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!
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