nail brush and say "maybe the clippers are just clogged" and thankfully...it all worked out in the end.  I assume you've all seen the "after" pix of me and my new Hottie McSexy Boyfriend!!!  :)

Hair crisis averted, we went on to Carcassonne, fulfilling a childhood dream of Adam's, visiting a place that his mom had told him about.  His face lit up like a christmas tree when we saw the castle for the first time and then he regaled me with the story of the "Pig," Sooo legend has it that the city was under siege, which means that there was an army around the city just waiting til the peeps inside starved to death and a woman (note, it was a awesome woman) said "let's feed our only pig with ALL the grain and then throw it over to the army sieging us."  That meant that the peeps inside had tons of resources and could last a long time and soo...the attacking army retreated!

Then it was to to my alma mater of some sorts: Montpellier, a beautiful sea-side city where I had studied at in college ten years ago.  It was funny because it looked smaller and bigger at the same time.  I didn't remember much..except for the exact location of...of course...the McDonalds and The Mall :)  I miraculously was able to find my old apartment which was a pretty amazing feeling and chilled on the Mediterranean one day; splashed in the sea (avoided the crazy french surfer dudes) and toasted to one another beach-side...it was great!!!

Two great climbing spots came next: one on the Mediterranean and another with one of the best climbs ever.  Yeah...I still say it was one of the best, even though I was pretty banged up after :)

We then moved on to Verdon Gorge, France's Grand Canyon.  The place is breathtaking.  The climbing was hard but all in all a great experience.  Most of the time you have to rappel down into the gorge like a bazillion feet and then climb out...um...there's no going back...you HAVE to climb out.  We did a different climb where you park low, walk through a tunnel and then climb the bazillion feet outta the gorge.  And at the top, when you're exhausted from the climbing and the heat (try 90) you look WAAYYY far away and see your car...so then you have to hike down, traverse low angle  rock slabs (which are tricky) cross a river and hike back up to your car...long day!!!

That brings me to today; we're in Chamonix!!!  A truly gorgeous place.  It's similar to Yosemite in that it is in a valley surrounded by amazing mountains.  Mont Blanc and all these other snowy mountains are all around us.  Today we walked around town to get our bearings and I'm happy to report I've finally gotten my shopping fix!  Poor Adam, I dragged him all over looking for the perfect purse :)  He was a good sport about it but when he saw this wasn't going to be easy he stopped for a ham sammy...reinforcements :)  It was then that I suggested that he hang at the cafe, enjoy lunch, while I continue the hunt.  Thirty minutes later I returned to him, smiling from ear to ear, new purse in tow :)

Anywho, the sun is shining and I'm working on my tan...oh yeah, and we're resting up for the next few days here which are going to be great.  They have all these cable cars that take you to the tops of several of the mountains..get ready for some amazing pix to follow.  There's even a cable car that takes you to Switzerland and a mountain train that takes you to a hike into an ice cave!!!  We're also going to spend a day climbing...climbing in THE ALPS...I know...it's like amazing-tastic times 10!!!  Who would have thought a year ago Adam and I would be doing all this...AND...we still have Swiss Alps and crazy Italian climbing left before we booze ourselves up at OktoberFest and head home.

Au Revoir :)

Offwidths and New Friends

Starting up the chimney on Right Eliminate

Nobody likes climbing off-widths! (except for a few sick people like myself).  Offwidth cracks are too big to get a fist jam, and too small to cram your body inside - the resulting climbing method would be difficult to describe accurately but is often referred to as "thrutching".  If done with good technique, it isn't always as bad as it sounds, but for most, it is less than graceful.  Nonetheless, I like it and wanted to bring my big gear to climb some wide cracks in Europe.  In the end, I had to leave the gear behind for a handful of good reasons.  First, the obvious - that crap is bulky, heavy and expensive.  Second, I would have to carry it for the duration our our 3 month trip.  And strike three, the final nail in the coffin - Amy is normal; which means she doesn't want to climb offwidths (I don't blame her).  So, when on our second day of climbing on the Gritstone, I spied a #5 Camalot sitting on someones pack, I got excited, and even more excited when I noticed it's big brother #6 Camalot sitting near it.  While I belayed our friend and amazing host Rob up his successful onsite, I get to know local climbers Ben and Hannah. We hit it off immediately (probably due to our love of all things climbing), and Hannah who owns the cams offers to let me (total stranger from out of town with unkept hair and beard) borrow her big cams for the week. WOW!

Hannah works at the gear shop in Hathersage and Amy and I meet her there the next morning to collect the big gear and prepare to suffer on some Gritstone offwidths.  I had my eye on 5 beautiful wide cracks and I started with the easiest one which was more of a flaring chimney: The Peapod. This went fairly well and was followed by Hercules, which also went well.  And then... Elder Crack.  This climb beat me savagely.  After working the crux for what seemed like 30 minutes and fighting up the last of the difficulties, I arrived at the top with an successful onsite which felt more like surviving a motorcycle crash. The Left and Right Eliminates would have to wait for another day as I was out of steam.

Ben after climbing the Right Eliminate

Within a few days we were meeting with our new friends regularly and meeting more of their friends as well and a day climbing together was planned. A few days away from the wide cracks to recover sent us all the the finger-cracks for a beautiful day followed by beers at the pub. One last day with the big gear sent me back to Curbar with Ben to complete my offwidth fix. Rob had described the Right Eliminate as a "grim offwidth struggle" and the guidebook confirmed this with stories of arriving at the top wretching and exhausted.  At E3 the grade roughly translated to 511a or b which would be my hardest gear lead ever. The beginning chimney went with ease and I was all smiles. The crux however is exiting the chimney via it's roof top wide crack.  Protected by a #5 Camalot I fell and rested as I tried new methods to climb this monster crack: left side in, right side in, hand stacks, knee and elbow jams, face holds. In the end an Arm bar got me past the crux but only led to more difficult terrain and I fell again, resting on the #6 Camalot this time.  I probably rested for 10 minutes before I had regained enough strength to complete the climb. After my hobble to the top, I cleaned the gear and Ben tried it with about the same level of success, falling and resting as me.  We had both earned some rest and so we loaned the gear to some other climber's and watched them struggle on Elder Crack. Eventually I got my energy back and climbed Left Eliminate, the last tick on my tour of Grit's wide. 

I feel so blessed to have met such great people to climb with and to have climbed one of my favorite styles of crack. Ben, Hannah, Amy and I went off to a proper English pub to enjoy each others company before we had to travel on.

British Climbing Baby, Yeah!

After an amazing time in Winslow, England complete with church services amongst a sea of white-haired English ladies and our visit being announced by the Vicker, the Winslow Farmer's Market, where we indulged in overpriced local cheese and sausages and of course a meet-and-greet with the Mayor of Winslow himself; Adam and I headed west to Cornwall for Sea Cliff Climbing!

Picture this: you have a small beach in a cove-like coastal area and on the edges are hugenormous granite rock cliffs...well, they're only a couple hundred feet but, when you're up at the top with all the other tourists who hiked up, you strap on a harness and rappel down to, basically a little rock ledge above the crashing waves it's pretty amazing-tastic!  So, you rap down, climb up, rap down, do a different climb and so on and so forth all day...all with the hunger for greasy fish and chips mounting and mounting...it's sooo great!  Oh yeah, and I started leading trad!!!  That means I climb up first, leave Adam at the bottom and place gear in along the way...super exciting.  Adam's been a great teacher :)

We also had another day of climbing that was more dangerous...with sea cliff climbing you have to know the tide schedule and only climb when it's low...you also have to be aware of sneak waves that can crash up and sneak you away into the sea at any time.   Pretty intense stuff when you're belaying at the bottom, but we were always safe about it and clipped ourselves into the rock so the only damage a sneak wave would have done would have been to drench us with water...which...wouldn't have really been a bad thing since showers are few and far between ;)

After two great sea cliff climbing days we headed north to Grit Stone Climbing!!!

Grit Stone climbing is amazing; completely unique and we already want to go back.  The cliffs are all around the small towns and so accessible.  We were lucky enough to stay with Adam's friend Rob, who he had met in his last Yosemite trip and who served as wonderful host and amazing guide to our first two days on the grit.  He also loaned us his great guide books all week which made our climbing life sooo easy!

So climbing on grit is kinda like climbing on rock-hard sandstone.  You can literally stick to the tiniest edge and by the end of the week our fingertips were so polished I STILL don't think I'm leaving fingerprints on anything almost a week later :)  We climbed crack, slab, juggy overhangs and way too many classic climbs to name.  We both pushed ourselves on super hard climbs and left the grit: tired, sore, bruised and bloodied....but, we also left with the sweet satisfaction of having climbed some super-tastic rock!!!

Adam and I also met some amazing climbers who loaned us gear...ginormous cams...and who we climbed with a few days.  They were all super cool and we all had a blast cheering each other on and talking "climber" for days.  Climbing on the grit really wouldn't have been as great had it not been for the company of Rob and our other climbing peeps we met: Hannah, Ben and Chris.  I really hope we all meet up again in the States one day!!!

All in all, English climbing ROCKED!!! 

Winslow, England - yep that's my last name!

Courtyard behind our hotel

Okay so after quite a few days in a row of drive, camp, climb, pack up and repeat - we have finally become weary travelers.  Amy to the rescue - "Let's not go directly to London, let's go and enjoy a couple of sleepy days in the small town of Winslow, England." Perfect! I say.

 

 

The church in Winslow, England

So most likely my family isn't originally from Winslow, which unfortunately means I won't be crowned king of this little town or anything like that; but the people are quite friendly, the buildings are old and interesting and the last two days here have really hit the spot.  Actually, nobody seems particularly astonished that my last name is Winslow - they are much much much more concerned with my big bushy beard.  Most of the conversations in England so far have revolved around it and people seem to equate it with being homeless.  Which technically we are right now - but not in the smelly change-begging way. For example, the border control agent for the UK took about 20 seconds per car for everyone else but we got the 15 minute interview include a very succinct explanation that if we stayed longer than 6 monthes we would be deported to the USA. Also, be advised that in England, if you say that you are self-employed, they equate that with being unemployed.  While sometimes those definitions do cross paths... nevermind. We made it into the country and once in Winslow were warned by several parties that the bar called "The George" was a bit rough. So, naturally we went there. Which brings me back to beard conversations - I must have had enough bad-ass homeless guy cred to hang at The George because we had a great time. Drank and talked to the locals for hours - even had one very tattoed up feller regale us with stories of each of the jails he had been too in the US and other countries (must have been to at least 15 or 20 as far as I could tell). But he was friendly as any foreigner could hope for the local jailbird to be and had mostly been jailed for vagrancy (note he had no beard). He was mostly astonished that in most countries you will be hassled by the police if you get too drunk and pass out on a bench somewhere (this is apparently one of England's favorite pastimes).

Standing in the doorway to the bathroom in our hotelroom.

We are staying in the Bell hotel which is not the oldest building in Winslow but is still from the 15th century! The old wavy wood beams attest to it's age. Then there is this strange way of building here where they seem to have globbed many buildings onto the original. No attempt is made to hide these additions and the resulting rooflines are dizzying.  It's possible that these additions are built to buttress the original structure as many of the older buildings look like melting ice cream cones and might only be standing because of the support from the surrounding structures. Also, I think people used to be much smaller as I have to duck through every doorway.

 

Day Trippin' in Belgium

Yep, there's climbing in Belgium and it's fantastic!

On a whim...well, with the help of our "Rock Climbing in Europe" guidebook :) we drove to Freyr, Belgium for a day on some pretty sick limestone.  We rolled in late at night and found what they call "The Refuge" a cabin-like building that houses 20 climbers at a given time in large bunks.  There were three Dutch guys and one kooky Belium guy staying there...soo, I was a little apprehensive but they ended up all being way cool and really helped us get our bearings the next day.

Digression-Adam has what is called a Tactical Pen.  Basically it's a really strong pen made of some crazy strong metal that he swears he can use on pressure points of a would-be assailant and turn them into crying babies on the ground begging for mercy...um...not betting the farm on that, but it does put my mind at ease a little :)

Leading on the slick Limestone

Anywho, Adam put me in charge of picking our routes which I was really excited about.  I ended up choosing two classic ones that Belgium kings had climbed almost 100 years ago!  The rock is about 400 feet tall in some areas and so polished from having been climbed so much that some foot holds were way too slippy to even put your weight on...scary fun!  Oh yeah, and all the lizards running around didn't help :)

We climbed some freaky traverses and really exposed areas...I friggin' loved it!  And, since I picked the routes I picked which pitches to lead...which...was ALL the good ones.  We capped off the day with delicious Belgium beer and fries, regaling our climbing tales with our Dutch friends.

Another great day of climbing, eating and drinking with new friends in new, exciting places.

Lovin' life these days :)

Climb, Camp, Eat and Drink in Deutschland

Adam and I hit three very different areas in Germany last week.

Other towers seen from our first Elbsandstein summit

Elbsandstein in the east is one of the most unique climbing areas in the world.  It's beautiful towers of sandstone that literally turn to sand when you climb and is only protected with gear made entirely of knotted ropes.  So imagine this, you're climbing up and see a little crack or notch in the rock.  Well instead of putting in metal gear you have to tie an overhand knot in one of several different sizes of rope and shove it in, clipping your rope onto it and praying it stays...crazy fantastic! 

A knot wedged in a crack for protection

 We met a really nice guy working in a climbing store who gave us directions where to go for some beginner routs and then...of course...Adam went SHOPPING :)  He bought five different size ropes to make different size knots, some slings that are sticky that you can't find in the US and a Monkey Fist knot (look it up, way cool) he's like a kid in a candy shop when it comes to buying gear...I think he'd sleep with it if I'd let him :)

Soo, shiny, new gear in hand we went climbing :)  The routes were very interesting and get this, at the top of the peaks there's a little book where you sign your name and put the date you do the climb...we were stoked!  On our first peak I think we were on a major climber high as we looked at each other and said "Let's just move here.  I bet they need electricians and government workers"  Don't worry, we came to our senses later.

Beautiful crag in the Czech Republic where we went with Gereon

 We also hired a real-life German climbing guide "Gereon" for a day there.  He spoke very little English so it made the day "interesting" to say the least.  Now... when climbing in Germany you'd think the guide would take you to a German climbing spot...um...no, we were driven to the Czech Republic!  It was about 30 minutes away from where were and the place was great!  They filmed part of the Chronicles of Narnia movie there :)

Through very broken English, charades, drawings and some singing and dancing with Gereon to communicate, we had the best day climbing so far.  We climbed some hard stuff and I think Adam's favorite part was not having to be my pack mule for a whole day :)

All in all, the sandstone climbing was fantastic except that now the car and all our climbing stuff looks like it's been to the beach :)

Way interesting grave-site of Wolfgang Gullich

Frankenjura is in the south and is weird, sharp, pockety limestone.  I didn't like it at all and had my grumpy pants on the whole day.  My fingers hurt, I was climbing crappy and really didn't want to be there.  I guess I finally felt homesick and maybe a little over the whole "camping" experience :(

The cool parts were that we stayed in a famous climber campsite and got to chat up climbers from all over Europe.  We also met an old German climber dude who name dropped like 10 different famous climber names that he'd climbed with but also helped direct us to the grave a Wolfgang Gullich.  Gullich was a famous German climber whose grave is covered in climber stuff and has one of those peak books I mentioned above that you can sign.  We also checked out Action Direct: a 5.14b climb, super hard overhang that probably only 2-3 people in the world can actually climb!  Frankenjura was like a climbers Disney with all the attractions to check out :)

Pfaltz in the west was a great spot.  Several sandstone towers popping up all over the towns.  For the first time since our cruise Adam and I checked into a pension for the night.  It was basically some German family's home that they had converted into a bed and breakfast.  We literally collapsed at the old German lady's feet and kissed them when we saw a real-life bed and bathroom all to our smelly little campin' climbin' selves.  I then spent the next hour or so hand-washing all our funky clothes in the bathroom and hanging them around the room...I can't tell you how nasty our clothes were, but really, it was gross...Anyway, clothes strung all about the room, Adam and I went into town and had a yummy dinner of kebab meet, over fries, topped with ranch-like dressing and pizza...oh yeah, and there was German beer as well :)  We met some German peeps who told us what to order...food here is so good and all you have to do is look what other people are eating and point to their food :)

On top of our first climb in Pfaltz

The next morning, after a yummy breakfast at the guesthouse where I had my first cup of coffee (Adam's trying to get me addicted...I think so I'll make it for HIM back home) we headed to a climbing area and befriended three German guys who said to just come with them for the day.  The climbing was great...well...my grumpy pants reared their ugly head again for a little bit, but we did a really hard climb in the end of the day the whipped them off.  The climbing was crack, which Adam loved.  The camping area was also really neat.  Basically it's a farmhouse with horses, pigs and chickens and they let climbers camp there overnight for a few Euros...Adam and I spent some time petting the horses, picking out which piggie would be the best for bacon and topping off the night with a dinner of a local beer :)

Really, the climbing is great, the food and beer delish and everyone has been sooo nice to us!!!  We love it here!!!

Hartz Mountains!

7/26
When going to Europe, it seems mandatory to check out your roots. Today was Amy's day and we start with a little internet research to find out what is best to do.  The original plan was to scale the tallest peak in the Hartz Mountains - should take 5-6 hours. On our way there we see a sign with the Hartz crest and stop for an obligatory photo - SWEET!

Continuing on we find a hiking area and decide to check it out and pass on the tallest peak ambitions - our best idea yet! We hike to a tower where we climb to the top and see the tallest peak - not exactly a mountain and we're glad we didn't make it our destination.  On the way to the tower we see a steel door into the side of the mountain... strange. Just our luck a man walks by who speaks some English and seems to know a few things.  He tells us the door is the old entrance to the "show cave" and lets us in for a look.  The "show cave" is massive and tunnels all the way back to where we parked  (1/2 mile) and beyond. 

From the tower we continue on to a pinnacle of rock with an iron eagle on top the size of an overstuffed chair.  We hike to the top and what do we see... ... ... wait for it... RAP RINGS AND BOLTS!!! We check out the bottom and it's grid bolted and ripe for climbing. We hike back to the car and grab our gear so we can finally do some climbing.  So far we had just been adjusting to our new surroundings and the effort expended (and the rain) had kept us from climbing.  So, getting on some European limestone was quite the energy and excitement boost.  The climbing was different and run out so we found it difficult but we each led a route before time ran out.  Not a lot of climbing but it was exactly what we needed and double the excitement because it was in the Hartz Mountains!

Germany: Autobahn and Camperfest 2011

7/22 - 7/23
Today we drove into Germany where I (Adam) fulfilled a life dream of driving on the Autobahn. The only problem is - driving fast sucks the gas and the computer on Peugie tells us so.  That takes a bit of the fun out of driving 175kph; as does the economy nature of our car - not too stable at that speed.  So I dropped back to our normal 120kph and enjoyed the rush of the sports cars whizzing by at about 200kph.

After a long drive we got to Bonn and spent hours trying to find camping, climbing, and generally trying to get our bearings without speaking the language.  We found a beautiful campsite with just a bit of daylight to spare and we relaxed and made our plans to go to the climbing spot we had been given GPS coodinates for at the sporting goods store.  The next day we would discover these coodinates were for an indoor gym - language barrier FAIL! We did however find out how to get to a different climbing area - WOOT!

So we were off to Nideggen, Germany for some sandstone climbing... but it started raining - you can't climb sandstone when it's wet because the rock becomes brittle.  Luckily there was camping nearby.  We stumbled across Camperfest 2011- imagine a mini Octoberfest in the woods complete with a stage, dancefloor, bounce castle, carnival games and of course a beer tent.  After putting our tent up 20' from the stage in one of the last 2 sites available, we spotted a family trying to fish their volleyball out of the river with a tent pole.  I went into superhero mode and quickly changed into my superhero costume.  In moments my clothes were laying on the bank of the river and I was rushing into the river wearing nothing but my undies.  Everybody was laughing and taking pictures and we had no common language in the whole group so smiles and laughter were my thanks.  Until later when they came and found us to speak the international language of thanks - beers! The music continued until morning, I think. 

7/24
We woke up with climbing plans foiled by further rain - a relaxing day at the coffeshop it is then.

Amsterdam: A City Full of Revelations

1.  Camping outside of the city a wild time full of hippie peeps all smashed together seeing the city on the cheap.

2.  Good, cheap eats are available.  We hoovered yummy $2 euro grilled cheese sandwiches at a cafe that included free WiFi where we were able to let our fam know we were still alive and well.

3.  Upon discussion in above cafe we realized that we had a big failure in planning as we have no European camping guide or road maps.  We have a GPS in the car but it's been pretty tricky figuring it all out.

4.  The Red Light District really isn't that salacious in the daylight.

5.  The Anne Frank House is expensive and has a super long line so we looked at it from the outside and I told Adam how I remembered it from a trip I took to Europe in high school; good enough.

6.  Food shopping is fun and a real experience especially if someone is hungry and has on his grumpy pants.  I was growled at when I suggested we get juice boxes when Adam just wanted to check out and eat.  Said crisis was averted when I threw some bread and cheese at him :)

7.  Lastly, wine in our tent makes everything better.

Our Lil' Peugie

Loaded down with all our clothes, camping and climbing gear we somehow made it smoothly to Amsterdam from Rotterdam to pick up our car (home) for this European adventure.  Patiently awaiting us was a brand-new Peugot 207 we promptly named Peugie :)

She drives like a dream, is super efficient in gas mileage and treats us very well.  She didn't complain when we stuffed her to the gills with all our crap or when we get crumbs all over her from all our eating inside.

Already she's been to Netherlands and Germany and awaits in wonderment as to where we'll take her next :)

Note: I think I may have already gone a little nutty here in Europe :)

Cruisin' Across the Atlantic

Like giddy little school children Adam and I boarded our cruise in NYC.  We successfully made it through the metal detectors with all our hidden booze (tip for all: box wine) and opened the door to our room with such excitement.  It was truly incredible as we sailed past the Statue of Liberty into the open seas; toasting to one another with champagne.

The next nine days were amazing... amazingly lazy, that is.  Our days were filled with stuffing ourselves with food all day and migrating from lounging on the Lido Deck to chillaxing our room.  Aside from those two very strenuous activities we threw in a few hours of activity in the gym and playing tennis and basketball here and there.

After six days at sea where all you saw all day, everyday was endless ocean we finally hit land: IRELAND!  Still sporting our sea legs we ventured to Blarney Castle, home of the famous Blarney Stone.  I passed on the kissin' but Adam stepped up to the plate and proceeded to get man-handled by a burly Irish man who positioned him upside down so he could properly smooch the rock.  I think he gets the gift of gab for that...we'll see how that pans out :) After an amazing time at a pub with some local Irish dudes, several beers and an invitation to host our first born's christening there...yeah, we got close after only an hour...the several beers and whiskey may have had a part in that...we headed back to the ship for our final day at sea to Rotterdam, Netherlands.

All in all the cruise was fun: great food, relaxation and plenty of laughs together.  We perfected our southern redneck accents, gained enough weight to eat as little as possible in Europe, hoarded some Cheerios, again to eat as little as possible in Europe, learned chess and basically just had a blast.

From Un-Happy Camper to Happy Camper: Amy's 1st Camping Experience

Adam and I just attended the Red Rock Rendevous: two days of climbing clinics and two nights of camping in Red Rock Canyon, Las Vegas.  The clinics were fun and we both learned skills from great pros who definitely know their stuff.  On the camping front, since I don't consider my one night in Adam's tent last year in Yosemite "camping," this was my first real camping experience.  Let me break it down what led to Amy's first real "meltdown" in front of Adam.

Sleeping bag packed, I arrived in Vegas Friday morning bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to see what this whole "camping" thing was all about.  In Europe we plan to do a lot of camping, so I thought this would be a great way to ease myself into it...I thought...wrong.  The first night was sooo windy that the tent was literally blowing into our heads!  At 3am, I woke up terrified out of my mind and obviously had to wake Adam up half crying, half drunk from too many beers the night before, whining over and over again that "I'm scared," "we're going to blow away," and "I want to go home!"  Needless to say neither Adam nor I got much sleep that night.

In the morning I was so whacked out from not sleeping much and, again, too many beers the night before, that instead of going to my trail running and self-rescue clinics I found sanctuary in a Burger King which seemed like heaven.  The burger and fries were 5-star cuisine, the booth, a cozy couch and the bathroom, my personal spa...I think I spent two hours there!  I must have also had the look of death because even the workers gave me funny glances.

Later that day I was feeling better after taking a 3-hour nap in the back of our rental car and greeted Adam with kisses and apologies for what he will forever call the "meltdown."  We ended up having a really fun night.  Adam showed up a bunch of climbers with his awesome dyno skills, we got to talk with famous climbers and ended the night toasting to each other over a great bottle of red wine.  The wind had died down a little so sleeping in the tent wasn't as bad, I think I actually got a full night rest...well kind of, until the burros thought it would be nice to hee-haw at around 5am! 

The next morning, knowing that a hot shower and real bed were in my near future, I had a spring in my step again.  All in all, camping my not be my "thing" now, but I think given what I was up against I did pretty well...I mean, I could have just driven straight from Burger King to a hotel, credit card in hand, ready to pay any price for comfort.  Trust me, the thought crossed my mind several times.

Up next is Yosemite camping...Bring It!

 

Bier, Bier Und Mehr Bier, Danke!

Oktoberfest 2011 here we come!  Adam and I just planned to join a couple of his friends at this year's festival.  Looking forward to all the beer in steins, sausages and linking arms with locals, swinging to the Oompha of Bavarian bands.  Maybe after enough beers I can even get Adam into some Lederhosen!

Voila, C'est Paris Pour Adam et Moi

Just booked our hotel in Paris for mid-August when a couple of Adam's awesome friends will also be in Paris. I would describe it as very Paris-y...a small, boutique hotel in the most ideal location; near the Louve, Champs Elysees and L'Opera. 

So excited to see the City of Light with Adam.  Maybe I should brush up on my french a little??

From Idea to Reality: How Our Adventure Began

Adam and I had been kicking around the idea of traveling and climbing around Europe for a month or so; throwing out places we'd like to visit and thinking about how it could all happen.  Little by little I began researching countries and backpacking info online, daydreaming about if this could become a reality.  By Christmas, we were set on going, one of my presents from Adam was even a Climb Europe book.

Weeks later, after a random conversation with a co-worker I discovered that one-way transatlantic cruises from NYC to Europe exist and look absolutely awesome.  I thought to myself, this would be the perfect way to start our Europe adventure and solidify our departure date.  Adam's exact text back when I asked him if he'd be interested was "Hell Yeah!"  So, a few days later, our cruise was BOOKED!  Very exciting!  We sail away July 12th!