Not All Who Wander Are Lost

Andrew took John and I to Leavinworth to do some rock climbing. It was a very unique experience! Though we have climbed outdoors a lot, climbing in Washington is a whole different story...At least with Andrew it is! (haha) So our first climb was three pitches...that means that it is three "different" climbs, all strung together into one huge climb. It was trad, so Andrew took the lead. Trad climbing means that you take these pieces of equipment and place them into the rock, and that is what you climb on. There are no bolts in the rock already. It adds to the versatility of climbing because you can (almost) climb anywhere. However this is not something John and I are accustomed too so it was a bit nerve wrecking. The weather here is testy, at home we can be picky and climb only when the weather is great, but here they climb in rain, wind, you name it. It was very cold, and windy, and we had a little rain too, but nothing too crazy. When we finished the route, it was well worth it! The sun came out, and we were so high up! We had an incredible view of the crag and the range that we were climbing near. It was incredible! After that we went to a different spot and we climbed our first crack climb. It was pretty rough, and a definitely different method of climbing, but I got the hang of it about halfway through, and I liked it! I think I'll keep practicing crack climbing! Johnny forgot our pot for cooking, so we had to catch dinner in downtown Leavinworth. Leavinworth, if you don't know, was a failing town here in Washington. Somebody had the bright idea to turn it into a tourist type place, and remodeled the ENTIRE town into this Bolivian umm...well it was Bolivian! It's kind of cute I guess. After that we set up camp at a place Andrew knew about that was free (always good!) and slept for the night. The next day Andrew suggested we do a seven pitch sport climb. Sport differs from trad because it already has the bolts in the rock, you just clip your rope in and you're ready to go. We agreed. So we hiked for about 2 hours up an extremely steep grade, it ended up not being hiking for a while there, and more like crawling (for me). So it was a bit stressful and a lot of work! We only made it up three of the seven pitches. I love climbing, and I want it to be fun, but the climbing was so different, I mean, a 2 hour approach up the side of a mountain, and then SEVEN more climbs after that??!! When I got to the top of the third pitch, I kind of lost it emotionally. So we bailed. Andrew lowered me down, and the two boys rappelled. We hiked down, hit up a different (one pitch) climb on the way down, and then headed back to Bellingham. Yesterday I hung out and did homework, my summer classes have started online already. And Drew and John went bouldering at his friends gym (bouldering is another type of rock climbing). I'm not too sure what's going on today. We might head down to the beach when the tide is low, or maybe just wander the town. Who knows? We are leaving for California tomorrow though. We are going to drive through the night to the Redwoods, where we have a reservation at a campground in Crescent City. After one night there, we are off to Ojai! I can't wait to see everyone! We should be arriving there on my birthday, and that is the BEST present I could ask for :-)

I'll try and get John to post something soon!

Love, Jx2