Here are some more pictures from our last trip to the desert. To refresh everyone, this is in Utah. In the Moab area. The formations here are called the Fisher Towers. The route we did, Ancient Art, is 325 feet tall, four pitches. These are all taken from the last belay.

Enjoy!

Me, Amos, and Brent. 

Me walking the "sidewalk", which is VERY decieving because sidewalks are flat. This was more like the shape of a yoga ball, and 300 feet down on both sides.

Made it to the "diving board". From here the next move is to "belly flop" onto the top of it or go under it. I chose to go on top.

This was the hardest move to pull. Behind me is...well...a very large drop.

This was also a sort of "belly flop" move. Here I am trying to find the best way to do it. If I remember right, the move is to get your foot up and kinda stand on your ear, then put all your weight on it and stand up, which sounds somewhat easy but, believe me, I was gripped.

Here I am on top! I decided not to stand up, because my balance was a bit skewed and to fall from here would've hurt pretty bad. As I was on top, I had a few thoughts: 

1. I've never been so close to death

2. I've never felt so alive

You learn a lot about yourself doing things like this. I look forward to doing more climbs that totally challenge me, not only physically but mentally as well. Thanks a billion to Amos and Brent for taking a newbie multi-pitcher to somewhere so special. I can't wait to climb on Castleton with you guys next year.

Here are just a few pics from my trip to the desert. We went to the Fisher Towers, and Castle valley. Both are in Utah. I'll try to explain each pic. 

Gassin up somewhere on the way from Estes Park to Moab.

Some of the views along the way!

This was our climb. The Fisher Towers encompass a great deal of the area we were in, but our route was this jagged pinnacle on the right. The route is called Ancient Art, and from bottom to top it is 325 feet. This was by far the most scary thing I've ever done.

The post-climb brew at Zax in Moab

This was the climb of the next day, called Castleton. We were going there to do the North Chimney route, but got shut down because the rock was in the shade and was waaaaaaaay cold. The approach to it was amazing. 

Since we got shut down on Castleton, we decided to go into Arches Natl. Park and climb a small pinnacle called Owl Rock. This place is amazing!

This was Amos belaying Brent on Owl Rock. Very fun route. Amazing lead climbing, Brent!

This is me on the same route.

So we went back to Colorado. We're still here as of 11-25 and still climbing almost every day. We'll be doing some more great stuff, but as for me-I'm pretty tired. I'll post some more pics and stories as the week goes on.

 HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Isaac, our 10 year old, has been into collecting coins for a while now. I told him to show me his most valuable coin so I could show it off. He said it was a 1911D wheat penny, worth about $70! Here's a few pics of it. Enjoy!

Pretty cool, Isaac!

One of my favorite local places to get out and alone is McBride State Park. I took my camera last time I went. Hope you enjoy the shots.

Cheers.

We went to the final night of the Redhead restaurant on Saturday. The owner, Kim, invited us to come party until the booze ran out. That happened at 2:00 a.m. We have been going there since we started looking for homes in Johnson county about 3 years ago. It was a sad, but fun night of laughing, eating and talking. She said the reason for her having to close was that Victor, her husband, took a job in Chicago, so they have to sell/close the place. Here are some shots of the evening.

Kim and Victor, the owners

This was the usual stuff on the walls

She had the place decorated very cool, her own style. She would have different local artists put paintings, photos, or sculpture pieces up to change the feel of the room a bit. There were no two lamps alike in the place which made it have a different feel wherever you sat.

The menu had organically grown, local, in season foods that were amazing! There was a regular menu with burgers and foods of that nature, but then the special menu, pictured, was always delicious.

Who can forget the Chocolate Farmhouse Cake? 

We will miss having some cool people to talk to and a great place to eat here in Solon, but maybe someone will take it over and make it just as cool, who knows?

Cheers!

Every year at about this time we have a hayrack ride with my family out in the country by Danville, Iowa. I decided to take my camera this time and try to get some long exposure shots of the fire and stuff. It ended up being more fun to spell and make shapes with the flashlight.

Isaac's first attempt.

Little "O" doing his thing!

Kari saying hi to my sister who couldn't be there. This is great because she thought the camera was done exposing and she ducked to get out of the shot, but it was still going for 3 or 4 seconds longer, and she didn't realize I had the lens so wide. 

Yup, me

Not bad, eh?

My bro having fun

Another thing I've been trying to perfect is to zoom while the sensor is exposing. This was the fire.

Good times!

CHEERS!!

 We have been fortunate lately to spend a lot of time with my cousin, Tyler, and his wife, whatsername. They will be leaving for Switzerland in January and are trying to pack as much excitement into these next few months as they can. We all went to a wine tasting at the New Pioneer Co-op in Coralville. We tried over 25 different wines and had a great time.

This was a wine that isn't here in the states yet, but we all got a taste!

Cheers

I went on a short walk to the coffee shop today and decided to take my camera with me. The "ped mall" took me right by the Iowa City Public Library so I took a few shots. Architecturally speaking, it's very nice, inside and out.  

If you are in the area, stop in and check it out. A lot of thought went into this building.

The sky was brilliant this morning!

Enjoyed this great weather today! I'm hoping to get out and shoot some landscapes within the next few days. I'll keep ya posted.

Cheers

Halloween this year was great. The town of Solon starts trick-or-treating at 5:00 and goes till 7:00. It just seems weird to me to do that in broad daylight. Oh well, we went up and down our street and got two bags full of candy in the sunlight. We all dressed up as pirates and had a great night together.

AAAAARRRRRR!

So after we went around our block, we went to a party at our friends, the Duncans. It was huge fun. They, as usual, went all out. Great lighting, cobwebs everywhere, blacklights, dancing, scary haunted treehouse, huge bonfire (I helped "The Dude" with getting it going), very cool times! Here are some pics of the evening.

This is the hostess, Diana, temporarily of the B-52's

This is Jeff Davis, or Jeff Lebowski "The Dude" dancing the wave

yes!

Isaac gnarling something with cool back light

The lighting was awesome!

This was amazingly entertaining for the kids. It was a smoke bubble machine! When they popped, it was smoke.

Some random pics of the party, inside and outside.

civil engineers make the best James Bonds

Scott Duncan, the other host. He dressed as Bigfoot and prowled around the campfire in the dark to scare everyone.

Even more scary standing next to "The Dude"

A true bigfoot shot-blurry. 

Fireside Dude

The Italian mafia showed up and did away with the Spartan.

Someone brought some interesting food; cat litter-complete with hangover turds, and brains!

It was a cool night with a lot of cool people. Hope everyone else had as much fun as we did!

Peace