Spring Camping and Climbing

In March, after a gorgeous, cold and snowy winter full of skiing, we escaped to the desert for two weeks of camping and climbing. First stop was St. George where steep, juggy climbs and slot canyons awaited us. On the way down to Red Rocks, NV we stopped in Valley of Fire for a day of hiking on watercolor-streaked rocks. In Red Rocks we met our niece and her fiancée for a couple days of camping and climbing, before heading back up to St. George for some more bouldering.

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A St. George Thanksgiving

After we returned home from the sailboat in September Isaac started working at the climbing gym and stepped up to the comp climbing team. For the first time in ages we had responsibilities holding us home. We had pushed our spring desert climbing/camping trip to the fall but now we were bound to a schedule at home so we used the week of thanksgiving to head to the desert for some climbing.

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August Sailing

We spent the month of August sailing. After circumnavigating Vancouver Island two summers in a row we were ready for a mellow trip so we spent the month in the San Juan and the lower Gulf Islands. Here are the highlights.

1. Before leaving Ballard for the last time ever (oooooh, do I sense foreshadowing here?) we bought four marine-grade folding bikes. These little babies are so wicked fun I can’t even tell you. We devised a plan for Isaac to row three bikes into shore in our dinghy Rosebud and Jason would put the last one into BlackBerry, our double kayak. The plan worked like a charm. We had so much fun peddling around the Islands. Our range of exploration was radically expanded and fun level was amped up exponentially.
2. We met my cousin and her husband in the San Juans and sailed a few days together before watching the total eclipse of the sun on Young Hill just out of Garrison Bay. Thank you so much for meeting us. We can’t wait to meet up again this summer!
3. We tucked Marinero away in her new slip on Orcas Island. I will keep the details of our first docking experience into her new slip in high winds to myself for now. Maybe later I will write a post about all of the docking experiences we want to forget :).

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