Archive for November, 2011

Party – Our 10th Manniversary

Thursday, November 24th, 2011

Our 10th Manniversary Party
We hosted the Detroit Lions Fanclub to come over and watch the traditional Thanksgiving football game in our basement. Since our Anniversary happened to coincide with Thanksgiving (& Football), I decided to call it our Manniversary! Everybody hung out to watch the Lions lose to the Packers (who only ended up losing one game the entire season!) and then feasted. It was a wonderful day.

Friendsgiving Food-Sponsored by Justin
Justin & Crystal brought over copious amounts of food, all cooked family style. It was awesome. In addition, we had two different organic, range fed turkeys; cajun styled and traditional. Two kinds of gravy; full dark and chunky vs. light and smooth.

Chocolate Suicide With Raspberries
Bailey's Irish Cream Pie
Joan brought two different desserts; Bailey’s Irish Cream Pie and a Chocolate Suicide Mousse. Both were amazing!

Rock Climbing – Third Flatiron, East Face (5.6)

Friday, November 11th, 2011

Clare & Jeff Ready to Rappel Third Flatiron

Jeff and I climbed the Third Flatiron on Veteran’s Day. There was one other party climbing with us, but they were nice dudes and so it was okay. Jeff had never led the East Face route, so he did the evens while I did the odds. It worked out really well.

The Flatirons - Boulder, CO View Northward - Third Flatiron Nerd Spotting on Third Flatiron Jeff Launching up Pitch 2 - Third Flatiron

Timeline:
10:30am, started hiking.
12:00pm, started climbing.
3:40pm, summit.
4:00pm, joined another party for one long rappel.
5:00pm, back to packs (It was dark, so we had to use our headlamps!).

The hike back to the packs was treacherous as the trail on the north side of the Flatiron was compressed snow and ice. A few times we slipped, but thankfully we didn’t twist an ankle. Microspikes would have come in really handy!

The Fig Adventure Race

Saturday, November 5th, 2011


On Saturday, I woke up at 4:45am Eastern Standard time.

Barry and I ate a simple breakfast while Ann and Jane cooked up eggs & more. At this hour, I just shove food down the hatch and hope it stays down! I can’t eat anything complicated-a little rice or a banana is sufficient.

Ann’s other drove us the 30 minutes to the race start, thank goodness! We were all much too groggy & pre-occupied with last minute race preparations.

Big Bone Lick State Park Rangers
Overall, I was very happy we worked so smoothly as a team. The hurdles we encountered were mostly caused by our lack of experience and I believe we were all very proud that we finished. It is definitely a challenging and serious undertaking to do the Fig!

Jane & Ann Study the Map Barry - One Tough Kayaker Ann, Our Expert Navigator Team Gets Checkpoint #5
We found out later that one team capsized in the river and became hypothermic, one gal broke her nose when she went over her handle bars, and one team did not finish because they got lost and had to walk back to an aid station-following railroad tracks.

Barry did crash his bicycle, but thank goodness he was okay enough to make it the last couple of miles to the finish. He’s one tough dude, that’s for sure!

Clare Kayaking on the Kentucky River
Thanks to my companions: Ann, Jane, and Barry. I will look back at my first Adventure Race with fond memories. Wobbly bacon, the repeated offerings of warm gloves, kayaking advice & help on the river, and the frequent stops to make our “bladders gladder”! What an amazing day!

Rock Climbing – Muir Valley Moderates

Friday, November 4th, 2011

Clare Climbing in Muir Valley RedRiverGorgeTheFig 017

I have never before missed a flight, but this weekend I did. I was supposed to leave on a Wednesday night, so we could drive down to the RRG (Red River Gorge) on Thursday. The plan was to climb a little Thursday, some on Friday, and then do the Fig adventure race on Saturday. (more…)