Camp and Climb

I had a wonderful weekend!  I got to spend alllllll weekend with the boyfriend (which doesn't happen too often) so I was happy as a clam.

We decided to go camping and climbing.  

I love love love camping.  

I love campfires.  

I love going to sleep smelling like campfire.  

I love s'mores.  

I love camping food. 

I love sleeping outside.  

I love the smell of the forest.  

I love being disconnected from my phone/computer.

I LOVE it all!

Friday we found the BEST campsite in Castle Crags State Park.  It was a beautiful campground and we got the BEST campsite there.  Really.

We cooked an amazing BBQ Chicken/Corn on the Cobb Dinner (with S'More dessert, of course).  Then we made sure to get to sleep early because we had to get up early on Saturday morning.

 (Real men make fire)

Saturday we woke up bright and early, ate a full breakfast, then headed off to begin the Castle Crags journey.  The information regarding the approach wasn't plentiful so we wanted to give some extra time.  Good thing.

We began our approach, and at first I was optimistic.  Hiking a steep hill, sweating from places I didn't know you could sweat from (Aaron's butt was soaked), and loving the burn in my butt from hiking such an incline.  After half an hour I asked, "Are we there yet?"  Nope.  And who knows when we will be.  I continued to ask this question until finally we broke free from the forest and saw Mt. Hubris.  IT WAS SO FAR AWAY!  Like we-are-never-going-to-make-it-unless-we-get-a-go-cart far away.

 (See... SO FAR AWAY!!)

 (Aaron trying to snap a picture, but I was BEAT)

(Aaron at the beginning-ish part of the trail)

(That's what we climbed!!)

We never got a go-cart.  All we got was sweat soaked clothes, a good butt workout, and a hankering for ice water (with  lemon please).  Since the information regarding the approach was so minimal, we didn't really know where the trail broke off to head to the base.  All we saw was manzanita bush. 

So we bush-whacked it.

And I have a million bruises to prove it.  I think each Manzanita bush was personally out to get me, and I can't count the number of times I yelled, "owwww mother EFFER!"

Aaron:  "You ok?!"

Me:  "Yes *says in a pouty fashion* but owwie"

Me again 5 minutes later: "Ahhhhhh OUCHHHH!"

Aaron:  "Babe what happened!"

Me:  "Manzanita Bush bit me *says in a pouty fashion again*"

I've realized, I can be quite the drama queen.

FINALLY we get to the base.  It was such a long approach!!!  But I couldn't wait to climb.  The route looked amazing, and I wasn't let down the least bit.  

The route was beautiful.  It was 6 pitches total, and the hardest being a 5.6 [so it was fairly easy :-)].  It was wonderful the entire time.  I slipped only once, and I completely blame myself.  See, have a knack for picking out the HARDEST way to go up the route.  So after I slipped I thought, "shoot, I wonder how Aaron did this" and looked over to see his protection on the other side.  I had to traverse over but I finally got it... on the actual route (not my made-up-harder route).  

After we finished, the views were amazing.  We sat on top for a while snapping photos and taking in the view.  We made sure to get a picture with Shasta in the middle.

(This is me!)

(And this is me doing a happy dance)

After we rapelled and decended, we hopped in the car, purchased more fire wood, and had a dinner of champions:  Hot Dogs and Veggies.

Did I mention I love camping?

I a

Bloggys and Mags

I have become addicted.

I never understood why my  friends would bring magazines to the lake or pool when we would go.  "Whoooo wants to read a magazine?  BORING."  Kind of like when I was little with McDonalds french fries + Happy Meals... "Why wuold they put these in here? No one likes them."  Little did I know, I would become a french fry addict.

Currently I am ADDICTED to magazines.  It's a recent development.  I love the recipes.  The tips.  The eye openers.  The DIY.  I've been reading a lot of the fitness-y ones because I feel like they keep me slightly motivated to stop eating french fries.  My parents get "Sunset" at their house, and I've read the two they currently have a few times now.  Like I'm going to find something I missed the first time around or something.  Poor Aaron gets to hear me say, "Look at this recipe!  I'M GONNA MAKE IT!" a little too often.

And Bloggys!  I LOVE finding new blogs and reading them.  I'm totally addicted.  And I love when my friends make new posts (hint hint) so I can catch up on their life.  I love looking at the pictures, and I love hearing rants about things I've ranted about before.  It's wonderful. 

Extremely Happy

... except I just realized I got NO picutres! 

I have had a great weekend :-)  One of those weekends where you realize the people you love.

Friday night:  Best Friend Lou Night
It's a shame that Reno was extremely LAME on Friday, but we still had fun :-)  It was so weird, everywhere we went was empty.  But I got to hang out with my best friend, and I met some interesting people (some of Lina's new friends).  I got home around 4am, and it wasn't one of those "I've wanted to go home since midnight" nights, or one of those "I did WHAT!" nights... it was pretty chill, but still fun.

Saturday Day/Night:  Errands/Pammy
I made a post about this last night.  I got some time to have the longest chat session I've had in a while.  Pam understands.  She's one of those people who passes no judgement so I feel completely comfortable talking to her about anything and everything.  It was wonderful :-)

Sunday:  Poolside Pina Coladas and Summer Planning
Kimmy and I went over to Jess's Aunt's house for some sunbathing and girl time.  Jess's Aunt has an AMAZING home and SUPER NEATO pool. It's an infitini salt water pool.  It was beautiful.  We made tons of summer plans which include:

• A NIGHT IN THE COUNTRY (I can't WAIT)
• Tahoe Rafting
• River Rafting (yes, the two are different)
• Reno Rodeo
• Camping
• Girl Movie Night
• Rib Cookoff
• Tahoe
• And more but I'm brain farting

I am excited for the weather to start getting warmer again!  This weekend was wonderful!

On a side note, I REALLY REALLY WANT TO GO ON A CRUISE.

And on another side note, MY MOM BOUGHT A TRAVEL TRAILER!!  Eeeeeck!  Time to really have a blast at A Night in the Country.  :-D :-D :-D

Alike

Have you ever met a person that you feel like you instantly click with?  Those people you feel for some weird reason you can talk to about ANYTHING and EVERYTHING (this may, or may not, be a good thing).

I just got done having a movie date with Pam.  I have no idea what the movie was about because we chatted the whole time.  And it's not that fake conversation where you're trying to think of something to say... It's that can't-stop-talking-and-accidentally-changes-subjects-quickly-because-there's-so-much-to-talk-about-and-so-little-time conversation.  I LOVE THAT. 

Either way, it made me happy to have a girl night and chat and get some stuff off of my chest.  It feels so good when you complain about something, or vent to a friend, and have her say, "I KNOW THAT HAPPENS TO ME TOO!!!"  It makes you feel a little less weird and out of place.  Pam has a much different background that I do, so It's very interesting to chat with her and listen to how her past experiences have influenced her current experiences.

Pam is a great friend, and it's eery how alike we are in quite a few ways.

Sad Day

Granny passed away 2 nights ago.  She was a strong woman who lasted 94 years.  And when I say strong, I mean she'll give any waiter a run for his money if he tries to take her coffee too early.

Granny and I shared a bond that I wish upon ANY grandmother/mother/daughter/sister.  We shared that Theta bond which was a wonderful experience.  I wish I could say more, but I'd like to leave it at that.  Goodbye Granny - I hope in heaven the men are cute and the White Zin is plentiful.

"Where's my Ashley?"

Oblivious?

I saw a quote just now:

"I wonder how many people I've looked at all my life and never seen."

... and it SPOKE to me.  Or yelled at me.  But I actually think this all of the time.  And I also look at the photos I've taken with my friends when we're out and about and I see all of the people (making goofy faces) in the background and I wonder, "how many pictures am I in the background of?  Do I look like a total goober?"

I try to pay attention and notice the little things, but I really wonder sometimes how many people I've been around, looked at, been in class with, and never even NOTICED them for whatever reason.  I always wonder if people know who I am that I don't know.  It's always so weird when someone comes up to you outside of class and says, "How about that test?!" and you think, "Either this person is border-line-crazy OR they're in my class."  It's usually the latter. 

I just wonder sometimes how oblivious I really am...  I would like to be notice so maybe I should start noticing others.  That's how it works, right?  Do unto others as they do to you, right?  I'll notice you if you notice me. Got it?  Good.

Alabama Hills - Rock Climbing

Last Sunday and Monday, Aaron and I went to Bishop, CA for a tiny rock climbing adventure.  I LOVE CAMPING, so we decided to go Sunday and get our camp on then do the rock climbing on Monday.  We must have had our lucky pants on because we happened to find a PRIME camping spot on MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND!  What are the chances!  Lucky pants, I tell ya.  Typically I have the bad-weather-80mph-wind-gust-freak-snow-storm weather luck.  It was a great weekend, needless to say.

 (Being classy tanning on the bench... why?  BECAUSE IT WAS WARM!)

We had a gourmet dinner that Aaron brought and we both cooked (marinated steaks, grilled veggies, corn, and mashed taters... although I don't eat mashed taters).  Then after I introduced Aaron to s'mores.  I ate three.  I love camp fires.  I love the smell.  Sitting around them while it's chilly outside but your face it burning.  Smelling like dirt/smoke.  LOVE IT.  So I was in heaven.  I think this was the first time we've ever gone camping and I slept totally 100% completely warm.  HEAVEN! 

The next day we woke up bright and early and headed to the Alabama Hills.  The weather was supposed to be mid 80's so we wanted to get an early start to beat the sun.  The first wall we went to was a beginner wall with a bunch of easy routes including a 5.1, 5.3, and 5.5.  We started on a 5.7 which was pretty fun (the rock is super grippy).  After that we did a nice little 2-pitch route (sorry for my lack of technical terms) which was GREAT.  I really enjoyed it!  It had a slight scare factor to it because the holds were TINY.  You really had to rely on your feet placements and the gripping from the rock.

(this was the route we did, you can barely see Aaron at the tip-top)

After that route I was pretty drained by the sun.  I've concluded that I'm sensitive.  I'm sensitive to the cold, I'm sensitive to extreme heat, and I'm sensitive to mean people.  I'm just an all around sensitive gal.  Take me or leave me :-)  Luckily, we timed it PERFECTLY and the new wall we went to had SHADE!  We went to the Shark Fin which was something Aaron had been eye-balling.  There was a massive boulder resting against the shark fin which provided SHADE!  I was in shade heaven.  Pre-shade I used Aaron's massive hat to keep slightly cool, it saved me.

The Shark Fin was pretty neat, there were several routes.  Aaron did two, but I was pooped and only did one.  

While we were there, we met some people from the Bay Area who recommended we visit the ARCH!  I love arches... and stuff.  I think they're so neat!  So we hopped in the car, rolled down every window, and drove to the arch-area.  

It was wonderful, and I was in heaven.  It was nice to finally:

1. Camp while it's warm and not blowing million-mile-per-hour-hurricane-winds
2. Have WARM weather
3. Not be shivering while going up a route
4. Not have a steep 45 minute approach to the wall
5. Have nice cold water waiting :-)

It was a good weekend.  Even though I missed Tim McGraw and Lady Antebellum :-(