Finishing up the season on a high note

I went to Gold Wall Saturday with Maki, a couple of her friends, and Ethan and his buddy Ben.  Ethan had never been there before.

Anyway, I sent Hippy Speedball, which was cool, considering I'd never even gotten a 1-hang.  I just grred and made it happen (even with a wet key hold).  I love it when that happens.  I'd worked it a little in the Winter before it got wet and just got back on it a week or two ago.  But then it kept raining...

That route is awesome.

Maki TRed and got a bit worked; she's a Tuolumne technical master and doesn't get to climb on steep jugs very often. I think if she came out a little bit more she'd crush.

Ethan climbed the shit out of the place, finally admitting that the climbing was pretty fun and "I might come back". For the first part of the day he had his poopy pants on, but that could be because he forgot his harness and had originally wanted to go to the Valley. After GW left dried out a bit he took the poopy pants off and had a good time. James Markovsky was there, with two minions...

I had a special request for the cookie-topped brownies that I've made made many times before. This was a particularly good batch, and the crew devoured them.  They are always a winner.

The wall was amazingly uncrowded, and although we expected it to be scorching, some inversion-layer magic happened and it was lovely most of the day.  It was so lovely that I stayed much longer than I normally do, and even ran a lap on Hillbilly Limestone at the end of the day (not clean). Ethan was belaying and could tell I was hesitant and started yelling at me until I actually started climbing and got so pumped I climbed past a clip and took a massive whipper.  YES!  Sometimes we all need to be encouraged in order to push beyond our comfort zone. Plus it's nice to know that really good climbers don't always expect you to be as good as them...he's fun to climb with. I'm thinking about going to Clark weekend after next. Ethan and some other folks will be down there.  I've never been.

I'm so excited about Boulder!

It was great to hang out with Maki and Ethan and company.  Good weekend for sure.

Sunday I slept in, went to an orchid show in Sacramento (and didn't buy anything! Whoa!). In Savannah when we lived on the island I had these big tables covered with orchids.  It was so easy to grow them it felt like I was cheating.  In Davis everything dies.  The water sucks and the summers are scorching and dry.  In the evening Maki and I went out for sushi - softshell crab. mmmmm. Tempura mango ice cream.  yummmmm.