Red Rock Canyon, Nevada

We are now in Red Rock Canyon, which is so close to Las Vegas I think Matt might be able to hit it if he were to spit hard enough. Just like the name says, these actually are red rocks! Matt and I spent about 3 hours yesterday touring the park from our bike seats. It was a lot of fun, and a lot of hard work. We biked from the campsite into the park where they have a 13 mile scenic drive. Lots of people take this loop from car, motorbike, bicycle...we even saw a couple guys running it! Anyways, the first 5 miles are literally all up hill. I thought I was going to die with the hot sun and dry desert air attempting to choke the life out of my lungs. Anyways, it was well worth the view, and the major downhill around mile 8. We also saw a couple wild burros, and some stupid californian tourists who were feeding them from their car.

Later that day we went for a climb to one of the bouldering areas in Calico Basin. We've had quite a few days off inbetween here and Bishop, so it was nice to get out on the rock again. Our friends Lindsey and Nevin should be here tomorrow, and we are going to start doing some Sport climbing. We are very excited for them to arrive!

If your wondering who the guy with me is, its still Matt. Regretfully he said goodbye to his haphazard mane for a squeeky clean haircut. Matt refuses to look into a mirror now, and its a sensitive subject, so I'll just let the picture do the talking (just kidding).

We bought the first season of "Lost" and have watched a few episodes now, its pretty exciting and we are hooked now. We've set up a comfortable couch in the car to watch the show, for nights when its too cold and windy to play crib.

October 21st to 25th Viva Las Vegas

What to say about Las Vegas…well, for starters it is unlike any place we have seen so far on our trip! We have been staying with Uncle Andy and Aunt Vicki, who have spoiled us rotten with delicious meals, comfortable beds, showers, and great company and entertainment. We have toured through most of the casinos and spent a late evening out on ‘the strip’ before Jeff left.

We saw lots of light shows, water shows, and even a cannon battle between two ships (one of which was filled with scantily-clad women…much to Jeff’s delight). We played the slots, blackjack, and roulette. Jeff even placed some bets on some hockey games that night. Although none of us actually won by the end of the night, we had lots of fun laughing along the way at our misfortunes. I have a recommendation that Jeff never be allowed in a casino without supervision, as he likes to take big risks (until he’s flat broke).

From the pictures you’ll be able to see that the boys were at the top of their game with some new hats they bought in Victoria. Unfortunately lucky hats don’t work in Vegas. Some of the designs and themes of the casinos were very beautiful. I spent most of the time admiring the marble floors that had all this intricate tiling in it. It looked so pretty. You can see it in the picture of the boys with our hosts.

Farewell to the Rat

…and then there was two. Yes it is true, the infamous Jeff Gabrush has headed back home. Jeff spent nearly 3 weeks with us on the road, and we had lots of fun together. I (Holly) will miss my short climbing partner (Short 2: Tall 1), especially now that Lindsey and Nevin will be joining us (Short 1: Tall 3). Jeff, I’ll do my best to work scrunchy, crimpy, high hand-to-foot match problems in your honor. These pictures are a tribute to our narcissistic traveler. Jeff, we loved having you in all your quirky glory. Next trip we’ll have a primo ride for you (note to reader: Please refrain from rolling your eyes, but Matt and I have decided we need an old VW for the next trip…we’ll be riding in high style). Post us on the blog, and remember to put it all on red.

Ritz, thanks for coming on the trip. It was awesome to have you along, and I had a blast climbing and making stupid jokes all the time. It was aces. Anyway remember to write when you're up at the mine. We'll take some pictures of ourselves in your honour! You climbed strong, I wish I could say the same for our hands at the blackjack table... we'll get them next time...


Hugs,
Matt and Holly

Bishop Continued:

Climbing in Bishop was phenomenal. There was such a variation of terrain. In one area a volcanic rock bed made for some beautiful, unique and fun bouldering. Holly, Jeff and I tried some cool problems, and spent a day in the hot dry desert sun. I crawled through a cave only to look back upon the Mojave rattlesnake, which was hanging out at the mouth of the cave, as I obliviously walked past it. But don’t worry Joan and Brenda that was the only little guy I saw (unfortunately!). Another special experience was seeing a road runner (the bird from the cartoon). I was more excited for Holly, as that was a first for her.

The next day we went out to another area full of massive, round granite boulders. As you can see from the pictures, they were quite weathered from rain and sun, unlike the granite boulders in Squamish that we climber earlier. We tried an ultra classic problem up the corner of a very tall boulder (the white boulder that Holly is sitting on top of). After that we moved on to a smaller, less challenging line up another boulder. We finished up and hiked out in the dark, licking our wounds all the way back to camp. All 3 of us now have some pretty ragged finger tips, so the trip to Vegas will provide us with a chance to nurse them a little (they give out way before endurance, strength, enthusiasm, or anything else!).

The camping at Bishop was rad, since the days are so hot and the nights are cool it makes for a nice sleep. The highlights here were some of our gourmet food dishes, the most amazing starry sky I’ve ever seen, a very comfortable campfire, and an excellent 24oz bottle of Becks.

The slow pace of life in Bishop was enjoyable, as compared to a place like San Franciso. We were only in San Fran for an evening, but that was enough for all of us. It was late on Friday night and trying to find a place to crash amidst the night life and craziness was frustrating. Needless to say we skipped town and pressed on to find a motel outside of the concrete confines of the city.

On a more tasty note, we have pioneered a new dinner entre, a camping dish which is a variation on spaghetti sauce. “Spa-ghetto” sauce consists of adding numerous cans of vegetables to tomato sauce, some spices, and hoping for the best… So far we’ve had some winning combinations, especially when there’s cheese on hand to add to it.

Oh, and we nabbed the hitchhiker that was tagging along with us! A few nights ago we caught the mouse that was in our car. He was caching nuts in the engine, eating our chips, and pooping all over the place. Needless to say, he won’t be missed.

October 18th to 21st BISHOP, CALIFORNIA

Amazing! We’ll write more later, but for now its just pics…we haven’t been around the internet for quite a while now, but we loved reading all the emails from home, and we are having a great time. More to come…were off to Las Vegas to gamble our lives away!

P.S. John and Jon, we want to wish you both a happy birthday. We're sorry we cant be there to celebrate with you, and do it up right. However we're thinking of you both! Take care you two! We'll talk soon.

October 17th

Right now we are driving, a couple hours out of San Francisco, driving past vineyard after vineyard. Jeff and I (Matt) are knockin’ off a pack of grade A beef jerky (a road trip essential). It’s hot and sunny, about plus 20. I want to briefly recap on our past couple days:

In Jed. Smith State Park we spent the day walking around the campsite, then drove the coast for a bit, looking for a certain trail, called the Boy Scout Trail. We stopped at a couple beautiful beaches, with big rolling waves. There were a few people surfing at the beach outside of Crescent City. After driving for a few hours looking for this hyped-up trail, we finally found it once we were nearly out of gas. All the while we drove through amazing scenery lining the banks of the Smith River. We FINALLY found the trail and it was so beautiful I can’t explain it. The forest was prehistoric in appearance, with thick, beautiful ferns, clover lining the forest floor, and moss covering everything else in sight. Most of the trees were a few hundred feet tall. The thick canopy allowed only slivers of light to stream down and illuminate the misty air. In other words the struggle to find this trail was well worth it.

Tomorrow we are off to Bishop, California to do some climbing…we are getting stoked to see this legendary spot. The weather is getting hotter, and our tans are slowly getting darker. Holly’s busy lathering us with sunscreen though, so no golden brown surfer-boy for us.

October 16th

The morning after the rainstorm was clear and sunny. We could actually see that Lincoln City was directly on the coast (literally). After finding access to the local beach, the three of us spent some time walking around, and marveling at the ocean before we started a long day of driving.
The coastal highway is awesome for passengers, and a little stressful for the driver! I try to avoid driving as much as possible…it’s nice that there is three of us so we can at least trade off. Really, the pictures don’t do it any justice, but we tried to put a variety on for everyone to enjoy. We spent the whole day driving along the coast of Oregon before finally reaching our destination in Northern California – The Redwood National Park. We camped at the Jedidah Smith Campground. It was so beautiful and quiet. The campground was right on the edge of the Smith River, and is full of gigantic Redwood trees.
Matt and Jeff confirmed our suspicions that we have been carrying a stow-away or two with us from Squamish, BC. An unnamed member of the rodent family has been quite busy caching food in the engine of our car. The boys are going to get to the bottom of this problem tomorrow night when we get some traps.

October 15th

Well, we got persuaded to stay an extra half day in Victoria after a long night involving cards, and local brew (thanks Schissel and Chelsey). We took Schissel to the local gym for a climb, and had lots of fun. After saying our goodbyes to the Schiz we packed our stuff (which we have become incredibly efficient at…by the way), and headed to Port Angeles to catch the ferry down into Washington. We just barely made the ferry since a lot of people had already made reservations on it. The ferry ride was beautiful again, and the boat was a lot older, so it had quite a bit of character to it.

Surprisingly we were NOT strip searched at the customs office Victoria. I know that we certainly don’t look like suspicious characters, but the fact that we have that car jam packed made us a little nervous that they would want to rip it all apart. They did turn an eyebrow up at us however when Matt and I informed them that we are two young people coming into their country for 2 months…and have no jobs waiting for us when we get home. We had to sign into our online banking to prove that we had enough money to support ourselves. Then the Customs officer in Washington wanted to know the same thing, but he didn’t make too big of a fuss. (I may have let a few comments slip out of my mouth to reassure this guy that we aren’t trying to smuggle ourselves into the country, and we have NO intentions on becoming Americans…I think he was scared of my massive biceps).

We drove south through Washington (and partway into Oregon) late into the night before stopping at Lincoln City, Oregon, at a cheap motel to escape the downpour. We thought we could just drive through the rain, but it didn’t work. The sleep on a real bed was amazing…I don’t think I moved all night.

Schissel…thank you SO much for all your hospitality and tolerance of us! We all loved Victoria, and you were an excellent tour guide. Hopefully we can return the favour someday.

Erin, I’m so glad to hear that the shower went well! I wish I could have been there to see you in all your bow hat glory! Hope everything is going well in Edmonton. Say hi to Steve!

October 14th, 2006 (PART II)

Holly here.

Well, its our last night in Victoria, so this might be the last post for awhile...

Our time in Victoria has been fantastic, and today was no exception. We spent the afternoon at Sooke Potholes Regional Park. It was very quiet and cool today, but still very beautiful. The main attraction of the park is the 'pothole' formations that have occurred through geological formations in this river system. We spent most of our time crawling and scurrying along the rocks like little crabs on a beach (we must have looked like five-year-olds). Jeff even brought his swim trunks and swam through a rock tunnel at one spot! The water was so cold...I thought he was going to die! But we had lots of laughs, some looking at slugs (see pitcure) and lots of exploring.

A personal highlight for me was seeing a Bald Eagle gliding through the river system as it carved its way through the land. The bird was very low, and probably looking for something to eat. It was so big, and beautiful and powerful...somehow it takes my breath away everytime :)

I've posted some pictures of the day for everyone to enjoy. I've enjoyed reading everyone's comments on the blog, and I hope that my words find everyone doing well.

Take care!

October 14th

Hi to everyone at home, I hope things are going well, and that La Ronge is not snowed in yet (for your sake Mom). Lecia, the three of us want to wish you a happy birthday and hope you and William have a safe trip home!

The ferry trip over was beautiful, it was neat to see such different coastal geology and landscape to that of Sask. We also stopped in Nanaimo to visit 3 old friends, professors at Malaspina University College, who led the field trip in Belize which Holly and I both attended. It was great to see you guys Ed, Tim, and Wendy. It just so happened that when we showed up they were having a meeting with students to discuss the 2007 trip, that was a crazy coincidence!

We're having a great time hanging out with an awesome host. Matt (Schissel) has taken us out on the town, showed us some cool shops, climbing areas, scenic areas, and has introduced us to his crew. Jeff now refers to Victoria as his future home. There are nearly enough Starbucks to satiate his appetite for pumpkin spiced lattes, nearly…

Climbing has been nice here too, there's a neat outdoor bouldering spot in town called Flemming park that we checked out, right on the ocean. We also had a long session at the gym last night (it's cool, as it stays open until 1130 on week days, a bonus for procrastinators who don't leave the house until ~ 8pm). The sun's been out the whole time, a supposed anomaly for this time of year I guess.

Holly and I spent friday biking around the coast of Victoria and captured some amazing views. The landscape is so green and beautiful, with lots of different trees and shrubs. We're all falling in love with the city, as it has such a nice feel to it, and everyone is so active and happy (and EVERYONE has a dog that they walk along the coast). It is such a progressive city too with all the green buildings, spaces, and ideas. Holly and I would both like to spend more time here!

We’ll hit the road tomorrow morning and head south. Jeff and I have been exercising our minds, and our poker faces, in preparation for the anticipated poker fest in Vegas… Holly and I have to pay for the trip somehow!

Everybody take care, Gabe it was great to hear from you. You and the Calow’s better stay out of trouble up in LA while we’re gone.

It was good to hear from you too MC Hammered, and everyone keep in touch. Peace out.

October 8th to 11th 2006

Squamish has been so beautiful! The weather is absolutely amazing! Don’t get me wrong, I’m still freezing my butt off at night, but it is totally worth it! The rock is really cold (lots of friction) and the forest is very quiet. Jeff is a natural on the rock…he’s made the transition from plastic look like a breeze (my fingers disagree with this transition…my tips are purple and on the verge of combusting).

Linz and Nevin, the camper is going to rock! You have to let us stay in it for a night…it’ll be like the ritz carlton after tenting for a month. Nah, the tent is awesome, but the camper takes the cake. Linz, I’m expecting it to be stocked full of all the homemade goodness you fed us on the farm. You can nourish our deprived bodies of good food!

Post Script (by Matt): My trip began with a little bad luck, the first fork in the road occurred about 1 minute out of Saskatoon. I managed to turn to Biggar, rather than Rosetown… Ominous? Not at all. The next fork in the road came when we had to decide to either stop in Squilax or drive on to Kamloops, or all night, for that matter. By stopping we were able to check out the salmon run. That was well worth it.

We have had some great climbing, great jokes, beautiful scenery and FRESH AIR!! It has been a blast. We are all climbing hard and close to completing some difficult lines up the boulders, we’ll see how today goes…

The climbing on our last day was so awesome! We all had our projects that we worked till it got too cold in the forest to bear it. All three of us made a lot of progress, and Holly and Jeff sent V4’s (Matt didn’t officially send it, but it was a mere technicality). The pictures don’t do it%2