Yosemite - March 27-29

What a place! If you haven't been there you must go! It is one of the most beautiful places I think I have ever been. It was my 3rd trip there and Justin's first.

Friday, we got on the road early and made the 4.5hr drive to the park smoothly. We set up our tent at Camp 4. Then we grabbed our crash pad and guide book and went off to do some bouldering. It was hard! For those of you that know climbing ratings, we could barely get up V0's (in the gym we are V2/V3)! The rocks have been climbed so much around camp 4 that the feature were rubbed smooth and slippery. We did find plenty of stuff in our ability range to stay entertained.
When we got back to camp there was a bear right by our tent. (I was thinking, "I know we didn't leave any food or smellies in there!") We stood there and watched it. The bear had just stollen our neighbors toiletry bag. He ran away about 50ft with it and started pulling it apart. Interest was lost quickly and he ran off to hurass some other campers. The toiletry bag was recovered with minor damage. We topped off the excitement with a couple beers and some leftover curry.

The next day we hiked 40mins/1.5miles up Yosemite Falls to a nice lookout of the falls and valley.

Then we bouldered the rest of the day.

In the evening we set up our slack line and instantly made friends while we played on it. This couple our age invited to take us climbing at the base of El Capitan the next day. Stoked! Almost all of the climbing in Yosemite is Trad. I have minimal experience leading on sport. We had the standard camping spagehtti and hung out with our new friends by the campfire. I watched these guys attempt to climb a problem called Midnight Lightning a V8(on a giant boulder in the middle of the campground). Fun to watch. One guy made it to the crux.

Sunday we packed up camp and headed to the base of El Capitan with Alex and Carol. Alex led a 5'8 crack, the first pitch of Little John. It was challenging and fun. A little uphill from there he led another 5'8. We all got up it and hung out on a rock shelf. Alex led the second pitch of that, 5'10d. I did not even try it. Those 5'8s worked me. I have never been so winded rock climbing before. Bouldering does not help with endurance. Trey gave it a shot and with a lot of determination he got up it. I think he must have been up there for close to a half an hour. He was done after that.El Capitan - 3,000ft - 31 pitches

Carol belaying Alex

Deb Repelling

I drove us home so Trey could study. We were tired, sore, sunburned, bruised, and bloody, all the signs of a great weekend. We were stoked on our fun experiences and the cool people we met.

37 Sutters Mill Road Oroville, CA 95965

We arrived here on Saturday March 21st. The drive was pretty mellow. We stayed the night of the 20th in Eugene with the Kimballs, so that took a couple hours off of the drive. Josh brought us to King Estate and spoiled us with wine tasting. We tried a 2003 Pinot Gris, hands down the best white wine I have ever drank.

The town of Oroville is not nice. Every other house has a dog that wants to kill you. There is a big meth problem here. The parts outside of town aren't bad. We have some exploring to do.

Justin and I are renting a room in a furnished house of 5 bedrooms. We share it with 4 other boys. Justin/26 San Diego; Adam/27 Longview, WA; Kohl/20 Minnesota; & Josh/20 Minnesota. I am sure it sounds sucky living with this many guys, and it does suck! Two of them have such extreme personalities, they drive me nuts. Our fridge is full of Redbull, beer, tonies pizza, and koolaid. One guy has no problem putting down 6 redbulls a day and then takes hydroxycut on top of that (powder diet drink full of caffeine). He talks SO much and so loud, annoying! My ear plugs are priceless. (Found it funny that he says he can not afford organic food, Redbull is really expensive when you drink it like water!)
I am coping. It is good character building and working on patience.

I am staying busy working on little projects (sm garden & crocheting), running, yoga, cooking, reading.... I am looking forward to going back to work.

Justin is studying hard. Class from 8-4:30 and basically studying all evening. He rides his bike the 3 miles to and from school.

The house itself is nice. The front yard is very cute.

The back is pretty nice.

My little garden.

In the back of the back there are 3 chickens (use to be more but the neighbors pitbulls killed a lot of them), a horse, and a pony. I get to have the chicken eggs which is sweet.

And then there is the sandlot dog next door. There is a front door to the house and a side door. The neighbors fence is about 4ft from the side door. There is a dog that barks at everyone that goes over there. This dog half rot/black lab barks furiously at us while he jumps high enough to get his head over the top of the 6ft fence. It is annoying. That is where are hangboard is (for doing pullups), so we spend time over there.

The weather here is wonderful. It does get a little windy in this area which isn't ideal. But I have been hanging out in shorts, tank tops, and sunblock. (I am getting a little summer before fire season starts.)
We really like Chico. We have gone and played in the park there a couple times. Our friends Danielle and Shannon (from Medford) came to town last week and showed us around Chico. Chico is like a big Ashland.

I love the citrus trees!!

*Check back soon to hear about our climbing trip in Yosemite.