German water bed prank

March 2010

I can't believe it is March already. Things are good. I had a nice trip to Oregon and Washington during the last 2 weeks of February. Colorado is good. I am really excited for spring. I am excited for color!! Everything is brown and gloomy. I spotted some teeny tiny buds on a tree yesterday. Not too much longer and we will catch up with the Northwest and see the daffodils and other bulbs start poking out of the ground. I am going to finish raking the leaves in our yard today. That will give the yard a much fresher appearance.

I have been reading a lot about wine lately. I am overwhelmed by how many blogs there are out there about wine. HUNDREDs! They all look interesting and I do not know where to start.

I listen to a podcast called "Wine for Newbies" when I go for runs and walks. (The unfortunate thing is I have to drive somewhere to do this, we live in the middle of town sandwiched between two major roads and it is not a nice attmosphere to zone out on a jog.) I am really capitalizing on opportunities to stuff more info into my brain. I really do love it. I have a cool notebook I made where I take notes on wines, different regions, and any random wine related fact that I find interesting.

I am going to go get an item crossed off my 'to-do' list before I get sucked into this whole world of blogging. Kinda neat though...

Danny + Julie 11.07.09

Our beautiful friends Danny & Julie got married on Nov 7th in Arkansas! It was a beautiful day, perfect weather, and amazing location. I know we all had a blast. Our friend Byron flew into Tulsa, OK with us. He was great company for the drive to and from the Ozarks. We are all greatful that we got to spend that special day with the Osterkamps!

Congratulations!

Colorado Springs, Colorado

Change of plans. We moved to CO instead of NC. Trey got an apprenticeship in CO. CONGRATS!! He is loving it. I cancelled my plane ticket to NC and drove our other car to CO.
Things have been good here. We moved in with a married couple about our age. It is a great living situation. Trey works 4 10's, so this leaves us time to play and explore. We have been camping and hiking to a few spots. All beautiful. There seems to be plenty to do. We hope to do some ski/snowboarding and crosscountry skiing. There are so many ski resorts here.
I can't believe how sunny it has been. Thanksgiving was low 70's and sunny!

Fall is here

I am done working for the summer. I had a good, busy fire season. Trey got done with his lineman school in the beginning of July. He got a job in North Carolina a couple weeks after that, working as a groundman for a contractor. I have seen him twice since then. I will be flying to NC on Oct 21st. I am looking forward an end to this long distance. The summer flew by. I got some great training doing GIS on fires and really liked it.
Trey just interviewed for an Apprenticeship in Denver yesterday. It went great. I do not think we will be in NC for too long.
I will enjoy this week and a half here in Oregon visiting friends and family.
Pics & more to come.

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.