Happy Thanksgiving

I was incredibly lucky to meet Sean and Heather on my first trip through Santa Cruz last year. Since then we have had a lot of good times. They have invited me to stay in their home, introduced me to their friends and families, and most recently were thoughtful enough to invite me to share their Thanksgiving holiday. I couldn't even begin to adequately describe the level of esteem I feel for them. I consider them to be among my closest of friends.

Today was the Thanksgiving that everyone secretly dreams of. A gathering of cool people with a ridiculous amount of incredible food and libations with absolutely no family drama. Just a good time for an entire day. And we're even going to bed with a clean kitchen.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I missed my family today but I really felt like I was embraced by another. Thank you Sean. Thank you Heather.

Que, Que? Salud!

What do you do when the best happy hour in a sleepy northern Cal town is in a small historic bowling alley? You bowl, while enjoying $2.50 Stella's served in a proper glass. I'm pretty sure this place hasn't changed since it was built in 1960. There are 10 lanes and four stools at the food counter where I sat with a pleasant older Mexican woman. Neither of us understood a word the other said so we just smiled and nodded as we enjoyed our cold beers. As strange as it may sound we actually had fun. I had my camera with me so I messed around with the timer and ended up getting this shot.

Check out the Riverside Lanes if you're ever passing through the quiet town of Colusa, CA.

Jumping Cholla Batman!

The last post made me think of another place that is popular for bouldering. The Joshua Tree National Park in southern Cal is a cool place to explore because there are high and low desert areas offering a variety of terrain and scenery. The higher areas are full of cool rock formations of different colors and textures and sizes. There is some great hiking here with trails everywhere of all degrees of difficulty. The lower areas of the park provide huge views of open desert with distant ridges and ranges. This picture was taken in the lower part of the park in a cholla garden that is a pretty popular stop. Be careful though. They don't call them Jumping Cholla for no reason. It really is crazy how you can walk through this prickly gauntlet with no trouble. But somehow one or two of these things is stuck to your pant leg when you get in the car. They're not as sneaky when you're wearing shorts.

I've added a higher res version of this pic to a gallery here.

Bouldering In Bishop

Bishop, CA is a small town in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains that is home to the annual Mule Days Celebration in addition to some of the best bouldering in the world. To be honest I wasn't aware of either when I first rolled into town. I didn't stick around for Mule Days but I did learn a lot about the rock climbing culture while hanging out with Mike (pictured), Duncan and Mark who were in the states from the UK. They were on an epic 6 months road trip to climb on rocks big and small throughout the western part of the country. We all stayed in touch and met up three times in different towns and states throughout our journeys and had a blast every time. I'll see you guys in London.

Bad Idea

This just looks like an argument waiting to happen.