The Fall season has been an absolute whirlwind of adventure. We spent more than half of October camping and climbing with friends in Southern Illinois and Kentucky. We explored new areas that we had never been to, reached new highs in our climbing, and got to know some amazing people that we wish we had known all of our lives.
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| Micah flying high! |
On our first Red River Gorger trip of October, we met up with Calvin, Angie, and Angie's parents. Angie's father, Papa John, was so terrific with Micah and he was constantly thinking of creative things to do with him. They would build garages for his toy trucks out of sticks, make noise machines out of old soda cans and rocks, put leaves in their shoelaces, and walk around with tin cans stuck to the bottom of their shoes. Micah was constantly engaged in one activity or another when Papa John was around. I've never seen someone that was so good with kids and I learned so much just from watching them play together. Papa John is going to make an amazing grandpa someday!
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| Uncle "DooDoo"! |
A few days after returning to Missouri, I took Micah to the pumpkin patch at Aholt Farms. Micah got to go on a wagon ride, drive a racing oil barrel, play in a giant box of corn, and wade through a sea of pumpkins.
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| Chuck on "Snozeberries", 5.12a |
That weekend, we headed to the Red River Gorge for week and a half long climbing trip with friends from St. Louis, Indiana, and California. We carpooled with Chuck, a guy that we didn't know very well at the time. By the end of the trip, we were sad that we hadn't met him sooner. Chuck is an amazing climber, mountaineer, poet, mathematician, and cook. The list just goes on and on. Chuck has climbed the Matterhorn, Denali, Mount Rainier, Mount Shasta, Kilimanjaro, Mount Everest, and a bunch of other mountains that have strange names I can't pronounce. The guy is fearless on a rope and is constantly pushing his limits. And here's the kicker.... he's 69 years old! We had such a good time climbing with Chuck and look forward to many great adventures with him! Micah took to Chuck right away and had no interest in playing with his parents when Chuck was around.
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| In the eyes of the mouse, the cat is the lion. (Albanian Proverb) |
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| Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far. (West African proverb) |
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| M helping out with rope management |
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| One of M's favorite crag activities...eating. |
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| All racked up just like Mommy and Daddy |
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| M and Chuck packing up the rope |
Four days into our Red River Gorge trip, the Cali crew arrived. It's always fun to climb with old friends. The temps dropped into the low 40's, but they were troopers and continued to have a good time despite frigid conditions. Luckily they rented a cabin so we were all able to enjoy Lena's amazing breakfasts every morning and thaw out at night around the fireplace. I think the Red was a bit humbling for everyone, but that's just the nature of the place. Everyone got a lot of great climbs in, even Micah, who climbed up a 5.1 that's actually in the guidebook. He liked it so much, he ended up climbing the route four times!
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| M cruising up his 2nd outdoors route |
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| Our lil crusher |
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| All geared up! |
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M with his buddies, Brian and Oky
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| Yoli enjoying the view (and rest!) from "Super Best Friends" |
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| CR on "Freakin' Deacon" |
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| Climbing at the Chocolate Factory...with much needed sunshine! |
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| "Yo Mike!" |
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| Oky! |
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| The Cali gang |
October wouldn't be complete without a Halloween costume and what better costume could there be for our little monkey than a... well... a monkey. Uu-Uu-Ah-Ah!
