tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49413403692883469742024-02-07T05:06:20.068-08:00LeeDylanLindaWatch him grow and hear about our advetures.LeeABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10896458077152472666noreply@blogger.comBlogger201125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941340369288346974.post-53601928460139340042016-10-01T20:35:00.000-07:002016-10-01T20:35:10.437-07:00Assorted other GB Activities<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Among other things we did in the UK we of course got some climbing in on the Grit. I've wanted to climb on Grit for ages, ever since I first saw the movie "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTtfIfsusN4" target="_blank">Hard Grit</a>" obviously I was not doing anything that would constitute putting my neck on the line in the way that many of the people in that video were (certainly not with the family present). Grit is an interesting rock, more granular than sandstone but not even close to being conglomerate as far as how it climbs. We spent 3 days climbing on this unique stone, 2 before Edinburg and one after, and I went out on my own on one other evening (<a href="https://vimeo.com/175641134" target="_blank">VIDEO</a>). Dylan was able to get in some more climbing on some of the smaller of the many boulders that litter the hillsides.</div>
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After Edinburg we headed back through the Peak District and did a bit more climbing before stopping in Bath. Here Linda and Dylan are in front of the Abbey just outside the Roman baths.</div>
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And Dylan in front of the bath.</div>
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We then headed on to Stonehenge and took a tour that walked us through the country side culminating in a special access tour of the stones themselves, which allowed us to walk among the stones as opposed to viewing them from a raised catwalk about 100 feet back.</div>
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Our last day that included visiting Bath and Stonehenge and then driving to a hotel close enough to Heathrow that we would be able to make a noon flight was quite taxing and not something I would really recommend. Though in hind site I would just pass on going to Bath because of the crowds, it is kind of cool but at the same time it is difficult to enjoy.</div>
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Our flight back landed in Dallas and we spent a little time with Linda's grandma (98 years old) and then I headed back to Albuquerque while Linda and Dylan head to Austin with her dad to visit with the cousins.</div>
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LeeABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10896458077152472666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941340369288346974.post-68653034683665402212016-07-23T15:51:00.000-07:002016-07-23T15:51:29.008-07:00July 9th - 11th, 2016 - Edinburgh <div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">After spending a couple of days in the Peak District climbing we headed to “The North” ..... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">to spend some time in Edinburgh. The day we got in we tried to check out the local climbing wall but only arrived as it closed, then got dinner to go from a small restaurant in the “Old Town” called </span><i style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.oinkhogroast.co.uk/" target="_blank">Oink!</a></i><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">, where the only make one thing but do it quite well. Edinburgh is a fantastic city and where J.K. Rowling lived while writing the Harry Potter books. We did our usual walking tour of of the city and also checked out the </span><i style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.edinburghcastle.gov.uk/" target="_blank">Edinburgh Castle</a></i><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> on our first day. We headed to the cemetery to visit Tom Riddle’s (Lord Voldemort) grave across the street from the above mentioned cafe .....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">and the views of the city from the castle were quite amazing .....</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">so amazing that Dylan felt a need to stand guard over it .....</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In the evening we headed to <i>The Witchery</i> for dinner, the only “fine dinning” night we had in our entire 6 week trip ..... </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The food was quite nice with Dylan getting his usual, whatever is closest to a hamburger .....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">While Linda and I shared the lamb wellington. We had tried to check out the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena the day we got to Edinburgh but got lost since all forms of sat. nav. take you to the wrong place, though different places depending on the app you use. Instead we made a day out of going there. We first checked out the “New Town” part of Edinburgh, getting lunch at a restaurant called </span><i style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">The Dogs </i><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">where the food was reasonably priced and quite good, comfort food, and again Dylan with something as close to a hamburger as possible .....</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">After lunch we headed out of the city to the climbing arena where Junior Worlds has been held on several occasions. The facility is enormous and makes anything I’ve been to in the US seem tiny ..... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">There are 5 main walls that are all 60+ feet tall including a section that is 100’ tall and an angle adjustable competition wall. Before we headed home Dylan wanted a snack so he headed to the vending machine and returned with .....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Guinness chips, apparently they start them young in Scotland.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">We quite liked Scotland and Edinburgh in particular. </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">There are lots of nice homes just outside the main part of the city where it does not seem that crowded but you are still really close to the restaurants and shops, you can also quickly get out of town and to the hills or ocean. All in all it just seemed a bit easier to navigate as a traveler and more homey than London.</span></span><br />
<br />LeeABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10896458077152472666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941340369288346974.post-77494875977402734252016-07-09T02:23:00.000-07:002016-07-09T02:23:09.231-07:00July 2nd - 6th, 2016 London<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We arrived in London in the morning after yet another overnight flight, so far all our long flights have been overnight in which case Dylan is the only one who gets any real sleep. I’ve got to say I’m jealous of people that have the ability to crash out anywhere in any position. Needless to say, arriving in the morning means needing to stay awake for the majority of the day to keep on schedule. Once we made it to our flat across the street form Kensington Garden (part of Hyde Park), we headed back out to the <i><a href="http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/" target="_blank">London Science Museum</a></i>. Before we got there Dylan was already intrigued by things he had never seen before .....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">We eventually managed to stay awake through the day and bought groceries at the largest Whole Foods I’ve ever seen.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The next day Linda had signed us up for a free (except for tip to guide who actually pays Sandemans to be able to lead the tours) <i><a href="http://www.newlondon-tours.com/" target="_blank">Sandemans</a></i> walking tour of Westminster. Before the tour we had breakfast with one of Linda’s college friends, Dawn and her family, who has lived all over Europe and has been in London for the last 8 years. Among the many things we saw were Westminster Abbey, the changing of the guard ..... </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">St. James Park, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace and the Palace of Westminster with Big Ben .....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Dylan really enjoyed our guide, Lars, who told stories of the London/British history in a pretty engaging manner .....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">, he earned a nice tip. It was a pretty long day. It is also worth noting that we had just </span><span style="font-size: 12px;">traveled</span><span style="font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> from the Southern Hemisphere where we </span><span style="font-size: 12px;">were for the winter solstice and day light lasted from 8am to 6pm, to the Northern Hemisphere one week after the summer solstice and day light lasts from 4am to 10pm which is wreaking havoc on our internal clocks. The below shot is sitting on out porch looking out at Kensington Garden at 9:30pm .....</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">On the 4th of July, ironically, we visited the <i><a href="http://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/#gs.XEW8T3I" target="_blank">Tower of London</a></i>, being where the royalty resided up to about the time the British were planting a flag in the US. It was pretty cool to see the whole castle and all the different items housed there, including the Crown Jewels (holy 530.2 karat diamond). Then there were the Beefeaters (guards of the Tower), after doing the audio tour we lined up for the free Beefeater tour. Yet again, Dylan loves listening to the tales that are told by these guides and they are quite interesting ..... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">After the Tower we headed to a climbing gym to pick up the bouldering guide book. After a little searching we decided to go to </span><i style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"><a href="https://www.castle-climbing.co.uk/" target="_blank">The Castle Climbing Center</a></i><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">, because how can you say no to a climbing gym in a castle.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">On the 5th we headed to <i><a href="http://www.britishmuseum.org/" target="_blank">The British Museum</a></i>. The museum houses an amazing collection of art and artifacts from around the world and is just enormous. We focused on the highlights like The Rosetta Stone, sculptures from The Parthenon (though we still need to go to Athens at some point), other Greek works, the Easter Island figure and Egyptian artifacts. For many of the items though I’m left feeling that maybe they really belong in a museum in the country of origin while in others if they had remained there they would have likely ended up in someones private collection. To finish off the day, we headed to Kings Cross Station because of its association with Harry Potter and to see the Platform 9 3/4 shop and tourist trap, we did not partake in anything because of tomorrows planned activity.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Our next day, after struggling through the Underground with our luggage to the airport and picking up our rental car (yes, no car while in London) we drove out to the Warner Bros. Studio for <i><a href="https://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/" target="_blank">The Making of Harry Potter</a></i> tour. This was a really cool experience and highly recommended for any fans of HP. They give a lot of background for the making of the movies and talk about how certain scenes were made. All the props and sets were the ones used in the movies themselves (though at times there were multiple versions). Here, Dylan and Linda wand shopping .....</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Linda on her way to Hogwarts .....</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Dylan is waiting to see the headmaster due to poor behavior .....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">then waiting to run away on the Knight Bus .....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Once the tour was completed we headed to Sheffield for a couple more days of climbing.</span><br />
<br />LeeABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10896458077152472666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941340369288346974.post-55891314277914134862016-07-05T13:30:00.000-07:002016-07-05T15:36:58.481-07:00June 28th - 30th, 2016 - Final Days in Rocklands<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">After our rest day we were psyched to get our and try to get back to some areas and try problems that we had not had an opportunity to try earlier. We started by heading to 8 Day Rain with Craig and Natalie, and made our way to the Crazy Leg area. With several problems from 7a through 7b+ on the boulder we all had a good time climbing on various lines including Crazy Leg 7b (<a href="https://vimeo.com/173532817" target="_blank">VIDEO</a>), Secret Ascent 7b+ and Silky Natural 7a .....</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">After that I headed over to the Golden Virginia 8a, which looks reasonable but will require a bit more time than I had for me to do. I then risked the skin on my right hand to do the Skink dyno 7b, apparently most people wrap their hand in tape so as to not tear skin when jumping to the hold at the lip. Not knowing this I just loaded up and jumped, luckily sticking it and only roughing up the skin but not ripping any flappers (though it was close). In the afternoon we headed back to Arch Valley so that Linda could get back on a 7a+ she had previously tried, Director’s Cunt (yes bad word and all) and try another 7a that I had done the last time we were there, One with the Freaks, which she sent on her 2nd or 3rd try (photo by Craig Faulhaber).....</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The next day I woke up early to try a few things while it was still cold and shady out, though with no success, projects for next time maybe. After I returned to the house we all headed out to find fun stuff for Linda to climb and ended up meeting up with Craig and Natalie again who were taking Aubrey, who works at <a href="http://www.travellersrest.co.za/" target="_blank">Traveler’s Res</a>t, out for his first time climbing. Linda climbed several 6’s including these two on the Middle Plateau boulder .....</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">and on the Consequence boulder .....</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">though ultimately Linda was left feeling a bit unfulfilled with the day. In the late afternoon I headed back up to Fields of Joy with Craig and Natalie to get on a couple of lines that I really wanted to do and felt like I had a good shot at. After re-warming up we moved to Macho King 7c+ which had a whole host of pads because there was another group of 4 guys (3 having done it and one still trying it) there, perfect a sea of pads. On my second try I made it to the lip and fell off with the move feeling really hard and a bit awkward. The next time up I bungled the roof sequence and dropped off a bit earlier, then on my 4th try this happened (photo by Natalie).....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">SUCCESS, certainly one of the best problems I did on the trip. Natalie also started trying the problem and made great progress through the roof section. After that Craig and Natalie spent some time working the Dirty Lies roof 7a+/b before we headed over to the Barracuda Rail 7b, which is basically a 15m or 50’ traverse on a sloping rail with the crux coming at the end as you make the transition around the arete at the end. I put my route climbing skills to use and hustled across the rail and turned the corner on my first try. Finally it was off to the Kiesl boulder to try the sandbagged classic of the same name at 7a. Being the gentleman that I am I let Natalie go first, then using her beta barely scrapped through (photo by Craig Faulhaber) .....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">We did a final problem, Gegen den Wind 7a+ as the sun was setting and hustled it out of there to get back to the cars right as it got dark which was good since the approach is one of the most involved and technical that we did in Rocklands.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">As I said, Linda was left with a somewhat empty feeling after her final day, while my skin was screaming. After packing up our house we headed to the <a href="http://www.alphaexcelsior.co.za/hh.php" target="_blank">Hen House</a> for breakfast where Linda got a mochachino (2 shots with hot chocolate). Apparently caffeine makes everything better in her eyes. We stopped at the Kliphuis Campground to check out the Teapot boulder and so Linda could get a couple of hours of climbing in and hopefully leave feeling happy. Wether the quality of the climbing or the caffeine our goal was met. Linda loved the problems on the Teapot boulder including Up the Spout .....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">and did a few other problems in the area including an Unnamed 6b arete that she really liked and Soggy Teabag 7a+ (which would be her hardest problem ever), but in her opinion not that hard. Dylan also had a good day doing 3-4 boulder problems, 2 of which would actually be quite nice even for adults, here he is on his proudest climb of the trip .....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">All in all I think we would definitely be interested in another trip to Rocklands in the future, we each have things that we tried and did not finish or saw but did not have an opportunity to try, not to mention that the rock is endless out there.</span><br />
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LeeABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10896458077152472666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941340369288346974.post-23663720448186366062016-07-01T03:27:00.001-07:002016-07-01T03:27:25.563-07:00June 25th - 27th, 2016 Rocklands and Rest Days<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">On the 25th we finally made it out to the <a href="http://www.muisbosskerm.co.za/" target="_blank">Muisbosskerm</a>, an open air all you can eat fish braai. The restaurant, between Lamberts Bay and Eland Bay, is built right at high tide line and only serves when they have reservations for 15 or more people. We had reservations for Lunch which did not start until 1:15 so to pass the time we wandered the beach as the morning fog burned off.....</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Dylan is really into shells when he can find them and was very excited to find several complete sea urchin shells .....</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The next day we headed out to the Rhino boulders with Craig and Natalie. After warming up a bit we headed back a bit further to do the amazing looking 6c Tiger Claw, which we all did, here is Linda .....</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I also climbed Stalker on the Horizon 7c/+ on my first go. After a brief rest we headed back to the main Rhino boulder to climb the iconic profile of the Rhino. It is interesting as the beginning moves vary dramatically based on if you can reach a particular hold with you feet still on the pedestal under the climb or not. We all had a good time with Craig having 2 particularly good attempts and Natalie making progress while I managed to flash the problem after watching video of it countless times on a previous night when I could not sleep. We then moved back to the Tiger Claw area so Linda could wrap up the 7a Bols Island, her first of the grade for the trip. After that was done, we headed up the road to the Roadside boulders where Craig sent the classic 7b Question of Balance which I had tried our previous time out and after several attempts I was able to climb it as well with some slight changes to my beta based on how he climbed it. To finish off I climbed the classic highball 6c Creaking Heights (photo by Craig Faulhaber).....</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">of course I did this while Linda was off out of site trying another problem. This started a long line of about 6 people then climbing the problem with a couple of big but clean falls from the crux. With a long day at the boulders we hiked out to a beautiful sunset, here Craig humors me for a posed shot .....</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">On the 27th it rained leading to a forced rest day. At this point in the trip we were not disappointed to have a break from the 2 days on 1 day off theme to let sore muscles and thin skin heal. We spent the morning at Travelers Rest plotting for the remaining two days of climbing and having a lazy breakfast. Then headed over the pass into town to do some house keeping items and get souvenirs. We visited a couple of Rooibos tea houses .....</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">, picked up house slippers for Dylan and did more grocery shopping. After we had a nice dinner with Craig and Natalie at our place and went to sleep with high hopes for the coming days.</span></div>
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LeeABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10896458077152472666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941340369288346974.post-77878310006029069412016-06-30T12:52:00.002-07:002016-06-30T12:52:54.066-07:00June 20th - 24th, 2016 Middle Days in Rocklands<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">After our rainy rest day we headed to the 8 Day Rain area which is typically the first to dry out after a rain to climb with Jan (the South African Ocun importer) and his son Jeremy who is 7 and got along well with Dylan. After warming up a bit we headed to the Beckoning boulder and did the steeper problems with the ones on the right being quite soft (Linda climbed the 7b+ in a couple of tries which is a couple of grades harder than she has ever climbed). After that we headed to To Siemay which is a very pretty looking 6c+ that a couple from Denver (Craig and Natalie were looking at getting on) and everyone proceeded to take turns with most of us climbing it at some point, here Linda puts in an attempt .....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Finally to round out the day the 7 of us headed down to the Vanity boulder to climb the classic 7a+ Vanity, topping out (photo by Craig Faulhaber).....</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It was crazy as by the time we left there were about 20 people at this single boulder, but we still managed to climb many of the problems including this fun arete .....</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The next day Jan and Jeremy headed back to Cape Town and we climbed with Craig and Natalie again, this time at the Sassies, home of the highball and roof climbs. We all played on the 7a Maties, here Linda works through the roof (photo by Craig or Natalie).....</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">and some of us climbed on the 7b+ Un Petite Hueco dans Rocklands, here I'm topping out (photo by Craig Faulhaber) .....</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">After that we moved over to the highball, 7a+ Springbok which we all climbed on using the alternate static beta as opposed to the jump move, here is Craig .....</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">After I climbed the 7b+ arete of Olifantshuis (photo by Craig Faulhaber).....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">During the day Dylan did a nice little boulder problem (photo by Craig Faulhaber and featuring his foot).....</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">and tried to help out with carrying the crash pads between problems .....</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">After a rest day we headed up to the Roadcrew area and after a fairly disappointing time there, a few of the “classics” were not so classic and some other climbers were kind enough to throw one of our pads in a mud puddle so that they could stand and lay on it to take photos of each other, we headed across to the Cedar Spine Gully. Once in the gully we found the awe inspiring highball Cedar Spine, but being alone there were not enough pads or spotters (falling with only Linda below is not real appealing) to attempt it. I headed of in search of the Last Days boulder and fell victim to the guide book. The book is not particularly detailed an I ended up in a completely different area before reorienting and finding the correct rock. On the way over to it I climbed the pretty slab of Playing in the Fields of the Lord .....</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Once there we did several little problems, here is Linda on an arete .....</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We hiked out to a beautiful sunset, viewed through thatch grass (yes, a real thing for making thatched roofs) .....</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The next day we climbed at some of the same areas as on our first day as well as a couple of the nearby areas as well. We largely climbed by ourselves and as such don’t have any photos but still had a productive day. Highlights were the 7b+ roof of Born into Struggle and the 6c jump line of Sex Etiquette.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">A few random shots, typical South African brands .....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">and breakfast of champions .....</span><br />
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<br />LeeABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10896458077152472666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941340369288346974.post-90266763465473202302016-06-27T01:28:00.000-07:002016-06-27T01:28:23.743-07:00June 17th - 19th, 2016 - First Days in Rocklands and Rest Day<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Our first day in Rocklands we had our friend Greg for a guide. He took us out to the Plateau Areas in the morning and to Fields of Joy in the afternoon. We started the morning at the aptly named Warmup Boulder which has several nice easier problems to get used to the stone and the blood flowing, which after 8 days of sitting in cars and on airplanes was a good idea. Here Linda climbs the 5c, Ice, Ice Baby .....</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Linda also attempted the classic 6b+, Girl on our Mind but without success as the headwall finish was giving her trouble and she kept starting from the beginning without figuring out how to climb the end. I managed to climb the 7b, Poison Dwarf on my first try, not a bad start to the trip. We then headed to the far side of the Plateau Area to look at the 7b Minki which is quite an interesting roof problem where your feet are doing much of the work to keep you on. There was a whole group there working the problem so I sat back and watched all the different ways they were working through the roof. When I got on for a burn I chose the method used by the 5’ 2” girl which worked perfectly for me since it involved tying myself into an upside down pretzel and I pulled through again on my first try. As we wrapped up the morning we hiked out past Girl on our Mind and we stopped so Linda could pull off the send. Here she is pulling through the headwall that had shut her down all morning in the full sun .....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">In the afternoon, between staining my back pulling Dylan up a rock step in the approach trail and Linda slipping on a rock and landing on her chin (she had a habit of landing on her face when she falls) I managed to climb the 7a+, Dirty Lies and the 7b, Maniac, both on my second try. We then proceeded to hobble our way down to the car.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In the morning on our second day we said good by to Greg after spending our time in Kruger and Cape Town with him and his family it was sad to see the last of the Crum’s go. We then headed up the pass to go to the Roadside Area, which is a bit of a misnomer as the approach is 35 minutes long. While it is alongside a road, the road is closed to vehicular traffic. Once we got to the area I took some shots of a few guys trying the 7a, Sunset Traverse .....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">which I climbed shortly after. The day ended early when Dylan was sharing snacks with another little boy at the boulders and had some chocolate with a cashew coating, leading to a rushed hike out and quick drive back to the guest house to get Benadryl into him. Other than a pissed off stomach and hives all over he got through fine.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">On our 3rd day we took the day off of climbing to let tired muscles and thin skin recover. We chose to check out the Sevilla Rock Art Trail just down the road at Travelers Rest. Here are Dylan and I at the entry area .....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">and a few examples of the rock art to be found along the trail, Zebra .....</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Dylan checking out a well covered panel .....</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Several different characters with a particularly detailed archer .....</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUkvRaRAqqedTO1rhDd2hJjHJoE3iYZNqXSnQJhX8ccma9s2xzT3vw6xB8GVNmnyqhpC7yTbOeqwRqyiyZdsoPYBQqX2tmNs4WT83-dWRgmeNYaZyY4vckcaU5f4cKAAZuRn3tzhTfQdM/s1600/20160619---Sevilla-%25234.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUkvRaRAqqedTO1rhDd2hJjHJoE3iYZNqXSnQJhX8ccma9s2xzT3vw6xB8GVNmnyqhpC7yTbOeqwRqyiyZdsoPYBQqX2tmNs4WT83-dWRgmeNYaZyY4vckcaU5f4cKAAZuRn3tzhTfQdM/s320/20160619---Sevilla-%25234.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />LeeABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10896458077152472666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941340369288346974.post-77398302622115198592016-06-23T11:58:00.001-07:002016-06-23T11:58:48.321-07:00June 12th - 15th, 2016 - Cape Town, South Africa<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We flew Mango from Johannesburg to Cape Town on the 12th and headed to our hotel, <a href="http://www.spier.co.za/" target="_blank">The Spier</a> which is a whole lot more than a hotel. The Spier has a farm, winery, eagle sanctuary (for rescues), conference center, multiple restaurants, etc. really plush by our standards and quite reasonable at the current exchange rate of 15R to 1$. Anyway, we settled into our room and got dinner with Greg, Magdel and the kids. The next morning Dylan was really excited about, we headed out to <a href="https://www.sanparks.org/parks/table_mountain/tourism/attractions.php" target="_blank">Boulders Beach</a>, part of the Table Mountain National Park, and where the african penguins are. Here are Dylan and Linda at one of the overlooks .....</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifCWDdsNIIRIoNhOsQL4vTCH4uDk1EMQ9tZZ3DYPcqa1_Tj3L0786ky1psxJLwJZYgrhvc65ZEwV4N9qrRfajqeOdEEfG24arrUohLoPqI2N6Cb367ESOmbg0flJEItasekWEbahu3Buk/s1600/20160613-Boulders%25231.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifCWDdsNIIRIoNhOsQL4vTCH4uDk1EMQ9tZZ3DYPcqa1_Tj3L0786ky1psxJLwJZYgrhvc65ZEwV4N9qrRfajqeOdEEfG24arrUohLoPqI2N6Cb367ESOmbg0flJEItasekWEbahu3Buk/s320/20160613-Boulders%25231.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">and a “What you lookin’ at” close up .....</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">We also drove the <a href="http://www.chapmanspeakdrive.co.za/" target="_blank">Chapman Peak Drive</a> which is crazy narrow and drops off almost vertically to the sea. Being a cyclist I would love to ride the road, being a driver I was appalled that there was two way traffic, much less several cyclists on the road. After lunch we headed to a beach to just hang out. Dylan was very interested in hunting for shells ....</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOseo8H1S_fjFxJXbsckwMOaHT3k7ZG57fI5_BypBPwT6aXOiDs9QS7T8ppfAAoN7yumGMFLLO7k2NrTSCtBRvHHsjavIcJ_-QKQ3dBhRjqFYs3ASustXdPjfQAHbjRnfk25tGzug38U4/s1600/20160613-Dylan-Beach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOseo8H1S_fjFxJXbsckwMOaHT3k7ZG57fI5_BypBPwT6aXOiDs9QS7T8ppfAAoN7yumGMFLLO7k2NrTSCtBRvHHsjavIcJ_-QKQ3dBhRjqFYs3ASustXdPjfQAHbjRnfk25tGzug38U4/s320/20160613-Dylan-Beach.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">There was a park at the beach with a seesaw that Dylan, Amalie and Julien wanted to play on, being an odd number Linda helped Dylan out to balance Greg and Magdel’s kids .....</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCa5adj2zB0M7WjAYFHtOHZqP4HsLBmUOG-Ls0mAJezUFUMMiiABpo5YgcfNyW35r8Bd-s8H_weIoaQ6vF9AnstLnE1LM3QnMeJtTaMpgxDz2W6BTSGEJp76lPfbhkdomqcpvknnKG9fc/s1600/20160613-Seesaw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCa5adj2zB0M7WjAYFHtOHZqP4HsLBmUOG-Ls0mAJezUFUMMiiABpo5YgcfNyW35r8Bd-s8H_weIoaQ6vF9AnstLnE1LM3QnMeJtTaMpgxDz2W6BTSGEJp76lPfbhkdomqcpvknnKG9fc/s320/20160613-Seesaw.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The next morning we checked out the Eagle Encounter at Spier which was really cool. We started with the feeding show where several different birds and owls were brought out (a few of the birds landed on audience hands or heads as directed by the trainer) finishing with a Cape Vulture .....</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Later we walked around and looked at all the birds. We finished out at the owls, where there were several you could pet (former pets) as well as </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">an enclosure that you could go into with several owls ..... </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMA8tL-L9gAMMWnEkU7ad4hTPecMMTU8yf24CujFOHYLV0dR_b4UJ88zLboPyI6GWvHHcbqbwXwM3-UgiC5M7_HvmahMK5TuEl9ulYTEF1IZ31u_69ws0HNHG_NBQKjv-jowNkbCG2W2o/s1600/20160614-Dylan-Double-Owl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMA8tL-L9gAMMWnEkU7ad4hTPecMMTU8yf24CujFOHYLV0dR_b4UJ88zLboPyI6GWvHHcbqbwXwM3-UgiC5M7_HvmahMK5TuEl9ulYTEF1IZ31u_69ws0HNHG_NBQKjv-jowNkbCG2W2o/s320/20160614-Dylan-Double-Owl.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">They also had a children’s playground where there were pigs and an Emu that seemed pretty skeptical of Dylan ..... </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-5I3eAAz_u5vcg6vWMmOToTda4PuDETRDeVqnmwpsg3bvk2GGSjnulnj7Ls6krJ6WWAJBJ4jsmQ-uL8xMB7v5wvFAVpRpj1SN2eNu59bkgZcQoyMhhbdN2Nz4zW1dHq5uSxPMfhjQiEg/s1600/20160614-Dylan-Emu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-5I3eAAz_u5vcg6vWMmOToTda4PuDETRDeVqnmwpsg3bvk2GGSjnulnj7Ls6krJ6WWAJBJ4jsmQ-uL8xMB7v5wvFAVpRpj1SN2eNu59bkgZcQoyMhhbdN2Nz4zW1dHq5uSxPMfhjQiEg/s320/20160614-Dylan-Emu.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In the afternoon we headed to the <a href="http://www.cheetah.co.za/" target="_blank">Cheetah Outreach Center</a> where they educate local farmers about better ways to protect their livestock from cheetahs and house several different cats. We had the opportunity to see them feed several of the animals including Jackals and the Cerivets ..... </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7b5tGTGzihJAi_oHZAiT9MJdyz65dEpuZZw9eMhtP2w7Bs4SIHd_hshpFtSH2wlDtaQrz0ywiGDvbOy42GzMPwPbvUb9USYyx2MMtrJ1VPX7R0LNx0_gFueNwqPYZIpuxeE2u9drghQU/s1600/20160614-Serivet-Feeding.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7b5tGTGzihJAi_oHZAiT9MJdyz65dEpuZZw9eMhtP2w7Bs4SIHd_hshpFtSH2wlDtaQrz0ywiGDvbOy42GzMPwPbvUb9USYyx2MMtrJ1VPX7R0LNx0_gFueNwqPYZIpuxeE2u9drghQU/s320/20160614-Serivet-Feeding.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">After looking at the different animals we got to have a Cheetah encounter (they are supper soft and have an interesting purr), heres hoping it was also fed earlier .....</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHywSY1Bn8j5bAFuHNpZERCfKNUtzwt-HEGV0SiwqlYBAx0VFLNK8Psop0xExKWyBlS_6LhEYuWI90uLB_Nc6usw92YM79oTq5iui6VahNl3362Z40b0sK8DhEE3TWdXKasQbMqc4-yEg/s1600/20160614-Cheetah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHywSY1Bn8j5bAFuHNpZERCfKNUtzwt-HEGV0SiwqlYBAx0VFLNK8Psop0xExKWyBlS_6LhEYuWI90uLB_Nc6usw92YM79oTq5iui6VahNl3362Z40b0sK8DhEE3TWdXKasQbMqc4-yEg/s320/20160614-Cheetah.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">On our final day in Cape Town we headed to the <a href="http://www.aquarium.co.za/" target="_blank">Two Oceans Aquarium</a> in the water front area of town. The hope was to see the shark exhibit which had white sharks among others. As you notice I said “had” because that exhibit closed a month before and the replacement, without sharks, was not to open until the day after we were there. Dylan still got a kick out of the penguin exhibit where in addition to the African Penguins they also had Rockhoppers and he got to watch a feeding. After the Aquarium we walked through the shops and had an early dinner at the Den Anker restaurant where the kids occupied themselves they way kids do these days .....</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbzY607wsV8WlGqVVZq9HGsNzKK1Vof-_EQtaQtTiFGnnCJ0-WTSKA4A9Wsn6IivEXhfCc6VHUD2BEhKHNlTZQfM0Vd-Mrcaq5pIdqCl1I7sbR0v2_W9ztI5vnelEjGsDwFur3pV66UW4/s1600/20160615-Kids-DenAnker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbzY607wsV8WlGqVVZq9HGsNzKK1Vof-_EQtaQtTiFGnnCJ0-WTSKA4A9Wsn6IivEXhfCc6VHUD2BEhKHNlTZQfM0Vd-Mrcaq5pIdqCl1I7sbR0v2_W9ztI5vnelEjGsDwFur3pV66UW4/s320/20160615-Kids-DenAnker.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">There were several different sculptures in the waterfront area including this one that Dylan had to get his photo with while holding one of his own .....</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj2NNxzYW8_n9gcf8EsaQ16cGGEpsNBLaGj6kaSlJlKYQZ0gSLYCpQ0LJRva5mKWHXrsV0wXtqZDpFugCHk1nP6JTczXd15qXRS34rvpSCBt7td3INWFx9NVxHsAQdpKYieM6-Tfkt3Gc/s1600/20160615-Dylan-Penguins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj2NNxzYW8_n9gcf8EsaQ16cGGEpsNBLaGj6kaSlJlKYQZ0gSLYCpQ0LJRva5mKWHXrsV0wXtqZDpFugCHk1nP6JTczXd15qXRS34rvpSCBt7td3INWFx9NVxHsAQdpKYieM6-Tfkt3Gc/s320/20160615-Dylan-Penguins.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">and while the weather did not allow up to hike or take the tram to the top of the landmark Table Mountain here is a shot from waterfront looking up at it .....</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc_F25KRlyN23v_mY3q0H7FMJAOHYDxMqZT3hyN8HtmvOWyHzw_89Vjy56OVYN9AFNtm1OQ84EFHp2TapN7fgCGBmmAtdqH7F0vKAxWd-ZUTDaVYRTEU2M-Jra6LG6rAGUvN9_yISFp5M/s1600/20160615-Table-Mountain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc_F25KRlyN23v_mY3q0H7FMJAOHYDxMqZT3hyN8HtmvOWyHzw_89Vjy56OVYN9AFNtm1OQ84EFHp2TapN7fgCGBmmAtdqH7F0vKAxWd-ZUTDaVYRTEU2M-Jra6LG6rAGUvN9_yISFp5M/s320/20160615-Table-Mountain.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The next morning it was off to Rocklands for two weeks of climbing ...</span></div>
LeeABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10896458077152472666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941340369288346974.post-63788162975498483882016-06-23T10:42:00.003-07:002016-06-23T10:43:27.772-07:00June 11th & 12th, 2016 - Last Days in Kruger NP<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">For our last full day we left a little later after not having much success with the early morning game drives and had high hopes for a route that would take us by several watering holes and out to a dam. Things started out well enough spotting several Hippos in a pool and one that was out at the salad bar, the first we’d seen out of the water .....</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnVsl9CuvicnLqi3UyshY2dXWgeRStcAZQQIJKUJKIe5W32_C-SYJRvtrCJjt9093zxAoLK2FahZALfQt8WPmAnyJHUcUQVBJmy3MPFKgbLyiHZ0qMXK_Z2MlgFiaoQo6-H0YAAhg8t_8/s1600/20160611---Hippo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnVsl9CuvicnLqi3UyshY2dXWgeRStcAZQQIJKUJKIe5W32_C-SYJRvtrCJjt9093zxAoLK2FahZALfQt8WPmAnyJHUcUQVBJmy3MPFKgbLyiHZ0qMXK_Z2MlgFiaoQo6-H0YAAhg8t_8/s320/20160611---Hippo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">We then saw the Blue Wildebeest for the first time, though got a much better view of one the next day as we drove out of the park .....</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8P5HC7zdZz0wqvrFdqStveMoJCHUMxb3jC9lcGlvAseeu8_WFC_71JJvzy4MPmOoFKby_91th_ln17_XXEi6h2CF3R6vyHOyrs34oe-QHGHgeMVv6sCbcxj99XNO_F0x0p59CY1IUkbc/s1600/20160612-Blue-Wildebeast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8P5HC7zdZz0wqvrFdqStveMoJCHUMxb3jC9lcGlvAseeu8_WFC_71JJvzy4MPmOoFKby_91th_ln17_XXEi6h2CF3R6vyHOyrs34oe-QHGHgeMVv6sCbcxj99XNO_F0x0p59CY1IUkbc/s320/20160612-Blue-Wildebeast.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">At one of the watering holes we came upon a group of Impala and a pair of Waterbucks that were nuzzling .....</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHPZSdcQHkGh9lOA1or-3ttOzkaW9LYMeerauYLs6t2pv3uQ2ACxBTodt0HYg1rDY_CohjkEnOnNfDaKo20GpjY2EmbQne4TreG0z9ZukzSby7PAKtKLBVQYmDCIsqh6W0ovJKWaJn4cI/s1600/20160611-Waterbuck-Couple.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHPZSdcQHkGh9lOA1or-3ttOzkaW9LYMeerauYLs6t2pv3uQ2ACxBTodt0HYg1rDY_CohjkEnOnNfDaKo20GpjY2EmbQne4TreG0z9ZukzSby7PAKtKLBVQYmDCIsqh6W0ovJKWaJn4cI/s320/20160611-Waterbuck-Couple.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We also saw an eagle of some sort (probably a Martial Eagle) chowing some carrion in a tree. This was probably about where the dam was, but with no water in it we did not notice it and kept driving. By the time we realized we had missed the dam turning back would have lead to a really long out and back drive through terrain that we already knew had no water so we continued on to make a large loop, in hind site this was probably a mistake because of what we would find out happened just outside our guest house later. We did however get to see some interesting things. Zebra for just the second time, they are flighty creatures and difficult to shoot as they run from the slightest sound. We also saw Lilac Breasted Roller which is a beautiful little bird .....</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">and a horn that had been lost by an Impala probably ..... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Once we were off the dirt we stopped to get a bite at snack stop and shortly after came across a pair of Warthogs making sure the grass on the roads shoulders was kept nice and short .....</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">On the drive back to Skukuza we passed through another herd of Buffalo including this pair with the one ominously licking his lips at the sight of our Rav4 .....</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyb3_vBcT4O-2iHsA8Qx-SCeKYr5MQDzCPFBwn9pMY13_-sAaFITDU3FoFsz40Cg_OW2H-wv-uQ-juuoQA4znMUSBvoyTxwW6cZnfpOY1p9UKoE_g3OHMLLKxMlK_x2I2P8ljDwKDPJMk/s1600/20160611---Water-Buffalo---Licking.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyb3_vBcT4O-2iHsA8Qx-SCeKYr5MQDzCPFBwn9pMY13_-sAaFITDU3FoFsz40Cg_OW2H-wv-uQ-juuoQA4znMUSBvoyTxwW6cZnfpOY1p9UKoE_g3OHMLLKxMlK_x2I2P8ljDwKDPJMk/s320/20160611---Water-Buffalo---Licking.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">We then had to pass through the same point where we’d seen the Hippos in the morning, they were still there, but so was this Kudu, right off the road (I probably could have touched him with my hand still on the car if I’d opened the door and cared to get out, big no, no) .....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">On our way into Skukuza we also saw these Marabou Storks up in a tree, goofy looking birds and not what you’d expect to see in the tree tops .....</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Greg and Magdel had taken the kids out for an early drive along the Sabie River then returned to the guest house about 1-2pm to find a herd of buffalo right outside the fence that were then chased off by a herd of elephants. That evening another group of buffalo rolled up to spend the night not 10 meters from our yard fence, cool.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The next morning, after the buffalo had left in the early hours we took the requisite groups shoot of the two families ..... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">On the drive out of the park we finally made our way to Transport (a watering hole that I’d wanted to get to since the first day after hearing about a lion kill in the open there). On the drive in, off the main paved road we saw the above Blue Wildebeest as well as Giraffe and Impala. Once at the watering hole we finally got an opportunity to see Zebra standing still drinking alongside a Rhino and a lone Impala .....</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRb_8-2NaGpob4nsnNY3x_sttePiD8rzV9nVXkRdTGZJlPIZzs8-wDrLaxudsBflU8v19GtiLkADvgcYRIMMPSijfHioRv6jmTygbOKErJ1J4QmvEADfRNrbXW-by3Vh8kP1NK0LDoJVA/s1600/20160612-Watering-Hole-ZebraRhinoImpala.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRb_8-2NaGpob4nsnNY3x_sttePiD8rzV9nVXkRdTGZJlPIZzs8-wDrLaxudsBflU8v19GtiLkADvgcYRIMMPSijfHioRv6jmTygbOKErJ1J4QmvEADfRNrbXW-by3Vh8kP1NK0LDoJVA/s320/20160612-Watering-Hole-ZebraRhinoImpala.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We also got to finally see, after watching them hunt but not being able to see the water, an African Fish Eagle make a catch ..... </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsWtbImffI9A0plsB5RbI9rY8k9Wj5y2dwZgrx4TyYytKNHYKLCKuDq_yrEUX9Mc2ajtrSBvrgqKxubYdQyy_MF-7Upi8lc_t0IeGGTVIxDafGyRceEDBDy35Mq6pm-r5mAwXjIfsG5xQ/s1600/20160612-Fish-Eagle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsWtbImffI9A0plsB5RbI9rY8k9Wj5y2dwZgrx4TyYytKNHYKLCKuDq_yrEUX9Mc2ajtrSBvrgqKxubYdQyy_MF-7Upi8lc_t0IeGGTVIxDafGyRceEDBDy35Mq6pm-r5mAwXjIfsG5xQ/s320/20160612-Fish-Eagle.jpg" width="223" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">There was certainly something else in the area based on the behavior of the animals, the Zebra kept a couple of lookouts and there were a pair of Impala that approached to within 10 meters of the water and spent about 10 minutes fidgeting and eventually left without taking a drink. However, with our flight that afternoon and a 4+ hour drive to Johannesburg to get there we had to leave without finding out what was making the prey so nervous. So we leave Kruger NP having seen 4 of the big 5 (Rhino, Elephant, Buffalo, Leopard) and an ear (of a Lion) flipping as it slept behind a low bush.</span></div>
LeeABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10896458077152472666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941340369288346974.post-72547256403264715092016-06-15T11:17:00.000-07:002016-06-15T11:17:00.056-07:00June 10th, 2016 Full Day of Game Drives<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We headed out in the morning to an early drive at 6am, when the rest camp gates first open with high hopes of finishing out the Big 5 sightings (Elephant, Rhino, Buffalo that we’d seen and Leopard and Lion that we’d not). We sadly came up empty during the day on the big ones, however we did see a handful of different things that were quite cool to see/watch. The sunrise was quite nice this is becoming a theme .....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Early in the morning we saw a Impala carcass hanging from a tree that an eagle or falcon was going to works on, which means a Leopard had been in the area .....</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Later we saw a Crocodile, much closer than we had before .....</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">As well as several interesting birds such as this little guy that shows, in Africa everyone is a hunter .....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">a very pretty Kingfisher (though these guys are pretty small even though the name makes them sound big) .....</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We stopped as a snack shop by the Sabie River to grab a bite and let the kids stretch their legs, naturally they seemed most interested in what Dylan was drawing in his journal .....</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">After our stop, we followed the Sabie River back to our rest camp and got to catch a pair of African Fish Eagles hunting, one came up with a fish while the other was unsuccessful while we were there, the one on the stump has a fish under foot while the other is still on the hunt over the river .....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Naturally we also saw several of what is now becoming “normal” animals such as Impala, Kudu, Giraffe, Baboons, etc. As well as is young pair of male Impala play fighting .....</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi36NXboktZqDw_J5aLvkvllBv9uMnTqsQZgGDaApNd1dTl2i_tFuJlrulzo5cuwusudlqlHjMQFUxXxdNKT6QtjH5q2oa_RogQiGaDex6WDM2w_j9RcJNOoRusIJdZB8f0R08za8aCX24/s1600/20160610---Impala-Fighting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi36NXboktZqDw_J5aLvkvllBv9uMnTqsQZgGDaApNd1dTl2i_tFuJlrulzo5cuwusudlqlHjMQFUxXxdNKT6QtjH5q2oa_RogQiGaDex6WDM2w_j9RcJNOoRusIJdZB8f0R08za8aCX24/s320/20160610---Impala-Fighting.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">After our morning drive we got lunch at the camp restaurant where I tried the Springbok shank which was quite tasty and the size of a turkey leg. In the evening we went out again on a sunset drive meaning that we did not need to be back in the gate by 5:30pm and instead stayed out to look for game at night and by spotlight. Of course the sunset was quite spectacular (as I said, becoming a theme) .....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">And we were lucky enough to see a Leopard on the hunt, chasing a bush hare, though it was too dark to get a photo. We also saw a herd of Rhino (about 12-15) at a watering hole. When we got back it was Braai time, while the ladies sat and drank wine, Greg was the cook as usual while I took photos of them .....</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">the stars and the moon set over Skakuza rest camp .....</span></div>
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<br />LeeABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10896458077152472666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941340369288346974.post-48056219869285859212016-06-12T13:44:00.000-07:002016-06-12T13:45:08.921-07:00June 9th, 2016 Moving Camp to Skukuza<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">We packed up early this morning and were on the road from Berg-en-Dal to Skukuza. We followed the S114 pretty much the whole way. At the start of the drive we saw a giraffe across a shallow valley against a hillside which was the first we’d seen so stopped and took several shots .....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">naturally about 100 meters later we got up close and personal with another .....</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">and this was all before we even hit the dirt road.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">New animals we saw today were the Kudu .....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">a Hyena with cubs .....</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">a herd of elephants with calves ..... </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">and a Buchell’s Glossy Starling .....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">We arrived at Skukuza Rest Camp early and hung by the cafe until our “room” was ready. Though room is not really the right word, we are sharing the Nyathi Guest House with the Crum’s (Greg, Magdel and their kids Ameli 7 and Julien 5). Considering where we are the guest house is plush. Finally, the moon set over the main village was very orange and spectacular …..</span><br />
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<br />LeeABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10896458077152472666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941340369288346974.post-71459183264414470092016-06-11T10:26:00.000-07:002016-06-12T13:44:58.788-07:00June 8th, 2016 First Full Day in Kruger NP<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We got a late start in the morning, probably after 10, and headed out on a game drive with grand plans to cover some 60km on dirt to get to some Hippo pools then loop back through town to do some grocery shopping. Well, it did not go as planned and we ended up making a much smaller loop on dirt of about 33km which still took over 3 hours then headed into town. Meaning it is a good idea to plan on averaging about 10km per hour including your stops to view and photograph the animals.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Even with the late start we saw loads of animals. Impala, which you really can’t avoid seeing as they are the most populous animal in the park, elephants, warthogs, baboons, buffalo herd, zebras, and african fish eagle and a redbilled hornbill. We also several rhinos again. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">African Fish Eagle</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Buffalo Herd</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Redbilled Hornbill</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Elephant and Rhinos</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Rhino Family on the Move</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Zebra Traffic Jam</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It is amazing how your definition of what constitutes a good photo opportunity changes. We had up-close encounters with elephants, impala, buffalo, warthogs and zebras with the smaller guys feeling a bit skittish wether that was the animal or yourself.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8BWTfMqiSOP73xcqSvNtwnAUy1V2lICVBJsR6nsl33SNdLzVlrZXuneQxHz2GAJgA3-IobxNJ452s5w2Y593dLtjDBS4tzlV2kl5WdJZ1_eawzXd8M10ImrQAXLE5xTofoLxmr7hZO-M/s1600/20160608---Buffalo---Looking-at-You.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8BWTfMqiSOP73xcqSvNtwnAUy1V2lICVBJsR6nsl33SNdLzVlrZXuneQxHz2GAJgA3-IobxNJ452s5w2Y593dLtjDBS4tzlV2kl5WdJZ1_eawzXd8M10ImrQAXLE5xTofoLxmr7hZO-M/s320/20160608---Buffalo---Looking-at-You.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Elephant Close-Up</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRzpPVIvul9B9qGDcn4SRJzNEnSCzgpCWyQ09WKsBpU6nimo9HNH3ChLZ5UMbG4aE3qaEMiQl7-xMOkxKg6S3-evjBOIH29U8g3Rg9w3UifRvnbsS2KlL46_vRzX1vaf6Vy8vpP7seKQU/s1600/20160608---Elephant-Eye.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRzpPVIvul9B9qGDcn4SRJzNEnSCzgpCWyQ09WKsBpU6nimo9HNH3ChLZ5UMbG4aE3qaEMiQl7-xMOkxKg6S3-evjBOIH29U8g3Rg9w3UifRvnbsS2KlL46_vRzX1vaf6Vy8vpP7seKQU/s320/20160608---Elephant-Eye.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica";"><span style="font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">We also saw what was supposedly the flipping ear of a lion as it rested in the shade of a bush, though I’m not counting it. So we are still at 3 of the Big 5, being Elephant, </span><span style="font-size: 12px;">Rhinoceros</span><span style="font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">, Buffalo, Lion and Leopard.</span></span>LeeABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10896458077152472666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941340369288346974.post-32122034878949234542016-06-08T10:07:00.001-07:002016-06-12T13:44:45.212-07:00June 7, 2016 - Driving into Kruger NP<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">In the morning after breakfast I walked back to the airport to pick up the rental car and promptly got headed in the wrong direction as I followed the instructions I was given at the rental desk to get back to the hotel. After a brief episode of cursing myself out I reoriented and made it back to the hotel. Greg and Magdel showed up shortly after and we got on the road towards Kruger.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Driving on the left side of the road is not much of an issue when you are following someone or are in traffic since other vehicles tend to keep you going in the right place so I was glad to just be following, I always worry that n my own I’m going to make a right turn and end up on the right side instead of the left. Driving is SA can be pretty aggressive, you are supposed to use the shoulder as an extra lane to get out of the way of faster traffic if there is only one lane in your direction of travel. In addition, there are many times where vehicles on the road are not even pretending to go the speed limit which leads to a very start stop type of driving experience at times. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";"><span style="font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Lots of </span><span style="font-size: 12px;">different</span><span style="font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> plants and some pretty cool flowers out here .....</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Xczg0NieZ4hRE1ypBLgxQ1Z60Jvr00m1x0ajUVTNZW-qdBK13NUyt-msECEvpIIcCQ4P9DJx1MM9hcJpcPKFU2nQNMETZvbAfGmYIawcYpC_mDwG5fjI_PP8Ttbr_bt699G7U0PsDao/s1600/20160607---Star-Flower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Xczg0NieZ4hRE1ypBLgxQ1Z60Jvr00m1x0ajUVTNZW-qdBK13NUyt-msECEvpIIcCQ4P9DJx1MM9hcJpcPKFU2nQNMETZvbAfGmYIawcYpC_mDwG5fjI_PP8Ttbr_bt699G7U0PsDao/s320/20160607---Star-Flower.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We made the one of the main park gate only about 20-30 minutes before it closed after 4.5 hours on the road, right at sunset and got checked in. We began our journey into the park not realizing that the gates to the camps also closed at the same time as the main park gates, not that that really makes any sense in that you may still need to travel up to 100km to get to your camp. The sunset was incredible ......</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbMBQHCp9XP97TM-PwkjZJV6evzBGzzc8VMbbQA-vYU5EhjgnQ32CxyKpFkmKWndRxWInX5Sg17hufJuMS6AnFk8C8Y2oqlCiQ2Qb8oxEftkk22szec6FBbjgMi1TVL8440PorrwF9YyY/s1600/20160607---Sunset.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbMBQHCp9XP97TM-PwkjZJV6evzBGzzc8VMbbQA-vYU5EhjgnQ32CxyKpFkmKWndRxWInX5Sg17hufJuMS6AnFk8C8Y2oqlCiQ2Qb8oxEftkk22szec6FBbjgMi1TVL8440PorrwF9YyY/s320/20160607---Sunset.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">though likely due to air pollution. We stopped several times on the drive in to view the animals that we could see. There was a large pack of Elephants .....</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD_4YNu4uiRBZZWDKpg_DSFUYmCa86P7TkzQM7xrAOu8vBnZcFuAM9j_FDsHyYYo67sbBPzdUQavhxV3s2CaLb9W41mnMCIE9YzJNLZcayXkks23ZhrwwgfPCe2XI9jq20BGmZB3BqLao/s1600/20160607---Elephant-Young-Bull.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD_4YNu4uiRBZZWDKpg_DSFUYmCa86P7TkzQM7xrAOu8vBnZcFuAM9j_FDsHyYYo67sbBPzdUQavhxV3s2CaLb9W41mnMCIE9YzJNLZcayXkks23ZhrwwgfPCe2XI9jq20BGmZB3BqLao/s320/20160607---Elephant-Young-Bull.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">and we saw a Rhino which Magdel (who grew up in SA and has since moved back to work for several year before returning to the US and Intel) claims to have only seen once in her 30+ visits to the park .....</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3g8VeENEVjfNKf2hGnesU7OJzEoRrmsV59zB4wy2K_oK6Eg_wuy5gqvVbzaRWpLAeOpdc7FS7u44d_ik4s01OzrSONFJgFg1PkavSaiDkAueTU-g4VcmItQRQ__JoyFh0vhhJYq4i_k0/s1600/20160607---Rhino.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3g8VeENEVjfNKf2hGnesU7OJzEoRrmsV59zB4wy2K_oK6Eg_wuy5gqvVbzaRWpLAeOpdc7FS7u44d_ik4s01OzrSONFJgFg1PkavSaiDkAueTU-g4VcmItQRQ__JoyFh0vhhJYq4i_k0/s320/20160607---Rhino.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">We eventually made it to the camp gate and were scolded by the ranger on duty for being late. We finished the day with a nice BBQ or Braai, of which Greg s the master in our camp (though he can't stay still enough for the 1" exposure) .....</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEAoXMxn7Sm6iYksOc288t-D0rEnRTjo7nUBR2M49EvNP0lHe8TEh7l5WZhVrUDRUAEgU3-BGL6HWbvxP5iJ6NjSkYVJ66X2SQtodTNIZP3lXvFgyY4QcgRgOuych9XQqVJG6j6JVmugc/s1600/20160607---Braai-Master-Greg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEAoXMxn7Sm6iYksOc288t-D0rEnRTjo7nUBR2M49EvNP0lHe8TEh7l5WZhVrUDRUAEgU3-BGL6HWbvxP5iJ6NjSkYVJ66X2SQtodTNIZP3lXvFgyY4QcgRgOuych9XQqVJG6j6JVmugc/s320/20160607---Braai-Master-Greg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />LeeABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10896458077152472666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941340369288346974.post-39614481752291574492016-06-08T09:57:00.002-07:002016-06-08T10:09:05.378-07:00June 4, 2016 through June 6, 2016 - Traveling to Johannesburg, SA<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Leaving Albuquerque at 6:20 pm on a Saturday, the Sunport was a breeze, not a single person in line at check-in or security. Of course there was the issue with the gate attendant not really knowing how to confirm in the system that we had all the required documents so it would print out our boarding passes. Once that was cleared we were on our way.....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica";"><span style="font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Our biggest concern for the trip out was our 1 hour layover in Dallas that was going to require changing terminals from domestic to international. In addition, the flight to Dallas was on a small commuter plane and they had us gate check a couple of our carry-ons even though the flight was essentially empty. In reality, all of our transfers went pretty smoothly and the trip was uneventful, though strange to take 2 overnight flights in a row, leaving Dallas at 10pm and leaving London at 7pm. Our flight out of London was on one of the newer Airbus A-380's, a huge double level plane (not like a 747 which is only double level </span><span style="font-size: 12px;">in the</span><span style="font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;"> front half), so big that the wings bow down ward when not in flight .....</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaaQrvKte4GZ_mHi84lTfvZqGBEzgrpavjS8Ey-jfhQzEURuh9qLpBlslCXImbERZJJs8i5d6rdnnJ_2dPfpaf2ZCdD0AjLNWLOlJsVuJDaMbcUZi1CXT-WsNuZzgbDZVBBCswJDXq4eQ/s1600/_DSC0860.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaaQrvKte4GZ_mHi84lTfvZqGBEzgrpavjS8Ey-jfhQzEURuh9qLpBlslCXImbERZJJs8i5d6rdnnJ_2dPfpaf2ZCdD0AjLNWLOlJsVuJDaMbcUZi1CXT-WsNuZzgbDZVBBCswJDXq4eQ/s320/_DSC0860.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Once we arrived in Johannesburg at 7am on the 7th, the goal was to avoid sleeping until that evening. I made it to the hotel and passed out face first on the bed for an hour or 2, I have no idea. Once up again we walked back to the airport to grab a late lunch.....</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip3Dw-MVTQh-TB4SWrwCwhgS1c2Pp2Tu5BrCn3MOLaBLVidUuGPfaMjmwjttwY6QDFmU2pkyY-C-wgyKkWZjBIZgiF72A4w7qiap6DfZxMrfM202k2dv_bRTrhRaWp3VCO9aSoiITo5iQ/s1600/20160606---JNB-Airport-Foodie-Dylan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip3Dw-MVTQh-TB4SWrwCwhgS1c2Pp2Tu5BrCn3MOLaBLVidUuGPfaMjmwjttwY6QDFmU2pkyY-C-wgyKkWZjBIZgiF72A4w7qiap6DfZxMrfM202k2dv_bRTrhRaWp3VCO9aSoiITo5iQ/s320/20160606---JNB-Airport-Foodie-Dylan.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">and took the GuaTrain into Sandton to walk around for a bit .....</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcMcn-BuxVvS3FMR-Bpr6zxaCH3oskoCirTBBNiDWfNFRbEuCvKiwczgQrQfmkZ8GtdyFHQDOgdMQ7RtcI_xYV5GJ6b8DcGo1SapC-jVbuQ4yHXqsVURAR2QSS2pYgvXZirgpZKaiOZfo/s1600/20160606---GuaTrain-Station.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcMcn-BuxVvS3FMR-Bpr6zxaCH3oskoCirTBBNiDWfNFRbEuCvKiwczgQrQfmkZ8GtdyFHQDOgdMQ7RtcI_xYV5GJ6b8DcGo1SapC-jVbuQ4yHXqsVURAR2QSS2pYgvXZirgpZKaiOZfo/s320/20160606---GuaTrain-Station.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px;">One of the first things I noticed when we got off was someone walking into the station with a Krispy Kream donut bag and just outside the station entrance there it was green sign and all, alas I did not get one.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We headed to Mandel Square at the recommendation of Greg (who being an engineer, the last project he worked on in SA before they moved back to the US was the GuaTrain system) and Magdel. Mandela Square is not nearly as cool or cultural as it sounds, basically a high end shopping center, but there was a cool statue of the man .....</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0f3cDx9RTRCMfnFJ0DKhpcD5TQUKl9IDyitecXggiCzFLEaECUDL8otjkGk91gRg8UD7h5vRkUvNy00nHdaG4rX2g1yx7neT0yUqPRqW4z4gHRCnWQ00Ix6IgWxQUk964HQs_rj8XKOc/s1600/20160606---Mandela-Square-Statue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0f3cDx9RTRCMfnFJ0DKhpcD5TQUKl9IDyitecXggiCzFLEaECUDL8otjkGk91gRg8UD7h5vRkUvNy00nHdaG4rX2g1yx7neT0yUqPRqW4z4gHRCnWQ00Ix6IgWxQUk964HQs_rj8XKOc/s320/20160606---Mandela-Square-Statue.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">Though perhaps they are trying to make a statement with the locations of their restaurants ..... notice the one in the front in relation to the next one behind it .....</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiGoR7ZjtCB89RrfgZQaHMI7YQLCkTKOpkVN4dqKB-Pbt_IQ3Y4US8lkB32N8iFHFNXSoIMcWj8TKLINqbykXEcA8sxJr5MlJ5rxBes1WnBIJN4dKUJrq-qwlQI9HcbHvFTim-P9c95NY/s1600/20160606---The-Big-Mouth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiGoR7ZjtCB89RrfgZQaHMI7YQLCkTKOpkVN4dqKB-Pbt_IQ3Y4US8lkB32N8iFHFNXSoIMcWj8TKLINqbykXEcA8sxJr5MlJ5rxBes1WnBIJN4dKUJrq-qwlQI9HcbHvFTim-P9c95NY/s320/20160606---The-Big-Mouth.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 0px;">After that we all crashed out for the night looking forward to heading into Kruger National Park the next day.</span>LeeABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10896458077152472666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941340369288346974.post-18697823887510124442016-06-04T09:58:00.002-07:002016-06-04T09:59:08.621-07:003 Years Off - I'm a Slacker<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
At the beginning of 2013, with Dylan now in school 5 days a week, I headed back to school myself. I was not doing anything with my math degree but got talked into accounting. So I headed to CNM and went through their CPA prep program, basically a series of classes that fulfill the requirements in NM to sit for the exams. I had intended to complete the program before looking for a job but ended up getting hired by a small local firm that fall, Matts & Co. Accounting Professionals, LLC (only 5 people in the office), through a referral from a classmate. Anyway, I finished the program while working my first tax season and took the 4 exams between the end of August 2014 and January 2015 (4 total), and received my license from the state on April 15th, 2015. In the meantime, Matts & Co. merged with <a href="http://www.atkinsoncpa.com/" target="_blank">Atkinson & Co., Ltd.</a>, a large local firm of 50+. So I'm now finishing up my 3rd year in public accounting which has of course taken time away from many of the things I used to do, such as maintaining this blog and cycling, climbing etc.</div>
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Anyway, Dylan has changed and grown quite a bit in the interim. He has picked up and given up soccer and guitar after a couple of years doing each. He is going to the <a href="http://nmis.org/ee/" target="_blank">NM International School</a>, a NM state charter that is spanish immersion and based on the <a href="http://www.ibo.org/globalassets/digital-tookit/brochures/what-is-an-ib-education-en.pdf" target="_blank">International Baccalaureate</a> program. He currently is mostly focused on learning to swim, being water safe is important to both Linda and I. I don't really care if he ends up being a good swimmer so long as he can keep himself afloat and get where he needs to if he was to fall in with his clothes on. As well as violin, which he has twice a week at NMIS as well as once a week on his own with the same instructor.</div>
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While climbing has definitely taken a back seat for a few years, Linda was eligible for her 3rd sabbatical with Intel in August 2015, however with a child in school we were unable to go anywhere until this summer, not to mention I'm not allowed to take time off during tax and tax extension seasons. We have been wanting to go to South Africa to check out Rocklands for years and with some friends that are from there and will be headed to many of the same areas we want to go to this summer seemed like a perfect opportunity. We have been working on the plans for at least 10 months and even then we were not able to reserve our first choice lodging at Rocklands.</div>
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With a climbing trip on the horizon it was time to get back into climbing shape. So, with what spare time we had through tax season, Linda and I put in many nights at the climbing gym and trying mostly unsuccessfully to climb outside. We did however make it out to El Rito for a day in May. With Dylan getting a little into climbing these days and a new hammock, Linda and I were able to get more climbing in than we've been able to recently. Below are a couple of photos of Dylan on his first completed outdoor routes, chilling in the hammock and a sunset. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjG7ZSnsq2-bbVV4S5L5yhWVd-J1EVTGqk9n9sOJdvEedTGxyk1Uk4SxffkaiDKoUv5x8SOqKVOC_B_GUQrHGES9rJbHOU9Gf6Y2xa39RjouNYFbWj7RtpdDEQxTSaRMqXyMdLt_T-ehk/s1600/20160521-El-Rito_Dylan-climbing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjG7ZSnsq2-bbVV4S5L5yhWVd-J1EVTGqk9n9sOJdvEedTGxyk1Uk4SxffkaiDKoUv5x8SOqKVOC_B_GUQrHGES9rJbHOU9Gf6Y2xa39RjouNYFbWj7RtpdDEQxTSaRMqXyMdLt_T-ehk/s320/20160521-El-Rito_Dylan-climbing.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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Focused on getting to the top, possibly the offer of <a href="http://www.rebeldonut.com/" target="_blank">Rebel Donuts</a> had something to do with Dylan's enthusiasm on this day.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-LHtRAAVQZf4tAGEBjgzp0Pt9S_Wh4aVe6ib-2XblIt74EvmYlKkruY8jRHe7wMeYeM-m-mcRFLzQVZZil8_TkTJw1BCLVihz7x1Ooi_tSAh1X8lRY8RsFlK8R2jLxZLf6-DwjrgRFfE/s1600/20160521-El-Rito_Dylan-near-top.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-LHtRAAVQZf4tAGEBjgzp0Pt9S_Wh4aVe6ib-2XblIt74EvmYlKkruY8jRHe7wMeYeM-m-mcRFLzQVZZil8_TkTJw1BCLVihz7x1Ooi_tSAh1X8lRY8RsFlK8R2jLxZLf6-DwjrgRFfE/s320/20160521-El-Rito_Dylan-near-top.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Linda is the grey looking spot below</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib9b8Q0LNpUqFS46B1D-1vhFRmiOV_4XuSaohr3Z_3ExwOw0iK2DrAd40E3Fy3-0R5CJHnsactXybhNXXLp4D8ytuo2ronYaL53IL4WvQEldQBmQ44YAKQDnL9Ni9wLGzqmVCoO2vKiSY/s1600/20160521-El-Rito_Dylan-hammock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib9b8Q0LNpUqFS46B1D-1vhFRmiOV_4XuSaohr3Z_3ExwOw0iK2DrAd40E3Fy3-0R5CJHnsactXybhNXXLp4D8ytuo2ronYaL53IL4WvQEldQBmQ44YAKQDnL9Ni9wLGzqmVCoO2vKiSY/s320/20160521-El-Rito_Dylan-hammock.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Getting serious about and apple</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEEjFgQDiKaaInsw3mPhx4A19L-ZlJmgXxDyKWqwZaVdQ_0V7NvKtOp_Mt_YMtgwJSMCCbyMsw-oED0RMioB9XeonYAnSnGDwv_sE00sqYXrhkFXedw3EG5LzMdYpTvFKJRb9O3AM40Ws/s1600/20160521-El-Rito_Sunset.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEEjFgQDiKaaInsw3mPhx4A19L-ZlJmgXxDyKWqwZaVdQ_0V7NvKtOp_Mt_YMtgwJSMCCbyMsw-oED0RMioB9XeonYAnSnGDwv_sE00sqYXrhkFXedw3EG5LzMdYpTvFKJRb9O3AM40Ws/s320/20160521-El-Rito_Sunset.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Pretty colors</div>
LeeABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10896458077152472666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941340369288346974.post-18443694024252341602013-03-07T14:28:00.001-08:002013-03-07T14:28:38.223-08:00Last Day at Disney, New Years Eve<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
We spent the last day at Disney CA Adventures. Dylan seemed to like this better than Disneyland since it brought movies he had watched to life. Here he is at Casa Della tire shop,</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6ejcqP73448NVbEtYq23WYlAykivGbjDX0SciIlUtM8ar-z5wvVRadPTuCwO7VlmFsFBBw0P87RBmSxxM8E6L2AiKAseTixbeJfV-DqRfAVYZFLjUjhM2fK2dvkD2k6FvRGxp2OC5QBk/s1600/IMG_1544001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6ejcqP73448NVbEtYq23WYlAykivGbjDX0SciIlUtM8ar-z5wvVRadPTuCwO7VlmFsFBBw0P87RBmSxxM8E6L2AiKAseTixbeJfV-DqRfAVYZFLjUjhM2fK2dvkD2k6FvRGxp2OC5QBk/s320/IMG_1544001.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Hanging with Flick</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhttP9Y9MyXuTNj8ahPQTq0N4gwMGDCnS2JqnaHJmOT6Q13N1NsH_onmaYsKNgyH7u9QRNGlO-HGIWOQp_BNgCdqQH-89a5-Zb4lkfpHZao_taizBIcY2_IjMSaP6zwssaz1qlJg0yhcJY/s1600/IMG_1546002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhttP9Y9MyXuTNj8ahPQTq0N4gwMGDCnS2JqnaHJmOT6Q13N1NsH_onmaYsKNgyH7u9QRNGlO-HGIWOQp_BNgCdqQH-89a5-Zb4lkfpHZao_taizBIcY2_IjMSaP6zwssaz1qlJg0yhcJY/s320/IMG_1546002.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Linda and Dylan on the big spinning swing, I hate these rides as they make me motion sick, though roller coasters do not, weird.</div>
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Watching the parade as Sully goes by,</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5f6K3dCqeipD1D28EJBdoQvOAwxNpyQekIYtNz9gVOAzDgaVfXq_G4hFzTwTFDkxT5FsFIYPhDJlDVPzly13CxiTpFFkiTQS6IyWTLzbEkbq0ElZg5pH9eu73JhXUe7AqAN8eJyRdVks/s1600/IMG_1568004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5f6K3dCqeipD1D28EJBdoQvOAwxNpyQekIYtNz9gVOAzDgaVfXq_G4hFzTwTFDkxT5FsFIYPhDJlDVPzly13CxiTpFFkiTQS6IyWTLzbEkbq0ElZg5pH9eu73JhXUe7AqAN8eJyRdVks/s320/IMG_1568004.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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And the Incredibles,</div>
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Dylan and Linda watching to see what is next,</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpsxUfF1UzDuK6HHEjeYpH2qg8vVvdqTM10NrrmdJmH8Tbd1_id4i31A2zmteWlOyMD6g7dqX8Pt9Any1ri7N5p62VtTQYMav167bJSJ7kAnoIZ1PMVu_HhkslEZ4-Fu6aEbwTC2pOdeA/s1600/IMG_1576006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpsxUfF1UzDuK6HHEjeYpH2qg8vVvdqTM10NrrmdJmH8Tbd1_id4i31A2zmteWlOyMD6g7dqX8Pt9Any1ri7N5p62VtTQYMav167bJSJ7kAnoIZ1PMVu_HhkslEZ4-Fu6aEbwTC2pOdeA/s320/IMG_1576006.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Toy Story</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb2_4yc95ch1Ew67b-d4bB-grx4I-i-90rbnrt0VnhXhiiYCrY0R7Qkj0UJsEtCyjY6y0m8OLUPaSHT6NSCAld1EiiJCyIiZDMQuPjqCO8UivFpWRAGmpr62QWPPoH5grCvnaCIIOMLyM/s1600/IMG_1586007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb2_4yc95ch1Ew67b-d4bB-grx4I-i-90rbnrt0VnhXhiiYCrY0R7Qkj0UJsEtCyjY6y0m8OLUPaSHT6NSCAld1EiiJCyIiZDMQuPjqCO8UivFpWRAGmpr62QWPPoH5grCvnaCIIOMLyM/s320/IMG_1586007.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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We got dinner at the buffet at the Paradise Pier, a Disney Hotel, so naturally the characters came through for a meet and greet. Minny</div>
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Mickey</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSnD41GCaAua75SwfbCNwgH_Jj7qBMGLkiriNbBDFvHiGinLQ3vx8K7bZ4mrNTKOkHKad_dJfLoqprriKWiK3iOsClortX9qHCNy8C5vJXdI0FsGsoYnOwFrKfHPyLT1qH7-uSu9Hem4s/s1600/IMG_1594009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSnD41GCaAua75SwfbCNwgH_Jj7qBMGLkiriNbBDFvHiGinLQ3vx8K7bZ4mrNTKOkHKad_dJfLoqprriKWiK3iOsClortX9qHCNy8C5vJXdI0FsGsoYnOwFrKfHPyLT1qH7-uSu9Hem4s/s320/IMG_1594009.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Daisy</div>
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Goofey</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVfqkdVd9FZfwgf-C-oaPo6EzzS5UpDxxZm8UKQ0f7622WZXNPloYFdcFJ5ThEnFsmBGtgloHM183qMSi1vVqOtDf-kL8a2vYZe18JzxjM_NfSQu1xRMcuAQZFXf8nvuVkhX1wlhnA9ag/s1600/IMG_1607011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVfqkdVd9FZfwgf-C-oaPo6EzzS5UpDxxZm8UKQ0f7622WZXNPloYFdcFJ5ThEnFsmBGtgloHM183qMSi1vVqOtDf-kL8a2vYZe18JzxjM_NfSQu1xRMcuAQZFXf8nvuVkhX1wlhnA9ag/s320/IMG_1607011.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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An upside down shot of Kailee, who chose to ride with Linda and I, and Dylan with my parents</div>
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Being New Years Eve, celebratory hats were passed out,</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWifcZ0pydm3JdNsxgJuq9WfyeGnwjEsETmyquFg0jf3zIwQjz7OmHtHr2XQegjsOl8XBm5g1Z0Ec3M34LgG1u1t1oxZVG49r7z8BF5jZytcl9adK522XjHkFF3-hnlNVBP3H5HJs-D6A/s1600/IMG_1623013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWifcZ0pydm3JdNsxgJuq9WfyeGnwjEsETmyquFg0jf3zIwQjz7OmHtHr2XQegjsOl8XBm5g1Z0Ec3M34LgG1u1t1oxZVG49r7z8BF5jZytcl9adK522XjHkFF3-hnlNVBP3H5HJs-D6A/s320/IMG_1623013.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I found a Mike Wazowski hat that then Dylan wanted and Linda wanted to see us matching so I went back and got him one as well, needless to say he was pretty psyched.</div>
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A very tired little one on the walk back to the hotel.</div>
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<br />LeeABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10896458077152472666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941340369288346974.post-56638107456405999782013-01-30T20:52:00.000-08:002013-01-30T20:52:04.069-08:00Disneyland Day 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Day 2 at Disneyland started with a shorter walk to "Downtown" Disney and a ride on the monorail,</div>
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After going on a Finding Nemo submarine ride Dylan got picked to participate in a Padowan training "class" to learn the Jedi arts.</div>
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At some point one of the children up on stage had a breakdown and Dylan was move up, front and center,</div>
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After they were done with some training they each had to face off against Darth Vader, this is pretty hilarious as Dylan's lightsaber fails,</div>
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Next we headed for lunch in Mickey's Toontown where there are a bunch of playground like areas for the kids, </div>
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And of course a city hall since it is a "Town"</div>
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Eventually Pluto emerged from City Hall to greet his fans, most notably, Uncle Chris.</div>
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The rain kicked up again in the afternoon and we spent some time cowering under an overhang around a food booth before all the "Big Kids" got to leave the little ones and go on the Star Tours "ride". Ride being generous in that it is more of a moving room that does not go anywhere and a big 3D screen. R2D2 was there,</div>
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as was C3P0,</div>
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and us "Big Kids"</div>
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It was pretty cool. Amazing how something that barely moves can feel so real.</div>
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Eventually the rain subsided and </div>
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we headed to Disney California Adventure and headed to Radiator Springs. Really looks just like in the movie,</div>
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There were some "stars" out to take pictures with,</div>
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And Mater has his own ride with Dylan and my parents enjoyed.</div>
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<br />LeeABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10896458077152472666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941340369288346974.post-70169931503257498832013-01-27T21:01:00.000-08:002013-01-27T21:01:12.654-08:00Not so Terribly Late Christmas 2012 Post<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
For Christmas we headed to California to visit with my family. Amazingly, after 23.5 months my parents had finally moved back into their home, though it still needed some finishing touches and many things were still on boxes of in storage. I've made several post about my parents home and the changes it has gone through.</div>
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In other news, we got to meet Jack, the son of my cousin Chad and his wife Melanie. Not sure what his super power is but Jak Jak Attacks, everything goes in his mouth, naturally and he looks good with the turtle shell hat.</div>
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We had a chance to visit with Jing and her family. Dylan really had a good time hanging out with Theo who is 8 and also loves LEGO. Jing and Scott being the extreme outdoor surgeons they are introduced us to URBAN SMORS, who needs a camp fire and cold to have a delicious squishy dessert?</div>
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Dylan and Kailee thrilled to have the Christmas tree up.</div>
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Christmas day, riding uncle Chris or is it Auntie Joy (Dylan used to call Chris and Joy Auntie Joy)</div>
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After Christmas my mom used the grandkids as an excuse for her to go to Disneyland. So we ALL headed down south, my parents, Joy, Chris and Kailee, Chris's parents and us. Naturally the kids were thrilled, that includes Linda who had never been before. Dylan and Linda getting ready to get on their first Disney ride.....It's a Small World.</div>
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Marketing and sponsorship at its finest, Sylvania must have provided all the lighting.</div>
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The small world boat ride was probably a good choice since it started raining, here Dylan and Linda trek past the Matterhorn,</div>
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We headed back to the hotel because the rain was getting to us. Then across the street for some lunch at Coco's, they had a guy making some pretty intricate balloon things, though all Dylan wanted was a sword,</div>
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Linda and Dylan headed back in during the afternoon while everyone else napped and had a blast. Then the rest of us went back in for the night shift. It really is a different place at night,</div>
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and every night there are fireworks, we managed to watch them from between the two locations they were launching from, Kailee was a little spooked.</div>
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More night time scenery,</div>
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Well that was day one at Disney.</div>
<br />LeeABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10896458077152472666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941340369288346974.post-18343965108730992252013-01-17T19:29:00.000-08:002013-01-22T20:19:49.302-08:00Very Late Thanksgiving Post, Now With WORDS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Photos from our Thanksgiving travels.</div>
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After arriving in Austin we headed with the whole family to San Antonio, apparently in TX the kids get the whole week off. On Sunday night James (bro in-law), Brian (nephew) and I headed to the Spurs game against the Clippers. It was a good game with a lot of star power, CP3, Blake Griffin and The Big Fundamental.</div>
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Griffin pretty much does something amazing in every game and he did not disappoint, with several big dunks including one that had TD just stepping out of the way instead of getting plowed through. </div>
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The next morning after breakfast we headed out and strolled along the River Walk.</div>
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Mandatory family shot along the river,</div>
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The River Walk is pretty cool, with businesses opening right onto the walk on either side and some pretty cool modern architecture and lots of bridges and such.</div>
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After walk we headed to Sea World Park. Dylan has gotten in the habit of striking silly posses when his picture is being taken,</div>
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Though, here he looks a bit shocked and confused, measuring in for what rides he can go on. He made the yellow, 42" line.</div>
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While we did go on several roller coaster the whole point is the animal shows. So we made the dolphin show which was really cool with a lot of human acrobatics as well.</div>
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This was incredible. From what I could tell there was no safety line, the lady came out on the hoop and used the piece of fabric to do all sorts of stuff like this over the water,</div>
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Here is Dylan with some of the performers after the show was over,</div>
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While Linda and I rode all the bigger coasters, the kids had the most fun on the Shamu Express. Here Dylan and Cady ride in the front.</div>
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Linda bought a chocolate ice cream cone for the family to share that Dylan would not let go of with out major coaxing.</div>
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Later in the day we headed to the orca show with Shamu, at this point Dylan was getting pretty tired.</div>
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It is so impressive seeing what the huge animals can do.</div>
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Here, after the show, one of the trainers is working with an animal. It is blurred in this shot but she is holding a stuffed whale and using it to show the orca what she wants them to do, pretty cool. Of course, since the accident with Shamu, the trainers did not get in the water with the animals.</div>
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Big Snake</div>
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Candy cane trees with all the cousins, Dylan and Cady showing off their penguins.</div>
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Another family shot with Shamu Santa, a little weird really,</div>
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Christmas Mariachi??? These guys were at it all day, impressive.</div>
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The entrance at night.</div>
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After a long day we made the drive home to Austin with tired children and quiet cars.</div>
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LeeABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10896458077152472666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941340369288346974.post-85994448329342723252012-12-11T20:46:00.002-08:002012-12-11T20:46:36.703-08:00Monkey See<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Just for Matt and Katie, it was great to see you guys. Some shots of Katie with Tyler at Riemer's Ranch.</div>
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Monkey SEE, not yet 2 year old Tyler watching,</div>
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And then doing...</div>
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Be careful...</div>
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More to come on our fun filled Austin trip soon.</div>
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LeeABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10896458077152472666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941340369288346974.post-37172283765335211092012-11-26T21:41:00.001-08:002012-11-26T21:41:30.920-08:00Maple Canyon Climbing over Halloween<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
The first day we were in Maple Canyon we headed up to the Pipedream Cave. Having just finished setting a bouldering competition the massive lines out the cave with 20+ bolts were not all that appealing knowing I would just get completely shelled. Instead Mark and I warmed up on a couple of routes right of the main cave then headed to the furthest left route that gets regular action, Orgasmo. This 5.12+ was a fun route for sure but it also made it quite obvious that my endurance needed a bit of work, although I did manage to fight through the pump and finish, that one route pretty much ended my day of climbing.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGIIyaQmF-2blysreFQFSxv4yfSwO1gIAJ1g2IyudMKZHNxBtmPdh4mH9hh_nVDKEeg_bAs2ZwYLmotXzNSY5u6Y1-QeUxWhrLjtTFttvArtEIrdl6qeCeJyE0Zrd19lvTHDbAMzjGOR4/s1600/IMG_3825008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGIIyaQmF-2blysreFQFSxv4yfSwO1gIAJ1g2IyudMKZHNxBtmPdh4mH9hh_nVDKEeg_bAs2ZwYLmotXzNSY5u6Y1-QeUxWhrLjtTFttvArtEIrdl6qeCeJyE0Zrd19lvTHDbAMzjGOR4/s320/IMG_3825008.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Half way up Orgasmo 5.12c, photo by Kate Anderson</td></tr>
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Linda did several warm-ups including this one, The Waterfall Route</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht-O5ccvndHmJo28Nqyr374KrqikOY42IVtiId2lLxxI5BmorGU3d-O5wq1bnKGcuRfV5Io-2q12kJmMglUMJT6EXk6r7wwtL5MbhIZHfpCGveTh780z3eY9u2tWmbPKu2CO3l6RP4140/s1600/IMG_3855009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht-O5ccvndHmJo28Nqyr374KrqikOY42IVtiId2lLxxI5BmorGU3d-O5wq1bnKGcuRfV5Io-2q12kJmMglUMJT6EXk6r7wwtL5MbhIZHfpCGveTh780z3eY9u2tWmbPKu2CO3l6RP4140/s320/IMG_3855009.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Linda on The Waterfall Route 5.11b</td></tr>
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Before trying Dry Times which follows a fun corner up a steep wall. I finished the day by getting beat down on The Diggler, which by now seems like ritual for me when I head up to the Pipedream. The route used to be graded at least 5.13b and now people call it at easy as 5.12d because there is a near no-hands knee-bar in the middle of the route. Well I suck at knee-barring and can't rest there to save my life, making the route feel harder than anything I've done at Maple.</div>
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The next day Linda, Kate and I climbed at the Low Standard Cave while Mark took a rest day. This is a wall I had looked at at least a few times over the years but never actually climbed at. To the left and right of the cave are a few very long routes from 5.10- to 5.12- while the cave hosts several 5.13's long with a few variations. We did a couple of the long routes to warm up before I decided, what the heck and gave the most obvious and traveled of the 5.13's, Welcome to Fitness, a burn. Being a shorter route I figured I had a shot at sending it. The start went pretty smoothly and I was quickly at what appeared to be the crux, 2 moves into it a hold appeared that I had not seen from the ground, to use it or not to...I decided that while it was not as good as the hold I was on it would make the next move shorter so I moved my feet quickly and fired through to an obvious rest in a big horizontal break. After camping out I romped up the final head wall to the anchor, always a nervous point for me since you can't see the holds as well from the ground and you are more flying by feel. I was happy to clip the chains and redeem myself somewhat.</div>
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The following day Linda and I rested while Mark and Kate climbed. We headed to the cliff with them to help watch Logan, their little boy, or belay while Kate of Mark watched him. They chose to climb in The Box which was one of the first areas developed and a spot I had first climbed at 15 or 16 years ago on my first visit to Maple Canyon. Here is Dylan hanging out,</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLV0yJ3mikjBl9EPL1CJHyjNtKrp71OaY32fBMNzioILG7oVFDpDHlzoQDTVRzxeMpuDmrOI25HDJV0aIqvamE-I3cZIki83XHxBtggtgqRkuuRYSCuMxqX6hMmtTMf1VKNKrpZnPXrQE/s1600/IMG_0921.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLV0yJ3mikjBl9EPL1CJHyjNtKrp71OaY32fBMNzioILG7oVFDpDHlzoQDTVRzxeMpuDmrOI25HDJV0aIqvamE-I3cZIki83XHxBtggtgqRkuuRYSCuMxqX6hMmtTMf1VKNKrpZnPXrQE/s320/IMG_0921.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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When Logan was occupied with food or toys and Kate was able to belay Mark I took the opportunity to set up a fixed line and shoot some photos. Here is Mark attempting a short but very powerful 5.13- in The Box called, Meathook Sodomy.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGwcZCad8fDJgZK6DcDpvcfPx0j1wLPxXqB60aEsYOafoHbgl8MuPMdWwfLipcIgjqfjH342DXGlR3h3Uc0lCTvBbeX0wV_enOjMvjXp2g1bdz5EV3Q7gqtX0XYnshTB4GJaju_fhjuZA/s1600/IMG_0953.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGwcZCad8fDJgZK6DcDpvcfPx0j1wLPxXqB60aEsYOafoHbgl8MuPMdWwfLipcIgjqfjH342DXGlR3h3Uc0lCTvBbeX0wV_enOjMvjXp2g1bdz5EV3Q7gqtX0XYnshTB4GJaju_fhjuZA/s320/IMG_0953.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mark Anderson on Meathook Sodomy 5.13a</td></tr>
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And here he is on Captain Bullet, another 5.13- that overhangs the road. Sadly, on this route he skipped a clip at the lip of the roof hoping for better holds above that did not materialize. This meant he had to make a choice between going for the anchors and risking a ground fall if he blew it or jumping off before he got too high which he opted for.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mark Anderson on Captain Bullet 5.13a</td></tr>
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On the last day, everyone was climbing again. We started the day at The Minimum and headed to Cragganmore to finish. We mostly took the opportunity to get on bunch of long routes but nothing much too hard, except for Linda who managed to on-sight Zoaster Toaster, 5.11+ at The Minimum. Even though I've climbed several times at The Minimum I managed to only climb routes that I had not been on before which was great. I always try to make it a goal to at least do one new route each day I'm out, and on this day I managed to climb only routes I'd not done before. The afternoon at Cragganmore was great and I got the chance to climb the big routes of Daddy and Popcorn, pictured below.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEham8NxBXblzdw_lG67oDkIQqTYBwJCEyzn-HVFrc3kCLr74yhhycNbElGuKsSyTwuHeskONXpdS15wF9VEGxgKadUedK6pR19GYK5g1uS9yolKeffely-OKMjpsk04lbqUXAuF1z6IdqQ/s1600/IMG_1018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEham8NxBXblzdw_lG67oDkIQqTYBwJCEyzn-HVFrc3kCLr74yhhycNbElGuKsSyTwuHeskONXpdS15wF9VEGxgKadUedK6pR19GYK5g1uS9yolKeffely-OKMjpsk04lbqUXAuF1z6IdqQ/s320/IMG_1018.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Climbing Popcorn 5.12b at Cragganmore, photo by, Mark Anderson</td></tr>
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<br />LeeABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10896458077152472666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941340369288346974.post-24905083886289362022012-11-11T16:58:00.000-08:002012-11-11T16:58:13.391-08:00Halloween week in Utah<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
We headed to Utah for the week of Halloween. The purpose was to visit our friends Walt and Sarah along with their new son Michael,</div>
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They just moved to UT from Boulder CO for Sarah's work. Walt who builds bikes for a living has a nice new shop for his company <a href="http://waltworks.com/dev/index.php" target="_blank">Waltworks</a>. We went bouldering one afternoon with Walt, up in Little Cottonwood Canyon. It was the first time I'd been there not it July or August and the cooler temperatures made a couple of things that I'd previously tried feel easy. The next day Walt and I went for a short ride in the Wasatch foothills. I got to ride his sweet full suspension 29er that he built about a year ago. We headed up Dry gulch and came down Bobsled which was super fun, like riding down a half pipe.</div>
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After that we headed to Maple Canyon to meet up with Mark and Kate Anderson and their son Logan. We stayed at the <a href="http://www.redapplecottage.com/" target="_blank">Red Apple Cottage</a> in Fountain Green just outside of Maple. Here are Dylan and Logan sitting in front of the cottage on halloween evening.</div>
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There is an upstairs loft in the cottage with a couple of nooks for beds, Dylan slept in one and both kids used the play area up there.</div>
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It was great having a kitchen to cook in and a warm place to hang out in the evenings.</div>
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The weather for climbing was great but the nights were cold.</div>
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We were not sure what to do for trick or treating for the kids until someone told us to head to the city park, just a block away. Here is Dylan in his ghost costume of the 3rd year in a row, with Linda getting to the park.</div>
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Turns out that in Fountain Green everyone drive to the park and the cars line up a log one edge and you do you trick or treating from car trunk to car trunk, very efficient.</div>
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Not to be left out, the adults ordered some sweets from Kristie, a local baker, YUM.</div>
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On our last day, Steve and his son Sam, from Lander WY met up with us. Here Linda is stalking little boys.</div>
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Most of the trees had already lost their leaves, but a few still had some.</div>
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Climbing shots to come later.</div>
<br />LeeABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10896458077152472666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941340369288346974.post-1177074833267375932012-11-10T23:33:00.000-08:002012-11-10T23:33:03.525-08:00Yank-N-Yard 2012 VideoHere is a nice video of the 2012 Yank-N-Yard that Andy Burr put together. Prepping the gym, setting and forerunning the problems consumed a week of my life. All in all, it was a good time.<br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auU37vI5evY" target="_blank">Yank-N-Yard 2012</a>LeeABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10896458077152472666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941340369288346974.post-58949077193360876182012-10-25T22:25:00.002-07:002012-10-25T22:25:43.273-07:00Balloon Fiesta 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
This year we made it out to Balloon Fiesta twice. Once in the evening hoping to see a glow, which did not happen and for one beautiful morning with perfect conditions. I towed Dylan in the trailer both times. </div>
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For the evening session we headed out and met Linda at the field as she was riding home from work. Dylan and I arrived earlier than Linda and just ended up hanging out in front of the Intel tent where we would eat dinner once Linda arrived. Here we are waiting,</div>
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Even though the "glow", where they light up the balloons but don't fly, was canceled because of gusty winds, the view was still really cool, there was this strange looking cloud hanging over the Sandias that of course glowed in the sunset.</div>
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and of course, there are fireworks every night,</div>
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In the morning I got a flat tire and had to change it on the trail as the "Dawn Patrol", the dawn patrol launched while it is still dark and look like floating lightbulbs where they burn to gain altitude, the must fly until it is light to be able to see obstacles and landing sites, balloons flew over us. </div>
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Once we made the field, the first balloon we saw left little doubt as to where we were,</div>
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Balloons bumping,</div>
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There were lots of shapes out since it was calm enough for them to fly, like this zebra,</div>
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The you have the human zebras that clear a down wind path so the balloons can take off without knocking people over, though it was so calm that they only moved a few feet before they were well above head height.</div>
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Family shot in front of a row of balloons,</div>
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The spiral pattern of many of the balloons looks pretty cool as they fly overhead,</div>
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This is the first time I've seen the "Darth Vader" balloon out,</div>
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And he was off chasing the rebels,</div>
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Smokey the Bear for Mom,</div>
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The balloons launch in rows from the down wind edge so that they don't have to clear each other, so you get these long rows of balloons waiting for the OK from a human zebra for take off. </div>
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Linda and Dylan below the "Airibel" Creamland dairy balloon.</div>
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Airibel framing some balloons,</div>
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And again, "Airibel" is huge and they were hoping to fly her on this day but the wind shifted and if they had flown there would not have been anywhere large enough to land her. We have yet to see the whole cow fly, but they can detach the front and back and it leaves a normal balloon, I think, that We've seen flying.</div>
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Noah's arc,</div>
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Looking into the Wells Fargo stage coach balloon,</div>
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A tribute balloon,</div>
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The three bumble bees, with baby leaving the parents behind, I think the hands of the parents were actually attached,</div>
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Linda and Dylan on the field again after the sun came up,</div>
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Balloons, balloons and more balloons,</div>
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I always like these shots, looking through the balloon as it is layer out and getting blown up with shadows of people watching. A couple of parents holding children and someone working on straightening the balloon out.</div>
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Linda using her enormous weight to help hold the Intel balloon down. The intel balloon actually flew as part of the "Dawn Patrol", landed, was packed up and drove back to the field to re-inflate and tether in front of the Intel tent.</div>
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At the end of the morning it was just the Intel balloon and this one sitting tethered to the field for people to mingle around as they headed back to their cars or bikes.</div>
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<br />LeeABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10896458077152472666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4941340369288346974.post-10356068043346238032012-10-13T20:48:00.000-07:002012-10-13T20:48:06.686-07:00Big Basin State Park<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
After spending the night at the Davenport Roadhouse, we had a nice breakfast in their restaurant. Linda tried something new, wheat berries, kind of interesting, crunchy. Then we collected our leftovers from their refrigerator and headed off to Big Basin State Park to see some HUGE redwoods. After the long hike the day before for Dylan we decided to start out with a short loop, though it turned out to be longer than we were told. Here Linda and Dylan are dwarfed by some large trees. </div>
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Moss and lichen enjoy their own climate on the north side of the trees.</div>
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Crazy bark, I can't help but think about climbing holds when I see stuff like this.</div>
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Dylan and I in front of another tree.</div>
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Looking up through the "Chimney Tree", the entire center is burned out and yet it is still alive and growing.</div>
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The tallest tree in the park, the "Mother of the Forest", of course the widest is called the "Father"</div>
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It is always so impressive to be in a true old growth area with the enormous trees towering above you.</div>
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Dylan did catch himself...</div>
LeeABhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10896458077152472666noreply@blogger.com0