Climbing, Riding and Critters

So on Thursday Dylan and I made it out to the Crystal Cave in the Jemez in the afternoon with a couple of guys that work at the gym. Dylan had fun playing in the dirt and sitting in Jeff's chair. While I played on the short but very steep routes with Jeff and Doug. Maybe I'll get some shots of it next time I'm there, it's hard to explain, but the lip of the cave is only about 20 feet high and the routes are up to 60 feet long or so, really steep and pretty hard.

Over the weekend I did the Bill McClain Memorial Crest Race, and naturally got killed since most of the guys riding have put in probably 4 times the miles on the bike this year as I have. Though I was only about 2 minutes slower than I was 5 years ago, the last time I did the race and actually trained for it.

On Sunday we headed to Datil with a bunch of folks from the gym. In a true rarity for climbing, women out numbered men in the group, even if you counted Dylan. We all had fun climbing on the tower and walls to the left.

This morning Dylan and I headed to the Bio Park and spent some time wandering through the aquarium. After our trip to Hawaii he is totally fascinated with fish and turtles. Then we checked out the butterfly pavilion which I'd never been to before. I was a little disappointed as I thought there would be more or larger butterflies, maybe they will grow, but there was enough for Dylan to have a good time trying to chase them around. On our way out there was a booth set up with some critters, a small tarantula, a small scorpion, a couple of squeaking roaches, then these guys....

These are the small ones that you can find in NM apparently.

Then the big ones that are from Africa....
They also had a centipede, which have a pretty bad bite and are nearly impossible to kill, think hammer repeatedly though they are already flat to begin with. I though I'd killed one once at the gym only to find it crawling back out of the garbage can a few minutes later.

On our way out the model trains were up and running so Dylan watched the big train then spent some time "push"ing the "button" to make the "small" "train" go in circles, it was fitted with a car that spewed "bubbles" as it went, needless to say he was thrilled.

For folks that say that the newspaper industry is going to die, I beg to differ. I posted my truck on-line and in a couple of locations and received not a single call. We put it in the paper and on the first day I got about 10-12 calls and sold it. The classifieds are the way to go.