As you can imagine, we've had a lot of people asking what's next for us. We're ready to answer a few of your questions.
When are you returning to work?
Brandon starts Monday, October 3. I start Tuesday, October 4.
Where are you working?
Brandon will be returning to TechSmith full-time and working remote. I will be beginning a part-time physical therapy position at Owens Physical Therapy in Grand Rapids.
Where will you be living?
We will be living in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We have found an upper apartment in a house in Eastown. It's not our ideal in many ways, but we're going to make the most of it. And, most importantly, we have space for visitors!
I think that covers the life basics, so we'll leave it at that for now. More details/lengthy explanation of the process to come...
Monday, September 19, 2016
Thursday, September 8, 2016
August Events
August went by quickly as all the summer months do. For half of the month we visited our friend Kirk in Florida, which we have several posts about. We spent another full week in the Quad Cities along with a quick visit to the Iowa State Fair. I guess it's good that August is a long month with 31 days, because somehow we fit the following in as well.
Visiting grandparents
It had been too long since we'd seen my grandparents in Kalamazoo, so we made a trip down there to see them. It was nice to catch up while sitting on the deck and then over lunch.
When we visited the Quad Cities we were able to see both of Brandon's grandmas and catch up a bit as well.
A stay at the Blanski's
We were able to house-sit the Blanski's house for a few days and water their plants while they were away. Really they were just being nice to us, since we're still homeless and need places to stay. It was great to be back in the neighborhood, and I must say that Alex's kitchen set-up is very well thought-out and perfect for guest use. But, we really missed hanging out with our friends while staying at their house. It wasn't the same without Alex, Tabitha, and two little girls.
Continuing to climb, climb, climb
We've continued our climbing training in anticipation of a trip to the Red River Gorge in September. We even found a great deal at a Florida climbing gym and kept up our training during our two weeks there. I'm sure our normal climbing partners in Grand Rapids will be happy to have us back though. Honestly, not being able to climb with them consistently throughout the year has been one of the toughest things about being nomadic.
Colin visits Brandon in Grand Rapids
Brandon got an unexpected call from a Chicago friend who was driving through Grand Rapids on his way up north. They were able to meet up for a couple hours and catch up on life, which was a welcome surprise.
A wedding dress search
My mom, sister, and I went on a quest for a bridal gown for my sister's upcoming wedding in December. We discovered that apparently looking for a bridal gown in August for a December wedding is nearly too late due to ordering, alterations, etc. Who knew? Not me. Brandon and I did our wedding in a rather non-traditional fashion. No worries. My sister found her dress and will look beautiful as always.
The babies keep getting older
Our friends babies just keep getting older. I had to miss out (bridal dress shopping), but Brandon was able to attend August's 1st birthday party, eat delicious birthday donuts, and hang out with friends.
Meeting up with friends over food
The sushi place in Holland knows our friend Zuri by her voice when she calls for take-out. She's the person to have sushi with. It was wonderful to meet up with her and catch up on life.
That same day we were able to spend time with our friend Jack over Chinese food. He always speaks such encouragement and wisdom into our lives, and it's always fun to hear what he's doing in retirement.
I also got to see my friend Kendra on her lunch break and finally hear about her May honeymoon.
Hitting up some Holland favorites
We made it to the beach a couple times, and Lake Michigan never fails to impress. It's so beautiful. We're definitely going to miss living as close as we were. We also had to stop at Taco Fiesta and enjoy their al pastor tacos. These al pastor tacos are seriously the best...we would know. Unfortunately, also in August, an attempt on our part to try to replicate the al pastor meat and flavors failed miserably...we'll keep trying.
Canadian Lakes with the Barnetts
The Barnetts rented a cottage on Canadian Lakes and invited anyone in our friend group to come out for a couple days. Being homeless, we happily obliged. We had a great time enjoying the lake, drinking wine, spending time around the fire, watching Olympics, and just hanging out with great friends.
5 year physical therapy class reunion
It's been five years since I survived and graduated from PT school. It was fun to meet up with some former classmates at a park and hear what they're doing now. We should probably meet up more often then every 5 years.
Quad City visit
We spent about a week of August in the Quad Cities. Besides spending time with family and going to the Iowa State Fair, we were able to catch up with friends and eat quintissential QC food. We met Auzzie and Kristy and their boys for time in the park and some Whitey's shakes. We had a good time grabbing Hungry Hobo's subs and Whitey's with Mike and Anna and bringing it back to their place to watch some Olympics. We tried to go to Habanero's with Christian and Liz, but it's closed on Mondays, so we tried out La Rancherita #2 which turned out to be a delicious decision. And, we still got our Habanero's fix in with Matt and Rose.
As aforementioned, for more on the Iowa State Fair and visiting our friend Kirk in Florida you can check out some other blog posts. And, that was August!
Visiting grandparents
It had been too long since we'd seen my grandparents in Kalamazoo, so we made a trip down there to see them. It was nice to catch up while sitting on the deck and then over lunch.
When we visited the Quad Cities we were able to see both of Brandon's grandmas and catch up a bit as well.
A stay at the Blanski's
We were able to house-sit the Blanski's house for a few days and water their plants while they were away. Really they were just being nice to us, since we're still homeless and need places to stay. It was great to be back in the neighborhood, and I must say that Alex's kitchen set-up is very well thought-out and perfect for guest use. But, we really missed hanging out with our friends while staying at their house. It wasn't the same without Alex, Tabitha, and two little girls.
Continuing to climb, climb, climb
We've continued our climbing training in anticipation of a trip to the Red River Gorge in September. We even found a great deal at a Florida climbing gym and kept up our training during our two weeks there. I'm sure our normal climbing partners in Grand Rapids will be happy to have us back though. Honestly, not being able to climb with them consistently throughout the year has been one of the toughest things about being nomadic.
Colin visits Brandon in Grand Rapids
Brandon got an unexpected call from a Chicago friend who was driving through Grand Rapids on his way up north. They were able to meet up for a couple hours and catch up on life, which was a welcome surprise.
A wedding dress search
My mom, sister, and I went on a quest for a bridal gown for my sister's upcoming wedding in December. We discovered that apparently looking for a bridal gown in August for a December wedding is nearly too late due to ordering, alterations, etc. Who knew? Not me. Brandon and I did our wedding in a rather non-traditional fashion. No worries. My sister found her dress and will look beautiful as always.
The babies keep getting older
Our friends babies just keep getting older. I had to miss out (bridal dress shopping), but Brandon was able to attend August's 1st birthday party, eat delicious birthday donuts, and hang out with friends.
Meeting up with friends over food
The sushi place in Holland knows our friend Zuri by her voice when she calls for take-out. She's the person to have sushi with. It was wonderful to meet up with her and catch up on life.
That same day we were able to spend time with our friend Jack over Chinese food. He always speaks such encouragement and wisdom into our lives, and it's always fun to hear what he's doing in retirement.
I also got to see my friend Kendra on her lunch break and finally hear about her May honeymoon.
Hitting up some Holland favorites
We made it to the beach a couple times, and Lake Michigan never fails to impress. It's so beautiful. We're definitely going to miss living as close as we were. We also had to stop at Taco Fiesta and enjoy their al pastor tacos. These al pastor tacos are seriously the best...we would know. Unfortunately, also in August, an attempt on our part to try to replicate the al pastor meat and flavors failed miserably...we'll keep trying.
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| Enjoying the lake at Saugatuck Dunes |
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| Appreciating Lake Michigan |
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| Taco Fiesta's al pastor tacos |
Canadian Lakes with the Barnetts
The Barnetts rented a cottage on Canadian Lakes and invited anyone in our friend group to come out for a couple days. Being homeless, we happily obliged. We had a great time enjoying the lake, drinking wine, spending time around the fire, watching Olympics, and just hanging out with great friends.
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| Three men and a baby |
5 year physical therapy class reunion
It's been five years since I survived and graduated from PT school. It was fun to meet up with some former classmates at a park and hear what they're doing now. We should probably meet up more often then every 5 years.
Quad City visit
We spent about a week of August in the Quad Cities. Besides spending time with family and going to the Iowa State Fair, we were able to catch up with friends and eat quintissential QC food. We met Auzzie and Kristy and their boys for time in the park and some Whitey's shakes. We had a good time grabbing Hungry Hobo's subs and Whitey's with Mike and Anna and bringing it back to their place to watch some Olympics. We tried to go to Habanero's with Christian and Liz, but it's closed on Mondays, so we tried out La Rancherita #2 which turned out to be a delicious decision. And, we still got our Habanero's fix in with Matt and Rose.
As aforementioned, for more on the Iowa State Fair and visiting our friend Kirk in Florida you can check out some other blog posts. And, that was August!
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
Florida Tacos and Beer
As you probably all know by now, no trip is ever complete for us unless we've checked out the local taco and beer scene. Below are some of the highlights of our taco and beer adventures in Florida.
3 Daughters Brewing
After our first day out climbing, Katie and I wanted to hit up one of the many breweries near the climbing gym in St Petersburg. We decided on 3 Daughters quite simply because it was the only one open. The rest in the area didn't open for another hour. But despite not picking the place based on what we heard about the beer, we were not disappointed.
We were able to start our visit with a flight of 4 of their beers plus a smaller sample of a couple others. The taproom was a little on the small side, but it was air-conditioned. So we were just happy to get a break from the heat. The barkeep was also super nice. I got a chance to talk with her a bit while Katie took a potential job-related call out in the car. (Don't worry we'll be making a job update post here soon) Once Katie returned, we determined our favorite beer was their coffee blonde, which as it turns out was what we were attempting to make with our friend Nate at the end of July.
After our flight we decided to split a pint of that coffee blonde. The barkeep was nice enough to pour two half glasses without asking, which meant we probably got a little more than a normal pint. Not a bad way to go at all. She also told us we should go into the brew house where they had a bunch of games we could play with views of the brewing equipment in action. So we did just that and were very impressed with the wide variety of things to do. We played several of the games as we finished off our pint. It was a great visit. I would definitely go back again.
I just looked up what their name came from and on their "about" page of their website it says "How many beers does it take to put three daughters through college? The owners don’t know the answer, but certainly hope to find out." I just thought that was pretty funny and worth sharing.
Darwin Brewing Co.
We wanted to check out a brewery near-ish where Kirk lived so that we could easily drag him along. We picked Darwin Brewing because it had good reviews. We did our usual tasting flight. Nothing was bad, but we weren't impressed enough to splurge for a pint of anything we tried. It was still a fun experience to go grab something with Kirk
Random Taco Truck
Kirk didn't have a lot of positive things to say about any Florida Mexican restaurants, but he also hadn't been that adventurous in what he tried. He pointed out a taco truck that he had never been to a few miles from his house. We pretty much drove by every day while we were oot and aboot, so it was calling our name. I tried to look up its name, but it wasn't listed anywhere even though its always on the same street corner every day. For some this may be a deterrent, but for Katie and I that spells out potential authentic taco excellence!
For some reason we didn't get around to trying it until the last couple days of our visit. And of course those last couple days had to be the days a tropical storm/potential hurricane was hitting Florida. Well we were determined to try it out despite the weather. So we waited for a lull in tumultuous rain and set out in the Kirk's truck in case the streets were flooded. When we arrived it was still raining a bit, so we even had to order under an umbrella.
We ordered 6 different kinds of tacos and took them back to Kirk's place to eat. Man were they good. Their tortillas were super fresh and delicious. All the different styles were great, but the al pastor was our favorite. It may even rival our favorite al pastor tacos in Holland. Our only complaint was they were a little skimpy on their fillings. But each taco was only $1.50, so its hard to complain too much. I would highly recommend trying them out.
Casita Taqueria
We stopped by a Trader Joe's after climbing one afternoon and saw a sign that's hard to ignore: "BEER...TACOS". We of course had just bought some perishables and couldn't risk them going bad. So we were responsible and tabled the visit. But we made a mental note of the place and hoped we'd be seeing it again. Well luckily another opportunity arose. We wanted to get in one more visit to the climbing gym in St. Pete on our last full day in town, but the Skyway bridge had been closed since the day before due to high winds of the Tropical Storm. We were a little annoyed with this because by Friday the winds really weren't that bad at all, but the bridge did eventually open up for the evening. So we made Kirk go with us with the hopes we could get him to climb and then grab dinner afterwards. We were unsuccessful in getting him to climb, but we were very successful in finding another delicious taco joint in town. That place was Casita Taqueria.
Casita Taqueria actually had two locations. So we went to the one closer to the climbing gym, not the one we saw by Trader Joes. It's always a good sign when you walk into a place and there enough variety of tacos that sound good where our order ends up being "one of every taco please". We did get a beer as well. We tried a local IPA called Milo's IPA from St Pete Brewing Company. It paired quite well with our tacos.
The tacos were quite delicious. Our favorite was surprisingly the barbacoa taco. We don't usually love that style of taco because it tends to be too greasy. But theirs was perfect. The variety of ingredients and styles felt very similar to one of our favorite Michigan spots: Imperial, which we last went to back in May. That means though that they also were a little on the pricey side. But given that this was our last night in town, Kirk treated us to dinner. So who was really counting :) ... Thanks Kirk for a delicious end to our time in Florida!
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| Tacos and Beer!!!! |
3 Daughters Brewing
After our first day out climbing, Katie and I wanted to hit up one of the many breweries near the climbing gym in St Petersburg. We decided on 3 Daughters quite simply because it was the only one open. The rest in the area didn't open for another hour. But despite not picking the place based on what we heard about the beer, we were not disappointed.
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| Katie and I enjoying a refreshing beer together in the brewhouse. |
We were able to start our visit with a flight of 4 of their beers plus a smaller sample of a couple others. The taproom was a little on the small side, but it was air-conditioned. So we were just happy to get a break from the heat. The barkeep was also super nice. I got a chance to talk with her a bit while Katie took a potential job-related call out in the car. (Don't worry we'll be making a job update post here soon) Once Katie returned, we determined our favorite beer was their coffee blonde, which as it turns out was what we were attempting to make with our friend Nate at the end of July.
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| The flight that helped us determine our favorite 3 Daughters beer |
After our flight we decided to split a pint of that coffee blonde. The barkeep was nice enough to pour two half glasses without asking, which meant we probably got a little more than a normal pint. Not a bad way to go at all. She also told us we should go into the brew house where they had a bunch of games we could play with views of the brewing equipment in action. So we did just that and were very impressed with the wide variety of things to do. We played several of the games as we finished off our pint. It was a great visit. I would definitely go back again.
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| The brew house |
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| Canning line in action |
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| Shuffleboard tables and darts |
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| All the tables had different games printed right on them |
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| Katie playing the hook and ringtoss game. There's a pretty nice stage behind her too. I bet this place would be great to see a show at! |
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| Katie playing checkers with me. |
I just looked up what their name came from and on their "about" page of their website it says "How many beers does it take to put three daughters through college? The owners don’t know the answer, but certainly hope to find out." I just thought that was pretty funny and worth sharing.
Darwin Brewing Co.
We wanted to check out a brewery near-ish where Kirk lived so that we could easily drag him along. We picked Darwin Brewing because it had good reviews. We did our usual tasting flight. Nothing was bad, but we weren't impressed enough to splurge for a pint of anything we tried. It was still a fun experience to go grab something with Kirk
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| Darwin's coaster |
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| Our flight |
Random Taco Truck
Kirk didn't have a lot of positive things to say about any Florida Mexican restaurants, but he also hadn't been that adventurous in what he tried. He pointed out a taco truck that he had never been to a few miles from his house. We pretty much drove by every day while we were oot and aboot, so it was calling our name. I tried to look up its name, but it wasn't listed anywhere even though its always on the same street corner every day. For some this may be a deterrent, but for Katie and I that spells out potential authentic taco excellence!
For some reason we didn't get around to trying it until the last couple days of our visit. And of course those last couple days had to be the days a tropical storm/potential hurricane was hitting Florida. Well we were determined to try it out despite the weather. So we waited for a lull in tumultuous rain and set out in the Kirk's truck in case the streets were flooded. When we arrived it was still raining a bit, so we even had to order under an umbrella.
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| A determined taco enthusiast |
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| I was still all smiles though... totally worth waiting in the rain. |
We ordered 6 different kinds of tacos and took them back to Kirk's place to eat. Man were they good. Their tortillas were super fresh and delicious. All the different styles were great, but the al pastor was our favorite. It may even rival our favorite al pastor tacos in Holland. Our only complaint was they were a little skimpy on their fillings. But each taco was only $1.50, so its hard to complain too much. I would highly recommend trying them out.
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| Our very authentic tacos. |
Casita Taqueria
We stopped by a Trader Joe's after climbing one afternoon and saw a sign that's hard to ignore: "BEER...TACOS". We of course had just bought some perishables and couldn't risk them going bad. So we were responsible and tabled the visit. But we made a mental note of the place and hoped we'd be seeing it again. Well luckily another opportunity arose. We wanted to get in one more visit to the climbing gym in St. Pete on our last full day in town, but the Skyway bridge had been closed since the day before due to high winds of the Tropical Storm. We were a little annoyed with this because by Friday the winds really weren't that bad at all, but the bridge did eventually open up for the evening. So we made Kirk go with us with the hopes we could get him to climb and then grab dinner afterwards. We were unsuccessful in getting him to climb, but we were very successful in finding another delicious taco joint in town. That place was Casita Taqueria.
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| The sign that drew us in |
Casita Taqueria actually had two locations. So we went to the one closer to the climbing gym, not the one we saw by Trader Joes. It's always a good sign when you walk into a place and there enough variety of tacos that sound good where our order ends up being "one of every taco please". We did get a beer as well. We tried a local IPA called Milo's IPA from St Pete Brewing Company. It paired quite well with our tacos.
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| Kirk having a near death experience |
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| Our taco platter with 9 different kinds of tacos |
The tacos were quite delicious. Our favorite was surprisingly the barbacoa taco. We don't usually love that style of taco because it tends to be too greasy. But theirs was perfect. The variety of ingredients and styles felt very similar to one of our favorite Michigan spots: Imperial, which we last went to back in May. That means though that they also were a little on the pricey side. But given that this was our last night in town, Kirk treated us to dinner. So who was really counting :) ... Thanks Kirk for a delicious end to our time in Florida!
Living the Florida Life
The Florida life is a strange one. Maybe it's unfair to generalize too much, so at the very least Kirk's Florida life is a strange one. But we had a lot of fun living life with him. We did the usual cook, eat, and sleep. We hung out a lot with his dog Basic (who was named because he was just a "basic" dog). We went on a lot of walks around the neighborhood and on a few trails around the area. We explored. And we got to enjoy the good and the bad of Florida weather. What more could we ask for.
Little Florida Residents:
Walks Around the Neighborhood:
Exploring the Florida Hiking Trails:
Exploring Other Parts of Florida:
It had been several years since Katie had been to a Cheesecake Factory. So we stopped by since we were near one after one of our Top Golf visits. The verdict was that it was still very good, but it has gotten too expensive. Plus Katie's cheesecake making skills have vastly improved over the years and she can make them just a good as the pros. We won't be needing to go back again anytime soon.
The Storm:
We had lots of people wondering if we were affected at all by the tropical storm/hurricane that crossed over Florida while we were down there. I'm not sure what it ended up being officially categorized as, but they did name it Hermine.
The storm didn't affect us too much. Kirk's place never lost power or had any problems with water. We did get to sit through several pretty intense storms and downpours of rain. But Katie and I love storms so it was pretty awesome to watch. At most it meant we stayed inside a bit more than we would have otherwise. Like I talked about earlier this post, we tried to go for a lot of walks, but heavy winds and rain were apparently a good enough excuse for Kirk to skip out on his exercise for a few days.
The worst day for us ended up being the day we had to go pick up Kirk from the airport. A few of the streets near Kirk's place were flooded, but it wasn't anything Kirk's truck couldn't handle. So we just drove the truck around if it had been raining hard for awhile. The other slight annoyance was that they closed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which was the easiest way to get to St. Pete. But that only happened on the second day and third day of the storm. Having it closed on the third day was the most annoying because the storm had calmed significantly, but yet they still kept the bridge closed for supposed high winds. All that meant though was that we couldn't go climbing when we were originally planning. Not a big deal.
Little Florida Residents:
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| Trying to teach Basic new tricks. Katie and I were mean and made Basic work for his treats :) |
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| A little Florida lizard on Kirks back porch |
Walks Around the Neighborhood:
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| How you do a Florida walk with a spoiled dog |
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| A friendly cat that was often out during our walks |
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| One night we saw a double rainbow on our walk |
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| We never made it to the beach at sunset, but we did have one night with a pretty awesome on one of our walks |
Exploring the Florida Hiking Trails:
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| Katie reading about the De Soto Pointe |
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| Kirk probably pointing out where he wants to live once he gets rich |
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| The De Soto National Memorial trails had these comical cutouts of era-specific residents and explorers of the area |
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| A pretty big cross on the De Soto trail |
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| The view form atop a tower at the center of the Robinson Preserve This was the hottest hike we did because there was very little shade. |
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| Taking a break on the shaded tower |
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| This is from the third hike we did out to the Emerson Point Preserve. And yes, I was taking my sun protection very seriously, so I brought an umbrella with me on all our hikes. For some reason they both teased me about it quite a bit. |
Exploring Other Parts of Florida:
It had been several years since Katie had been to a Cheesecake Factory. So we stopped by since we were near one after one of our Top Golf visits. The verdict was that it was still very good, but it has gotten too expensive. Plus Katie's cheesecake making skills have vastly improved over the years and she can make them just a good as the pros. We won't be needing to go back again anytime soon.
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| Katie with her cheesecake |
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| A few of the things we did were in Brandon, FL. Katie was very weirded out by all the things with my name on it, but this bus felt particularly creepy. |
The Storm:
We had lots of people wondering if we were affected at all by the tropical storm/hurricane that crossed over Florida while we were down there. I'm not sure what it ended up being officially categorized as, but they did name it Hermine.
The storm didn't affect us too much. Kirk's place never lost power or had any problems with water. We did get to sit through several pretty intense storms and downpours of rain. But Katie and I love storms so it was pretty awesome to watch. At most it meant we stayed inside a bit more than we would have otherwise. Like I talked about earlier this post, we tried to go for a lot of walks, but heavy winds and rain were apparently a good enough excuse for Kirk to skip out on his exercise for a few days.
The worst day for us ended up being the day we had to go pick up Kirk from the airport. A few of the streets near Kirk's place were flooded, but it wasn't anything Kirk's truck couldn't handle. So we just drove the truck around if it had been raining hard for awhile. The other slight annoyance was that they closed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which was the easiest way to get to St. Pete. But that only happened on the second day and third day of the storm. Having it closed on the third day was the most annoying because the storm had calmed significantly, but yet they still kept the bridge closed for supposed high winds. All that meant though was that we couldn't go climbing when we were originally planning. Not a big deal.
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| It's hard to see, but it was raining crazy hard. You can kind of see the slight flooding in the streets |
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| A creek was forming in the backyard of Kirk's yard, but no gators were seen. |
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| Braving the storm to get tacos |
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
Florida Rock Climbing
We have a climbing trip coming up at the end of September, so Katie and I wanted to do our best to stay in shape for that trip. Luckily we found a climbing gym in St. Petersburg called Vertical Ventures that was only 25 minutes north from where we were staying in Florida. We basically just had to cross over the Tampa Bay via the Sunshine Skybridge Bridge.
Pricing wise, this place could not have worked out better. They had a deal for new climbers that if you take their belay class, it comes with a two week membership to the gym all for $25. So even though it was a little annoying to take another belay class/test for the millionth time this year, it was totally worth it to get that 2 week unlimited climbing membership. We ended up climbing there 5 times across those 2 weeks so essentially we paid $5 a person per visit.
The gym was setup a little strange. They had one pretty wide main section geared towards newer climbers. This section was not quite as tall and had either pre-setup belay stations (kind of like what we used in Australia) or an auto-belay system that takes up the slack as a climber ascends and safely controls the descent when a climber lets go or falls. The climbs in that section that were supposedly at our difficulty level were crazy pumpy and a little frustrating to climb. We mainly used this area for warm up/cool down runs or endurance training.
They had a taller climbing section called The Pit where we could do the normal type of belaying. We of course had to get a second safety check to use this section. But it was totally worth it because these climbs were much more our style. Only one corner of the pit had ropes setup to do top rope. The rest were overhung and meant for lead climbing. We never got around to getting certified to lead there because that would have meant that we'd have to rent a rope. There were some really fun 5.11's and even a 5.12 that we both projected and were really close to getting clean before we left. There was also one auto-belay station in this section, which we saw some people ingeniously using for lead clipping practice. The Pit was definitely our favorite part of the gym. It's a shame they don't have more walls like that one because they were set very well.
The last thing to mention was the bouldering area. They again had some really good features and setting in this area. We both worked our way through some interesting projects. Overall though, Katie did much better in that section than I did. It, like most other bouldering gyms, was a cruel reminder to me how far I still have to go at being a good bouldering style climber.
Would we want this gym to be our home gym? Probably not. Despite having a new facility and new walls, it felt like they were under-utilizing their space. The one section we really liked only had 6 ropes, and some of those ropes only had one climb under it. They did at least switch out a couple of the routes even within just those two weeks. So maybe they'd have good enough route turn over that we'd stay entertained. But its hard to say. There was also a work out/training area and classes available that we did not have time to make use of, so maybe that perk would outweigh the other cons. Either way it was at least great place to go for our two weeks in Florida.
Pricing wise, this place could not have worked out better. They had a deal for new climbers that if you take their belay class, it comes with a two week membership to the gym all for $25. So even though it was a little annoying to take another belay class/test for the millionth time this year, it was totally worth it to get that 2 week unlimited climbing membership. We ended up climbing there 5 times across those 2 weeks so essentially we paid $5 a person per visit.
The gym was setup a little strange. They had one pretty wide main section geared towards newer climbers. This section was not quite as tall and had either pre-setup belay stations (kind of like what we used in Australia) or an auto-belay system that takes up the slack as a climber ascends and safely controls the descent when a climber lets go or falls. The climbs in that section that were supposedly at our difficulty level were crazy pumpy and a little frustrating to climb. We mainly used this area for warm up/cool down runs or endurance training.
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| The main climbing area |
They had a taller climbing section called The Pit where we could do the normal type of belaying. We of course had to get a second safety check to use this section. But it was totally worth it because these climbs were much more our style. Only one corner of the pit had ropes setup to do top rope. The rest were overhung and meant for lead climbing. We never got around to getting certified to lead there because that would have meant that we'd have to rent a rope. There were some really fun 5.11's and even a 5.12 that we both projected and were really close to getting clean before we left. There was also one auto-belay station in this section, which we saw some people ingeniously using for lead clipping practice. The Pit was definitely our favorite part of the gym. It's a shame they don't have more walls like that one because they were set very well.
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| The pit which had some taller and more enjoyable climbs |
The last thing to mention was the bouldering area. They again had some really good features and setting in this area. We both worked our way through some interesting projects. Overall though, Katie did much better in that section than I did. It, like most other bouldering gyms, was a cruel reminder to me how far I still have to go at being a good bouldering style climber.
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| The bouldering area |
Would we want this gym to be our home gym? Probably not. Despite having a new facility and new walls, it felt like they were under-utilizing their space. The one section we really liked only had 6 ropes, and some of those ropes only had one climb under it. They did at least switch out a couple of the routes even within just those two weeks. So maybe they'd have good enough route turn over that we'd stay entertained. But its hard to say. There was also a work out/training area and classes available that we did not have time to make use of, so maybe that perk would outweigh the other cons. Either way it was at least great place to go for our two weeks in Florida.
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| Katie warming up on an easier boulder problem |
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| Katie working a pretty difficult 5.11 route on the auto-belay |
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| Me working that same 5.11 problem |
The Ringling Museum of Art
One of the main free things in the area that everyone tells you to do is going to the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art. That's right, the same family that started and ran the Ringling Brother's circus. We talked a little bit about the Ringling family grounds in our post about our first day. Well the art museum is apparently free on Mondays, so we were sure to fit it into our schedule while Kirk was at work. There are other things on the Ringling grounds that you can see as well, like a circus museum and entry to one of their mansions. But we just stuck with the free stuff.
We did go inside the art museum too. We just didn't take any pictures because of course our favorite sections were the ones where no photography was allowed. Overall it was better than I expected. I'm not that great at judging and appreciating art, but I do love the stories and history that usually come with each piece.
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| The courtyard in the center of the art museum |
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| View of the courtyard from the other side. |
We did go inside the art museum too. We just didn't take any pictures because of course our favorite sections were the ones where no photography was allowed. Overall it was better than I expected. I'm not that great at judging and appreciating art, but I do love the stories and history that usually come with each piece.
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| A pretty sweet treehouse-like playground. And YES, we did climb up in it and go down the slide. |
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| Katie found herself a shaded swing |
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| Mable's Rose Garden |
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| Walking up to the Ca' d'Zan |
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| The Ca' d'Zan was one of the Ringling's mansions. |
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| On the backside of the Ca' d'Zan was a patio overlooking the Sarasota Bay. Katie found a nice shaded spot to enjoy the view. |
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| Ending our visit with some relaxation by the bay. |
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