NEW post

we're here at the New and looking forward to people visiting us!

here's the bad:
1/ we can't afford to stay at Roger's
2/ mosquitoes and no-see-ums

here's the good:
1/ our pimp van
2/ we found a seemingly untouched boulderfield at the Summersville dam on the Gauley. We've been putting up some FAs
3/ we made a giant rope swing at the Hole and did the Pinnacle already.
4/ there are tons of sweet people living here and we've had tons of sweet visitors!

Here's some pictures of the Gauley River boulders (when they're not under water):




that's Scurvy in the previous picture. He's 16 and strong as shit!!






I love you all, Stella

It sucks when you forget your camera...

well, we forgot our camera, but our trip was so cool that I had to write SOMETHING about it.

We went down to Annapolis, MD to visit James Varn. Annapolisis pretty freaking sweet, as far as cities go. There are no high rise buildings, only the European-style streets lined with one constant building painted a different color every 70 feet or so. Shops on the first floor, housing above. And round-a-bouts. And brick streets. Also, it's on the Chesapeake Bay, and James' apartment has a Bay view. James says that the downside is that after dark (during the day everyone is sailing) the only thing to do is drink. There are a rediculous amount of bars in downtown Annapolis, all of which are within walking distance. The Bay itself is awesome. The little beach we went to only had little tiny waves, but there were a good amount of shells and polished stones on the beach. It also had that unmistakable salt water smell.

The second day of our trip, we went climbing at Earth Treks. There are 3 of them (the gyms are all huge AND they have their own hold company), but we went to the one just outside of DC. Turns out, some elder WOODSians, Matt, Sam, and Ellen only live 1.5 miles from that gym, so we had a great time visiting them too.

When we got back to PA we climbed with my friend Rachael (we were roomates) and her boyfriend.

It was a great last 3 days of seeing beautiful, new places and wonderful old friends.

I hope you are all doing well and I love you!
-Stella

I had an irrational fear of ticks...

...then it became a little more rational after a bulls-eye rash became visible surrounding Micah's armpit. This is the 2nd time he's gotten Lyme Disease. Luckily, when you catch it early, it's not that hard to treat. You just have to take pills for 3 weeks (or liquid medicine, I found out, if you can't swallow pills) that make you nauseous/puke. So for $100 (doctor visit and pills with no insurance), it's no big deal... except that hopefully-not-too-often puking for the next 3 weeks.

I've gotten bitten by 2 ticks, and I'm hoping not to find a bulls-eye too.

I'm not going outside around here again... until late fall, because the bouldering here is amazing. There are lots of problems that I want to work on more. Unfortunately we have about 6 pictures from the last 2 months of living in Harrisburg, but here they are anyway (sorry Madison, I didn't get any pictures of the camp we've been working at or even anything cool. I'll keep trying)

this tree was actually in Chattanooga, but it's a sweet picture, so I'm adding it to this post

as weird as I look, that is, in fact, me. This problem was cool, but it was sharp!

this is Micah's neice Savannah and I at a playground. We look hilarious. She's screwing up her face hard-core due to the sun being directly in our eyes. Besides posing as Smoky the Bear's face, we also play Chinese Checkers at least once a day.

To get away from the ticks (this was even before we realized that Micah had a bulls-eye), we took a short trip to Cooper's Rock, WV. We met Matticus and his friends Adam and Jack. Poor Adam rolled his ankle during their initial explorations before they even climbed. But here's a couple pictures of Matt and I trying Moby Dick (V2, but I try it every time I go there. I think I will send it next time though), and Micah doing Roundhouse (I think?? V5).



On the up side of things, Micah was playing on the internet, looking at different shoe companies when he came across Acopa shoes. They are owned by the famous climber John Bacher. He also noticed that all of Acopa's sponsered athletes are from the west coast. He e-mailed the company, asking if they wanted some representation on the east coast, and John Bacher himself called Micah back. Well, 2 free pairs of Acopa shoes are in the mail headed for Micah. If he likes the shoes, you may just see a picture of Micah up on the Acopa website someday. When the shoes come, I'll let you know what he thinks of them, and then you can check them out for yourself!

Here's some climbing movies to end the post:
A different Cooper's visit
From all over the east

-Stella