climbergirl blog

On Thursday, October 2nd, I got up at 6:30am. Not to go climbing, or go to work, or to clean up cat puke…I was on my way to the land of spices, the Sahara, and one of the best sport climbing crags in the world. The Todra Gorge is several hundred meters high limestone peppered with bolts!

As a way to celebrate our significant birthdays (mine 30th and Barry’s 50th), we decided on a trip to the exotic and overwhelming jewel of Africa. I was thrilled to the core to be going there, and also relieved that my intrepid brother, Jon, agreed to tag along…as having family along is always a good idea in 3rd world countries! (more…)

May 31st, the Eve of my 30th birthday, Dennis & I drove up to Ft. Collins. We got a room at the Hilton, and it was surprisingly affordable, for a hotel of that calliber. The lobby inside is fantastic, a huge open space with fountains & the ubiquitous starbucks café.

Apparently, there was a big car show in one of the neighboring townships as the parking lot was full of old remodelled cars. In fact, one whole side of the parking lot was cordoned off, so we walked & gawked.

My favorite was the 1930s gangster style get-away car. I imagined riding the running boards in a trench coat, fedora, and wielding a large gun. His favorite was an old jeep with a flatbed in the back. It was just such a unique truck…too bad I left the camera in the room!

For dinner, by Ann’s referral, we went to the Rustic Oven downtown. We had spinach artichoke dip, and had a wonderful meal. I had a Sangria, which made me tipsy. We shared dessert (of course, it was my birthday the next day!) a strawberry rhubarb pastry with creme fresh. After dinner, we walked around a bit and then headed back to the hotel to watch a beautiful sunset.

I dreamt of cracks & chimneys…a happy birthday dream!

On Day Three of our trip, we drove from St. George to Moab, UT. We woke up at a nice time, had breakfast. The Holiday Inn outside of St. George is super nice, and they are definitely pet friendly. The night before we had used the hot tub, which felt great on our backs & sore climbing muscles.

I took a few pictures of the scenery as we passed through Utah. It really is beautiful country, and the truck did okay at the mountain passes we had to negotiate. We shifted into 3rd on occasion, but mostly we were in 4th cruising along just fine over the slightly icy roads.

The day went by fast, we talked most the way. We both were tired of talking by the time we got to Moab (1 hour before sunset). We checked into our hotel and then immediately went for a hike with the last tidbit of daylight left.