sunny Seattle!

Ahoy,

I had forgotten how exciting it is to be in a brand new city. It's as if you have the whole world before you and you haven't seen any of it. It's indescribable. This past weekend was full of food and exploration in Seattle. The weather was divine, which I'm told was a rarity because it was gloomy for forever before our arrival. But that's something I love about Seattle, that the weather is its own character. Like that no good uncle at family gatherings that is just there for comic relief, but you must deal with him and bring him food, regardless.

My travel buddies got wired on java daily, throughout the day. All caffeine, all the time! Your blood sugar level won't know what hit it! In addition to the plethora of coffee I was swimming in, I feel it's also important to note the land and sea of plaid that was abundant like a fresh summer crop. But I'm told this is year round. There are places I feel out of place for demographic reasons, but rarely do I feel out of place for stylistic choices.

As is included in any trip, a survey of the local climbing gym. They were ginormous! There was a slide! There was a pirate ship! There was endless amounts of fun! Alas, life is not all about pirate ships, there must be a place to sail it. Having been adjacent to water my whole life, I would settle for nothing less than a puddle. We borrowed a rowboat and shimmied our way around the swampy depths of alligator free water.

The best of all worlds indoors and outdoors, Seattle has so much to do and so much to eat. I can't wait to go back!




lustfully adrift,
jt

climbing days are here to stay

Ahoy,

Climbing on real rocks outside has been a bucket list item I've listed as completed for quite a while now. But every time continues to be an adventure. When I put it on my list so long ago, I never would have thought I would have so many opportunities to go outside and climb. When I got my first climbing intro 3 years ago, just as I was leaving CA, in my last ditch effort to check off all my items, I wasn't thinking I would get to climb so many times after that. I wasn't thinking I would actively seek out climbing gyms wherever I went, I wasn't thinking I would get a membership at a climbing gym and meet so many fun people to go on climbing trips. Climbing is very much an individual sport, but the social aspects of it is really one of my favorite reasons to climb.

Last weekend, we went out to San Bernadino for sport climbing. It's a marvel that so far in the middle of nowhere you can still find a big community of people all interested in the same thing you are. Complete strangers, familiar faces, everyone is out there to hang out, to climb, to help you climb. Outdoor or indoor, it's easy to talk to people on the wall. It's easy to create a commonality as soon as you touch the wall. That being said, it's not like this all the time. But I truly treasure the contact that people can make when climbing. It's a lonely planet, but this is a way to make it a little less so.

gorgingly frizzled,
jt