Red River Gorge Rock Climbing Trip September 2016

We try to do a climbing trip at Red River Gorge, KY at least once a year. We made it in May of this year, and we just got back from another trip that spanned September 24th-27th. I believe this is the first time we've actually made it to the gorge twice in the same calendar year. 

Red River Gorgeousness! 

We never know what kind of weather we're going to get, and we lucked out this trip. Despite some fears of rain, none actually arrived. And, the weather was quite cool for Kentucky at this time of year, which was much better for climbing than the more common heat and humidity. 

We had a large group this year with me, Brandon, Matt, and Brian driving down from Michigan and Carolyn and John flying into the Cincinnati airport and then driving from there. Carolyn and John had to leave on Monday rather than Tuesday when the rest of us left. But, as they left, Steve joined us. Steve used to be a member at Inside Moves (our rock climbing gym) before moving down to Louisville, Kentucky for a firefighting job. Since moving to Kentucky he's spent much more time at the gorge and knows it well. He also climbs at much higher level than us, and it was helpful to have someone able to lead some tougher routes. 

Per tradition we did half days of climbing on Saturday and Tuesday and full days of climbing on Sunday and Monday. Our lunches consisted of the usual tortillas with peanut butter and nutella. We also ate at both Rock House and Miguel's for dinner, both of which tasted spectacular as always after a full-energy, hunger-producing day of climbing. Rather than staying at Lago Linda's, we camped at Land of the Arches as they had bunks available for Carolyn and John. That way we didn't have to squeeze more camping gear into the car or into airline baggage for them. Sleep, as usual with achy bodies and surrounding noises, was elusive. 

On Saturday afternoon, we had Carolyn and John meet us at the Lady Slipper climbing area on the Global Village wall. We waited for them to arrive and stood in line for our turn on the popular 5.6 route called Eureka. It was John's first time climbing outside, and we figured it would be a good, easy place to start. The climbing area also has a fun approach through two deep ravines and up some rock slabs. 

Brandon and I were antsy, so while we waited we checked out a 5.10a called Kentucky Pinstripe. Typically we like to warm up with an easier route than a 5.10a, but we broke our rule as Brandon led and I topped the route. We had no regrets. It turned out to be quite fun and not too tough with several places to take breaks along the way. 

Eventually we all made it up Eureka following Matt's lead. John did well for his first outdoor climb and continued that pattern throughout the trip. We were all rewarded with dinner at Rock House and setting up camp in the dark as usual. 

John climbing outside for the first time

On Sunday we did a full day of climbing in Muir Valley followed by pizza at Miguel's: 

Johnny's Wall: 

• Thanks Holly, 5.8 --led by Carolyn
• Two Chicken Butts, 5.9 --led by Brian

Tectonic Wall:

• Plate Tectonics, 5.9+/5.10a --led by Katie
• Tall Cool One, 5.9 --tag team led by Carolyn and Katie
• Fifth Bolt Faith, 5.10c --led by Brandon

Inner Sanctum Wall: 

• Neitzen Hacktivist, 5.9+ --led by Brandon
• Karmic Retribution, 5.10d --led by Katie 

I think the highlight of the day was Brandon leading the 5.10c for the first time, and doing it cleanly. His form was excellent and it paid off. 

Carolyn leading Thanks Holly, 5.8

Brandon leading Neitzen Hacktivist, 5.9+

On Monday we decided to check out the elusive Chocolate Factory Wall near the famous Motherlode. I say elusive, because we've heard many people say they've had a tough time finding the area. Unfortunately, our experience turned out to be the same. The instructions in our guidebook proved to be useless. By time we found the Chocolate Factory and narrowed in on the routes we were looking for, at least an hour had been spent wandering. We were all feeling like giving the author a piece of our minds. Steve showed up only about 5-10 minutes later and, knowing the area well, gave us cheery instructions about how he had found the place in just 5 minutes. Grrrr. Alas. Here's what we climbed: 

Chocolate Factory: 

• Augustus Gloop, 5.9 --led by Katie
• Sugar Rush, 5.10a --led by Steve
• Chocolate River, 5.9 --led by Brandon

Carolyn and John climbing slab routes right next to each other

Carolyn and John were able to climb two of these three slab routes before leaving for the Cincinnati airport. The rest of us then moved to another area of Chocolate Factory to try these routes: 

• Oompa, 5.10a --led by Brandon
• Loopma, 5.10c --led by Steve

• New route not found in the guidebook. Steve showed us the route and classified as a 5.10a --led by Steve

The day was a good mix of slab, pinchy, pumpy, overhang, and juggy climbing with both positive and negative angled walls. During a dinner at Rock House we thoroughly edited the approach instructions for the Chocolate Factory in our guidebook. Thanks for nothing, Ray Ellington. 

For our half day on Tuesday we returned to Muir Valley taking advantaged of our valley floor parking pass. We climbed the following: 

The Great Arch: 

• Dyn-o-mite, 5.9 --led by Katie
• Black Powder, 5.10a --led by Brandon
• Lip Service, 5.11c --led by Steve 

We had done the 5.9 and 5.10a before, but the exciting part was that this time both Brandon and I led them cleanly and with ease. This was especially impressive as it was the last day, and we're usually quite tired by then. It felt good to realize that our climbing skills had improved over the past years. 

I tried the 5.11c, but the beginning of the route required moves over three pumpy roofs that my body was no longer capable of on the last day. Brandon proudly was able to complete the route with some problem solving. It was the first 5.11c he had ever topped outside. 

And that was the end of our September climbing trip. We broke camp and said farewell to Steve. We then made the trip home listening to Ready Player One to make the long drive more bearable. Despite the distance and the fatigue, we're already looking toward another trip next Spring. 

A Thank You Blind Date

As a thank you to Adam and Rachel for hosting us in our homelessness once again, we took them out to dinner. Adam and Rachel are aware of our tradition of blind dates, and Rachel took us up on our offer to make our evening out similar to a blind date. It was a lot of fun. And, I think Rachel had enough fun that Adam is going to have to plan a blind date for her in the future. 

Rachel in the car waiting for the blind date to commence

We started out by driving to one of our favorite dinner spots in Holland, the Itty Bitty Bar. They call themselves a "five star dive bar", which we feel is pretty accurate. It's a bar setting, but the food is nothing like what you would expect from a bar. 

Adam giving Rachel instruction and leading her into the restaurant

Brandon secretively ordered our favorite appetizer for all of us, so that, despite not being blindfolded, Adam would have a surprise too. Rachel kept the blindfold on as Adam ordered a surprise entree for her. She continued to be a great sport and tried the appetizer and a cider without having her sense of sight either. After she guessed the appetizer and drink correctly, we let her take the blindfold off for the rest of our time at the restaurant. It was a tough guessing game as well as the appetizer was a rather complicated and unexpected combination: Garlic mashed potato, pulled pork, and goat cheese quesadilla topped with an apple, jalapeno chutney. Delicious. 

Trying the surprise appetizer

We all enjoyed our entrees and had a great time conversing throughout dinner. It was so fun to share one of our favorite Holland spots with friends. After dinner wrapped up, we had one more place to go in Holland. Rachel put her blindfold back on, and after a short drive we led her out of the car and onto the beach. We let her take her blindfold off pretty quickly to let her see the sunset. 

Adam and Rachel at the beach at sunset

We then all took a little beach walk to the end of the pier and enjoyed being at the lake. Lake Michigan and Holland were definitely putting on a beautiful show that evening. 

Picturesque sunset complete with seagulls and sailboats 

And that was our thank you blind date. Thanks again Adam and Rachel. We hope you had as lovely of an evening as we did. 

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. 

Enjoying the lake at Saugatuck Dunes

Appreciating Lake Michigan

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. 

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! 

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.

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. 

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.

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.

The brew house

Canning line in action

Shuffleboard tables and darts

All the tables had different games printed right on them

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!

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

Darwin's coaster

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. 

A determined taco enthusiast

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.

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.

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.

Kirk having a near death experience

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:

Trying to teach Basic new tricks.
Katie and I were mean and made Basic work for his treats :)

A little Florida lizard on Kirks back porch

Walks Around the Neighborhood: 

How you do a Florida walk with a spoiled dog

A friendly cat that was often out during our walks

One night we saw a double rainbow on our walk

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:

Katie reading about the De Soto Pointe

Kirk probably pointing out where he wants to live once he gets rich

The De Soto National Memorial trails had these comical cutouts of era-specific residents and explorers of the area

A pretty big cross on the De Soto trail

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. 

Taking a break on the shaded tower

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.

Katie with her cheesecake

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.

It's hard to see, but it was raining crazy hard.
You can kind of see the slight flooding in the streets

A creek was forming in the backyard of Kirk's yard, but no gators were seen.

Braving the storm to get tacos

SUP in Florida

Kirk wanted to try stand up paddle boarding (SUP for short), and Katie and I had been out a couple times in Michigan. So we were the perfect partners in crime to help him check this adventure off his bucket list. Katie scoured the internets for a good deal. We eventually found a place that'd give us 2 hours of paddle board use for $20 a person. This was technically a Groupon deal, but we've learned over the years that if you just mention their Groupon deal they'll often gladly give you the rate since it means more money for them.

We made our way to Madeira Beach, but not before getting stuck at the Johns Pass bridge coming from Treasure Island. The bridge went up just before we got there. We were probably fourth in line or so. But when the bridge went back down the gates never opened. We waited for a good 15 minutes or so before police showed up to turn traffic around. Luckily there was another way around.

The next adventure was finding the place with the boards. We had an address and assumed there was a shop right off the road to pick up the boards. But as it turns out it was just a guy sitting out under a beach umbrella with a bunch of boards. Once we called him up, he was pretty easy to find. So finally, even after all the delays we got our boards and set out on the very warm gulf waters. 

Kirk and Katie SUPing like champs

One of the highlights was watching Kirk try and try again to stand up on the board. It's not as easy as it looks at first. And even once you do figure out how to balance and stand up, it is tough to get comfortable enough to stay standing for a long time while you paddle your way around. Kirk had many ungraceful falls, but that was better then those who barely stand up and just jump off. Kirk kept his feet on until the last possible second. As a result, most of the time we were out Kirk just used the board in a sitting, kneeling, or laying position. But he did finally get it the second time out right before we were done.

Kirk trying to stand up on his board

After many falls, he was finally successful

Another highlight was while we were coming back from our first round of going up and down the coast, we saw a manatee swimming under the water! Katie and I followed it around for a while and watched it come up several times for air. Given that manatees are such a big deal in this part of Florida, it was really cool to be able to see one.

Proof I was there with Katie

Proof I was there with Kirk

We did take a couple breaks. It is tough to stay standing and constantly paddle your way around. The beach wasn't that enjoyable because it was so crazy hot. But we did have fun playing in the shallow swimming area with a Waboba ball. 

And that was our Florida SUP experience.