Liquid Sunshine

We had been planning to climb in Yosemite over memorial weekend for a long time. Pete and Lane made the trip down from Portland to join us. Mariah decided to join us and two other friends, Eric and Kris from Santa Cruz. The forecast was 30% chance of rain Friday and Saturday. Usually that means fewer people and afternoon dampness. So we drove across the state and got into the park just before dark.

Here is most of the crew enjoying Bridal veil falls without any crowds just before dark. The mist is all from the falls.

We arrived in camp, set up and started telling stories and laughing. Routes for the next morning were decided and bags were packed, to bed we went ready for the great day that Saturday would be.....
We were woke up in the middle of the night by liquid sunshine, no good, no good. Here is the crew in the drizzle facing the change in plans. Since the rock was wet we headed to Mariposa grove for some tree hugging and hiking.Still smiling even though the drizzle had increased. These trees are called the bachelor and three sisters, or something like that.
This is the biggest tree in the grove, quite a site. Hug a tree.
The hiking was fun, we saw every tree we could, hugged a few and had a snowball fight. Returning to the valley it became obvious that it had been raining all day there too. The view was still nice, the clouds had lifted enough to see El Cap.After dinner we went to inspect some climbs. The cracks all had running water in them, it would take a solid day of sunshine to dry things out and the forecast was for rain rain rain. So we decided to get up early and head to Pinnacles, because it doesnt rain in the desert. It rained all night, some of the tents were sitting in water by morning, which made leaving a bit easier. We got a glimpse of halfdome on the way out of the park, there was snow on top! Lou and I were really bummed not to climb, but it was cool to see the park in a different condition.
To our disappointment the rain didn't let up as we drove west, in fact as we got closer to Pinnacles it got worse. Plan C, to the Fraurer house for dinner, margaritas, and an intense game of Monopoly.
Monday we finally managed to find a craig covered in sunshine and climbed until dark.
It was wonderful to see Pete and give Lane a few more hugs before he heads back to Panama. And now we know that 30% chance is a good chance of rain.Jaz climbing next to the waterfall. Great spot, amazing views, a waterfall, some practice smearing, it really doesn't get much better.

Weekend in the City

Lou and I spent a weekend in San Francisco with my Grandparents. My grandparents took a cruise through the panama canal from Florida and hung out a few days in our area. It was great fun to be ride the cable cars, tour the city and hang out with the family. The weather was amazing, but we never did get a good view of the bridge through the bay fog. We had lunch on Pier 39 and watched the sea lions battle for space on the floating docks. It is an entertaining site.

Going down the last hill on the cable line to the bay. Alcatraz in the background and another cable car coming up the hill.
Cable car Power house. It is worth the stop.
Jasmine and Grandpa Fred.
We also enjoyed the china town shops, filled with enough trinkets to last a life time. We tried some items from a bakery. I can't say I would recommend anything we had. Lou and I also wandered around Union square. We were surprised to see shirts, pants, and skirts for well over $1,000. None of which had diamonds or other precious gems attached. Ridiculous!
Before my grandparents headed south to Santa Barbara we spent a day at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and a tour of the lab. It was a fun filled visit.

Animal quiz

Melanie guessed it!
Seahorses only have 150 sperm per testis, the male fertilizes the eggs inside his brood pouch and carries them to term. They are way cool fish.
More marine fun facts coming your way.
First person to get three right will have a sweet treat mailed to them courtesy of the Fraurer bakery.

I get to learn all sorts of cool things about marine animals everyday. Some things stick out above others, and I have decided to share them with you all in quiz form. If we make this a regular thing maybe we will add a prize. So here goes.

What fish has the lowest sperm count of all fishes (150 sperm per testis)?

hint: it is a fish everyone has heard of, nothing obscure.
Fish in this family are found all over the world in shallow water environments.
Some species in this family are aquacultured, BUT NOT FOR FOOD.
Not a catfish
Fish in this family are a favorite, when on exhibit, in public aquariums.
They are generally small in size.
They have a very unique reproductive strategy (it's how they are successful with so few sperm)

SOLID WHITE GRANITE (& some extras)

Who doesn't enjoy that view? Lou and I spent all day (17hrs) last Saturday looking at El Capitan while climbing our first 10 pitch trad climb together in "the valley".
It was a great day although looooong.


I learned a few things from it though,

1. yellow is bigger than red
2. 10 is a lot of pitches
   
3. Australians call pants "trousers" and have a great way of pronouncing BEEE-LAY
4. start Early, especially in Yosemite
   
5. And, climb often if you want to be home for dinner.

The climb was the east buttress of middle cathedral.
It is a great climb, good fun, great ledge for lunching. We recommend climbing it a little later in the season, as the decent went from the normal three rappels to 9 due to all the snow still in the canyon (see the "ss" of Northeast Butress route). We got to the top of the climb at 6pm, and found the first rappel without too much effort. The second rap was not as obvious to us. We found it just as sunset turned into night, Lou got to the bottom in darkness. The second rappel was more complicated than we anticipated, but with a little resourcefulness and patience we got to the first of the snowpack. By this time of day the snow had re-hardened into an un-walkable ice-sheet. From there we had 7 more rappel stations to find in the dark. There we were zig zagging across from one side of the canyon to the other looking for the top of the next rappel. When we finally got off the rope our friends were waiting at the edge of the snow pack next to a warm crackling fire. We enjoyed the fire, finished our snacks from the day and hiked down the rest of the way to the road. We got back to the jetta at 1am. It was an experience, slow and steady we went. For a short 5 minutes I thought we'd be sleeping on the top of the cathedral, but never scarred or uncomfortable with what we were doing. The route just took much longer than either one of us had anticipated.I guess when you don't have a dog you take pictures of your charismatic car instead. Yosemite falls at full flow in background

The next day we awoke hungry and sore. After a delicious brunch we set out to do some mellow hikes. There is a ton of water flowing into the valley right now, every where we looked there was a new fall we hadn't seen on previous trips.
Bridal veil falls, too bad you can't hear things from pictures.
I know this isn't an original shot, I know it is far from being a flattering picture at that(of the scenery, Lou is damn sexy), but maybe it will entice someone to come play with us in Yosemite. The weather was perfect, not too hot not too cold.
Then we went to see some big, big trees. This one was part of the old road used to get to Yosemite Valley. Horse draw carriages went through it.
This tree fell in 1983. It had a burn scar that weakened one side so after a big winter storm it toppled. You can crawl through about 2/3 of it. I am not even that far down the tree and Lou look like a bug in comparison to its size! We love trees!
We spent the first weekend of May back at Pinnacles. I practiced placing some gear and Lou rocked an 11a. The high light, as it often seems at pinnacles, was the wildlife. This snake was a great climber and pretty good looking too. Snakes are cool. We also saw some red headed wood peckers and a few bees (there are 400 kinds of bees at Pinnacles national monument!)