Cool kids (part 2)

After being cooped up for hours the night before, we were eager to take in the sights at Mount Rushmore. You'd think we'd go right to see the main event, but as any rock climber worth his salt would do, we just HAD to check out the rock scene first! Promising ourselves we'd check out the bright lit up facade afterwards, we set out with mountain project lit up on our phones scouring the landscape for AWL's first lead climb. This was a horrible idea.

For the record, when you don't know the area and you don't navigate well and you aren't experienced at teaching someone how to climb in unknown locations, you should not take an AWL out into the wilderness. He is super excited and quite ignorant to the dangers, and you are quite informed about the dangers and unable to dissuade him. Thank God for bail carabiners! AWL chose a committing climb in unknown territory after he followed me around and pestered me about where we were and what climbs were around us while I tried to get my bearings using mountain project on my little iPhone with little reception. To say the least, I was not at my best tolerance for questions. I said, "fine, just pick a climb that you think looks good since you seem to know where all the climbs are here!"

He geared up and I talked him through how to stay safe and not push too hard if he feels he can't make it without being safe. We talked about what decking was and how you had to pay attention to how far you go without clipping in. So basically I scared the crap out of him. He climbed up to the first bolt, clipped got scared of the committing move above that and came down. I went up and clipped the second and third and then couldn't find the next bolt and bailed.

With our tails firmly between our legs we wandered away from the shiny bail carabiner mocking us from above and wandered around some more only to bump into the best people in the Dakotas! Pinky and Steve!  They had taken out a couple girls from church out for their first experiences climbing. Taylor was kicking butt and crushing her climbs and her fears which I totally love. They were gracious enough to show us their climbing guide and I took pictures of a ton of the pages so we could get our bearings. Luckily Pinky and Steve can smell a gumby a mile away and allowed us to join them for some top roping. AMAZING! On top of it all they were very generous with all of the pictures they took to help us commemorate our journey. Climbing here would have been a THOUSAND times more stressful if it hadn't been for our new buds!

After a hot and sweaty day of climbing we took a dip in the lake down the road, a beautiful way to "clean up" while on the road. We took a little maybe 20-25 foot jump off a cliff into absolute refreshment. If you know AWL at all, you'll know there is SO MUCH MORE to that story that I can cover today. And I will definitely tell you the story of that cliff jump, but for now we were desperately hungry and needed to high-tail it to town for grub before the light show at Mount Rushmore.

The area isn't exactly a riving metropolis of endless restaurants and swanky bars, but we did settle in on a place on the main strip that had a wild west theme and a porch outside with endless amounts of authentic looking barkeeps, excessively tall cowboys, wenches and flies. Our obvious first choice for fine dining. (actually that was sarcasm masked as truth that I just realized was actually truth) As soon as we settled in to our cozy chairs and pint glasses who do we see but our lovely shadows Carly and Daniel! They made it! Mount Rushmore! We chatted for a bit excited to see friendly faces and offered to let them have a seat with us which they politely declined wilst handing us their contact info should we ever happen on each other again. And just like a partly cloudy afternoon our shadows were there, and then gone again in the shadows (obviously seeking food!)

But you have no idea how exhilarating it is to be alone with each other on a continent for days, always the strangers, when you bump into someone you know! The simple pleasures never cease on a trip such as this!

And as AWL shake our heads at the chances that our rest stop buddies followed us to a whole new town two days later, someone comes behind us and says a hearty hello!

We just left the only people we "know" in the state of South Dakota" we collectively thought inside our locked gaze. Who could be saying hello to us? Who could we possibly know?!

We looked up to see some major leather clad biker couple staring back at us with smiling eyes. Neither AWL nor I recognized either of these very happy leathered up people at first, but then we looked up a little past the woman and really looked at the man, and there in the face we saw it. Steve! PINKY! You ride?!

And just like that we were at the cool kids table. It felt like everyone was just stopping by because we were in town. We had dinner with Pinky and Steve sharing drinks, and just because they thought they might pop into us they handed us a flash drive with all of our pictures saved on there. Could life be any better?!

We part ways and exchange hugs and information and all the positive vibes in the world. Up we go to see the lights go on at Mount Rushmore:

Amazing in itself as we settle in on the top viewing area. But more amazing still a young couple walks past us and sits almost next to us. Out of hundreds of people there that night, Don't Daniel and Carly shadow us into the last little bit of our trip in South Dakota! It's good to have friends in all kinds of places!

Donner lake, yummmmm.

I don't know how it happened, but I was teaching my class the other day and we got onto the topic of weird, creepy things. I'm not going to say I was completely on task in Social Studies class that day, but a teacher gets away from herself now and again when the story of the Donner Party pops up around Halloween. It's definitely not up as high as the Zombie Apocalypse or the difference in Trad climbing v. Sport climbing, but the Donner Party definitely ranks on topics that will get Miss Ellis on a tangent. Anyways, it's a historical reference, so technically I was on point.

So we had a little story time. Just like the good old days minus the camping out and flashlights and axe murderers. We threw in a little science, talking about organ donors and transplants, etc. It was probably my best lesson to date.

Anyways, I told them about this summer when I went out to Donner Lake....sort of. Anytime you can combine rock climbing and the Donner party in one story, its a total win.

This was my last outing before I had to leave California. I was totally psyched! Climbing! TAHOE! Lakes and trees and Jon!

The great thing about my little visit to the west is, once again, the people. THE PEOPLE THE PEOPLE THE PEOPLE! They're awesome! One of my new friends from my backpacking trip in Yosemite, Brian, invited Jon and I out to visit his lake house. Now, on the east coast this is a prime set up for a bad scary movie. West Coast, just another day of unexpected hospitality. I've known the guy for a week at this point. We were facebook official within a day and sleepover party friends by the end of the week. Love.

This guy rivals Irish Eric, except there were no lattes. Not only did he put Jon and I up in his lake house, but he offered to drive us out to our climbing spot since he had something a little more rustic than the old Kia Rio...

And just like any story that starts at Donner Lake, it got a little crazy and a little creepy. Driving out to this area:

was ridiculous! We got lost on "roads?" The question mark is on purpose. I don't know if you could call these dirt paths roads. They weren't even flat. It was like riding through one of those jeep commercials where they're climbing over boulders and avoiding deer and splashing through rivers. I think Brian was a little lost, but the directions seemed so clear...

The GPS gave up on us almost immediately. Rerouting my rear end...

Remarkably, nothing about the Donner Party came to mind while we were lost in the forest on a road a GPS couldn't find. Neither did the fact that the man driving was known to me and Jon for only a week. Because one does not think of such things when you are in sunny Cali.

If you're a climber and you're looking over these descriptions, I want to let you know the rock was awesome. Everything was a touch bouldery to the first move and I was all on my lonesome without my usual climbing people. I sketched out a bit. Thank goodness for Jon. We started climbing at the same gym years ago, and while we separated and Jon became cooler than me and moved, first to Chic New York, then to Hippy Heaven California, I knew we both had the basic foundation for climbing. You have no idea what a thought grenade climbing can be.

THERE IS NOTHING SCARIER than literally putting your life in someone's hands when you don't know them. Or even worse, when you know them and you question their abilities. Here Jon, hold this rope and make sure I don't deck and kill myself. Talk about a trust fall...

I love you Jon. Thanks for letting me survive.

Finally out climbing and running my sport leads, I was so happy. This is what I think about when I'm in a funk. I try to remember the rush of fear, the comradery of strangers staring at a cliff that only climbers really understand. The baking of the sun and the bluest sky. And...*cough cough* the glorious muscles of shirtless men. (just saying)