The Ties that Bind

Holy crap, I can't believe two weeks have already gone by!

The last time Marie posted an update, we were fresh in town still trying to get into a rhythm of things and trying to decide on new areas to climb at as well as visit areas where I had some unfinished business.  Well, now at the end of our second week, I feel like we definitely have a schedule that we've settled into that allows us to get in a lot of climbing time and a lot of family time as well.

It's been really great to be spending some real quality time here with my family.  It's never been a secret that I couldn't wait to move away from this city and in the last eleven years that I've been living in Portland, I only come home for a few days about once a year and the time I've spent at home always feels a little rushed when it comes to my family.  My sister lives here still but now she has her own apartment so I don't get to see her as often as when she lived at home, my brother works and usually comes home by the time I've already left to go climbing, and my mom works the night shift so sometimes I would only get to see her for a few hours in the morning before I left to go climbing and before I knew it, my 5 days were up and it was back to Portland.

This time around because we are here for 4 weeks it's been easier to find time to spend with my family.  I see my brother when we get home and we shoot the shit in front of the TV for a little while most nights about whatever.  He took Marie and me out for dinner and drinks one night at the M Resort where he works as a bartender and the following morning he and his friends took Marie out for red velvet pancakes while I took care of some errands at the house.  It's been great spending all this time with him since we spent a lot of years apart when he was living in New York and L.A., and me visiting about once a year didn't seem to ever coincide with the times he was home to visit.

Because my mom works 7 days a week it's hard to get a full day with her even when I'm not climbing, but the mornings or afternoons that we spend together are always really fun.  Often times she comes home with my sister and we all sit down to dinner or just hang out and talk about all the things that have been going on in our lives, and when both my siblings get in the same room there's always tons of laughter because someone's always wisecracking, calling someone out on something funny that they did.  Sometimes my mom and I go out for breakfast but I at least always get to see her in the mornings before we leave to go climbing, and after a couple of weeks all those little bits of time here and there feel like they've been adding up, and I think it really brightens her day to have us all home again.

Dinner with my sister Michelle and my mom Maricela

Maricela cooking up a storm in the kitchen

The weather has been incredibly fantastic here this second week as well.  There's even been a day or two where we thought it might actually be a little too warm to climb in the sun.  The domino effect that we seemed to have started back in Mexico shows no signs of slowing down and every place we visit we're always excited to get on new routes and obsess over new projects.  Most recently we've been climbing at a place called the Cannibal Crag outside the main loop in the Red Springs area near Kraft mountain.  We really like the 5 minute approach to the giant boulder and the amount of fun routes to do there has kept us wanting to come back again and again.  Marie is making incredible progress in her climbing and has added to her accomplishments by onsighting an 11a and an 11b there, and is currently working on redpointing a tech-y 11c with a pretty dynamic crux.  As for myself, I ticked a nicely sustained 12c and am currently pretty close to sending my first 12d as well.

New Wave Hookers 5.12c

Marie dynoing the crux of Pickled (5.11c), a work in progress.

 Some rest day activities included a visit to the Ethel M Chocolate factory as well as trip to Henderson to see the ClimbX warehouse and get the lowdown on all the new product lineup for the year.  If you are in the area and want to check out the shoes or other products for yourself, you can contact Ken Moore at the warehouse directly by phone (702) 347-7733 or email at climbx@centurylink.net.  They are also working on possibly opening the warehouse to the public one day a week for special deals.  We also hung out with my friend Carlene who I used to work with in Portland but who has since relocated to the Vegas area to work and finish school.  I'm also waiting to hang out with my grade school buddy Mike who is currently holed up sick at home as well as my high-school friend Arieanne who is also sick with the flu (bunch of sickos I tell ya!).

Lineup of shoes at the ClimbX warehouse.

We also got a surprise visit from a group of our Portland friends.  11 guys, including people we've never met as well as mutual friends, kidnapped my friend Scott Tse and surprised him with a trip to Vegas for his bachelor party.  On their second day, they managed to get their hungover asses out of bed and out to Red Rocks to join us for an afternoon of cruiser climbing at The Panty Wall.  Most of the crew flew out early in the morning on the 3rd day but our friend Bob didn't have to fly out until 8 that evening, so he joined us for a return visit to Sunny and Steep.

Bob leading Working for Peanuts at Sunny & Steep

I really look forward to posting about the coming weeks because we will be getting to climb with lots of friends.  More crew from Portland will be showing up around the 11th, as well as my old friend Ha and some of his friends.  There's also my first trip to Joshua Tree where I'll be meeting up with Matt and Michelle from Stoneworks.  And after that we'll be just about ready to plan the next leg of the trip!

Also, we've finally gotten all caught up with our select pictures on flickr.  You can see both the older sets here and the newest set here.  Thanks everyone, till next time!
-Juan