Aaron and I flew to DC for 10 days of fun with the family and some climbing. Unfortunately Aaron came down with a head cold and passed it along to me as well. He was in a decent amount of pain on the airplane as we flew into DC. Kirsten and Blair met us at the airport and we drove straight to the mall for their softball game. Everyone had a great time playing but unfortunately they lost. We got back to their place around 9 and went to a delicious dinner at Cafe Asia. 
After consulting the weather channel we decided on going to seneca caverns for the day. It drizzled on an off during our drive there. We convinced mom and dad that we should do both caverns. We got headlamps and gloves and headed out for the tour of the "adventurous" cavern. Mom did great navigating the steep stairs and such. Kirsten wasn't thrilled about the bats! But we all had a great time. We made a rather long detour to black water falls on the way back and then got washed up for a nice dinner at the Cheat River Inn. 
Sunday was dad's birthday so we celebrated that and mothers day by having a nice big breakfast of french toast and bacon complete with mimosas and balloons. After breakfast we drove to Seneca Rocks and rented shoes and helmets for the entire family. Aaron put up a nice climb for everyone to try. Mom and Dad did great and Kirsten and Blair even made it to the top. Blair was able to top out on a second harder climb as well! Tired and sore everyone enjoyed the hot tub that evening! We also discusses staying an extra night if the cabin was available. 
Turns out it is! So Aaron and I went back to Seneca to do a multipitch climb to the summit. The rest of the gang ran some errands and relaxed around the house. Blair tried his hand at fishing and there was quite a spirited game of badminton. We did a weenie roast for dinner with corn on the cob, beans the works. For our last night together we played a fun game of balderdash? 
The next day we slept in. We made coffee and were on our way to find shade! The temperature had been creeping up and was pushing the 80s. It took three loops of the road and having to stop and ask directions but we finally found parking for the junkyard wall. True to its name it was a reclaimed trash heap. The saying is true .. one mans trash anothers treasure. We found amazing rock with some truly inspiring lines. We climbed until 3 or 4 in the afternoon and went back toPaul's Visit - April 22nd - 30th
Trip to Moab for spring break March 17th - 25th.
We woke up early the next morning to climb castleton tower and meet dana's friend at the trailhead. They were going to do the west face route while aaron and I climbed the north chimney. We hiked in and by the time we got to the base there were two groups on our route. The first group was moving at a decent pace but the second group was struggling. Aaron climbed the first pitch and had to wait almost an hour to bring me up. He flew up the route .. I struggled a little more but made it to the top. We meet Dana and his friend on top of the tower and relaxed awhile with wine and salami and cheese. After they rapped down aaron asked me if I would marry him!! It took me by surprise but I of coarse said yes! We came down and went back to camp and waited for the other pair who had gone on to do a second climb. We made dinner and they rolled in a little bit later.
The next morning we packed up the car and headed to top of the world overlook to climb. There was a very bumpy four wheel drive road into the climb and car trouble struck again! We got a flat! Aaron and Dana were able to fix it, but the spare is not an offroad tire, so we carefully drove out and the boys went to climb lighthouse tower. Mia and I hiked Negro Bill canyon to a neat arch. I met up with them after their climb and we said goodbye to Dana. We had that evening to ourselves
We got up and got moving to the slick rock parking lot. I had never done the slick rock trail and was a bit apprehensive. The trail is about 9 mile and is not happy on Mia's paws so she got to hang out in the shade of the car. We had a great time on the trail stopping for a few breaks and just enjoying the ride. Towards the end of the trail we came across a unicyclist .. those guys are nutty!We spent a rainy day thursday relaxing around town. We got alot of work done at the library and some leisure reading. We camped
Aaron's friend tyler came into town friday morning to a slight drizzle. After much hemming and hawing we ended up climbing along potash road. A few fun cracks into the day and the rain picked up. Aaron cleaned a climb in the rain and we headed towards camp. Thinking it might be letting up we parked along river road and were going to check out some other climbs but it was a temporary reprieve from the weather. As we approached the cars an older climber (alan burgess) and his friend drove past stopping to talk to tyler and aaron. He is originally from england but resides in salt lake. We invited them to join us at our campsite later that evening. They took us up on that offer and we had a really nice night around the campfire sharing stories. After we were nestled in bed, dave and dan drove up, very drunk and very noisy. They carried on late into the night, luckily i'm a sound sleeper.
We woke up the next morning to rain. A very steady stream of it actually. Alan and kindy took off and aaron and i woke up the hung over duo. We cooked a big breakfast and headed into town with out bikes to ride gemini bridges. It is a fun easy ride with some great scenery.
Here is a link to the picasa album.
The Christmas season started out with the annual work christmas party. It was held at the the little america. We sat at a table with Moj and her fiance, chris and heather, amy and her husband and jean. All the drinkers in the office :-) The food was only alright but the conversation was nice. We did a gift exchange / steal and ended up with a candle sconce and some hot chocolate. 
Aaron finished off the semester on the 15th and we had our christmas party for friends on the 17th. We decided to do appetizers this year do to the number of people and lack of seating at our apartment. We had an italian theme so we had a anti pasta platter, a crudites platter, lots of crusty bread and bruchettas as well as making fresh mini pizza's. The evening was wonderful!
We flew into philadelphia for the weekend before christmas. We got in late thursday night and stayed with Nan, sleeping on the floor. We had a relaxing day friday, getting greenmans hoagies for lunch. The weather was a little damp but we went to a really neat castle / church called bryn something. We got an extended tour by a very nice elderly gentleman. We stopped by grandpops to see his Christmas light display and for a brief chat -- this was the first time he had met Aaron! We got cheese steaks and pizza for dinner. Aaron had to try all the philly foods! We then stopped by Aunt Dot and Uncle Rocky's to say hi, meet their new puppy and then drove around looking at lights. They next day we were up and getting ready for the big Smith family party. We drove with Nana and a screaching cat! Poor gandalph got thrown into mom and dads car less than an hour into the drive. 
New Years was spent in Ouray Colorado. The weather was a bit colder than last year but we got tons of climbing in. We even managed to stop at the infamous dirtcycle outside of price on the way down. 
Summer 2006
Aaron's brother Bruce got married this summer to a wonderful woman named Quincy. They held the wedding in Quincy's parents back yard and aaron was the photog (see picture at left) They took a short honey moon right after the wedding but the main honey moon was in september to italy for two weeks.
Aaron's fall break was the second weekend in October. We had grand plans to climb and bike on the white rim in canyonlands for four days. Never make plans! The fates were conspiring against us. The storm of the century hit southern Utah causing flash floods and washed out roads -- there goes the biking idea! To add insult to injury - the cruiser had been over heating for the past week. My friend Owen, a mechanic, suggested that we check the thermostat (a little thing that regulates the flow of antifreeze). So we bought all the stuff to replace it, got under the hood and broke off a rusted screw in the thermostat housing!! Of coarse it starts to rain while this is happening. Aaron's friend lee drove him to the store to get all new screws and aaron was able to drill out the offending one. The car is still purring.
To try and salvage our short break we relaxed all day friday and then drove down to Ibex in the west desert to climb saturday and sunday. It was a long drive but the scenery is amazing. We climbed one three pitch route that was really neat but the top freaked me out! So we hiked around a little bit and sat down to make dinner. A group of annoying kids forced us to relocate camp to a secluded spot about ten miles away. We started a fire and thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the evening. 
The next day we went back and did another three pitch climb. This one was much more enjoyable but it had a hard roof on the third pitch. The summit was just a short 3rd class walk about the anchors and so we both went up and enjoyed the views!
We got a late start the next morning and by the time we got to the climb there were already two parties ahead of us. They seemed to be very inexperienced and moving at a snails pace so the decision was made that Aaron and Dave would do a harder climb and Joanna and I would go for a nice hike with the doggles. We stashed the extra rope, our climbing helmets and my harness and shoes for the next days climb. My eyes were starting to feel very weird at this point an the world was looking a bit fuzzy.
It was 7:30 and starting to rain and Aaron and Dave were still not back from their climb. Needless to say, I was worried! Since I couldn't see a thing Joanna left me in the tent and went back to look for the boys. She found them halfway down the trail, very tired and slightly wet. Aaron was shoked to hear that I was sitting blindly in the ten. I was soo relieved to see him. 
Joanna and Aaron made fast work of the route passing two parties along the way and stopping at the top to enjoy a lunch in the sun. I even managed to gut the fish after some much needed instruction from Dave :-) 
We got up and out around 9am. Aaron had to scramble back to the start of the climb to get my harness and helmet for me that we had stashed two days ago. The hike out was nice and we got to the boat dock around 11am. We took off our shoes and were soaking our feet when I pushed Aaron off the dock and into the water, he he. The look on his face was great! The water was not too cold so we all jumped in for a swim, while we waited for the boat to come pick us up. When relaxed with some beer (Moose Drool) on the other side of the lake before loading up the car to head for home. We made a late lunch stop along the way at a mexican resturant in Hailey (so so food). We got home around 8:30, just in time to watch the fireworks and set off some of our own. All in all, a great trip and a good getaway.
Redrocks 2006
Our latest adventures were the week of March 13th for spring break. Aaron had off from school and I took the week off of work. We traveled down to Vegas on Monday and camped at Red Rocks. Tuesday we took our time getting going and went into town to the local climbing shop to get a new guide book. After talking to someone in the store we decided to hike out to solar slab. The first climb we had wanted to do, "beuhla's book", had more than one party on it and they seemed to be moving slowly. We decided to climb "The Fryer", a four pitch 5.9, although it was only the last pitch that proved challenging. We got off of the climb by 2:30 and after relaxing in the sun for awhile decided to hike back to the car. My friend Mike lives in Vegas and we had hoped to get together with him and Aaron was hoping for a partner to attempt a more difficult route. We meet up with him at his apartment and after catching up for a bit, headed out to dinner at a nice italian restuarant. Good food, good friend and good beer! 
Mike convinced us that Frog Land would be a good climb for the following morning. That evening we drove out the dirt road to the velvet canyon parking area. We pulled up around 11 pm and just as three guys were finishing the hike back from the route, they had started at noon! This disturbed me a little but aaron said not to worry. We got going around 7:30 and were climbing by 9am. The guide book had it listed as a 5.8 with 7 pitches. Aaron managed to condense it to 5 pitches. It was a bit cold in the shade but great in the sunshine! I'm not sure what the other group was doing but we were on top by 1pm. Beautiful climb, nice walk off too! We left Mia tied up by the car, so she was very happy ot see us, after being untied she promptly proceeded to get more cactus stuck in her foot. silly dog! 
That evening we got pho at a little vietnamese restuarant and then meet up with Mike again. After much discussion it was determined that there was too much snow on the climb he and Aaron wanted to do. We camped out illegally again and woke up feeling ready to leave. We stopped by trader joes on the way out of town to pick up wine and then headed home. we took the scenic route to st. george and made it into SLC by 8pm. 
We got out backcountry skiing with Joanna and the dogs on friday. We went up Goblers Knob and came down Alexander Basin, hooking up with the Mill Creek road. The weather was warm so the snow was pretty heavy but it made for a great day.Europe 2005
