Rain, rain, GO AWAY

Good thing we came to the desert to escape the rain...NOT> It has been raining for days! We are starting to go crazy, and there is no place to hide because bad weather is everywhere in the Southwest. Here are some pics from a day where we got a window of climbing in. Otherwise, we continue to read, sightsee, and drive each other crazy. Send us some emails to keep us busy.

Melissa silouhetted against the the clouds in Red Rocks. 

Adam reflected in Melissa's giant new sunglasses...hey, they were only $8 bucks at Marshalls! 

Melissa displaying hip arm warmer fashion on a cool day. 

Adam enjoying the rare appearance of fine weather. 

Meeting new friends at Red Rocks in Las Vegas. 

Viva Las Vegas!

Well, as you probably noticed in the picture with the icicles, we weren't exactly enjoying stellar weather in the Southeast, prompting a swift and liberating decision to drive to the warmest, sunniest place we could find...The City that NEVER sleeps, LAS VEGAS!

We drove three long days to get here, and along the way, tried to stop and camp in Jacks Canyon, AZ, which was pretty much a mud pit. We were trying to walk around camp with three pounds of mud on each shoe. We got stuck trying to leave, and the truck was sideways, covered in mud as the wheels spinned fruitlessly, despite the fact that the Toyota was in low 4WD! The truck looked like something out of MAD MAX, and we later discovered that Adam never locked the wheel hubs in the first place, thus we never really were in 4WD!

We had many other adventures along the way, including a nighttime visit to the Hoover Dam, a lovely site when lit up against the dark desert sky. We also visited the Grand Canyon for the first time, and it truly did take our breath away. We knew that Sin City wasn't far off, as we could see the light beam shooting out of the Luxor from about 20 miles outside of Vegas.

The weather gave us about 6 days of sunny, dry, warm heaven, before the weather gods figured out that we were on the move and chased us down with more rain and cold temperatures. We are still having lots of laughs though, because there is a wildlife preserve for Burro's (aka ASSES) at the campground we are staying at. All night long they shriek and snort and bray, which is so funny that it makes us do the same!

We will try to get more pics up when we replace the little do-hickey that puts the pictures from the camera onto the computer.

New Pictures from Horse Pens 40 in Alabama and Rocktown, GA.

Adam slapping his way up Bum Boy, V4 at HP 40.

Adam slabbing it out in Rocktown, GA.

Chipping ice off of the tarp after a hellacious ice storm in Georgia, at Rocktown. 

Sharing an international favorite, chicken curry, with Martin and Karin from Montreal, Quebec. 

Giving love to July at HP 40 in Alabama. 

Melissa sending the Drain Pipe, V7 at HP 40.

Getting stretched out on Mulletino, V5 at HP 40 in Alabama. 

More Pics coming soon

The camera seems to be working again. I gave the camera the old Han-Solo-bang-it-with-your-fist method. We just need to find a wireless connection.

Horse Pens 40 was awesome but we are now back in Rocktown, GA. It got really COLD this week but at least it hasn't rained for awhile. Whoops, spoke too soon...3 days of rain predicted starting this weekend. The Arizona desert is starting to sound like a good idea.

What? No Pictures?

I'm sorry to report that our digital camera is on the fritz. We might not be able to take any more pictures on the trip (at least digitally). Hopefully, it will be fixed or replaced soon. But just imagine a pic of me belly-flopping onto the top of an egg shaped boulder...that's what I would have posted.

We just went bouldering in Horse Pens 40 in Alabama. Great sloper problems that are ridiculously hard whether they are V2 or V6. It's like a section of Fontainebleau, France was airlifted into the backwoods of Alabama. There's even a lot of Quebecois climbers here speaking French to add to the illusion that Paris is only 40 minutes away. But instead of pattisseries..we only have Wal-Mart. Zut alors!

We both had some injuries but they seem to be healed up now. Knock on wood.

Tiggs and Adam enjoing the view at Little River Canyon, AL. 

Melissa on the classic Misty at Sandrock, AL. 

Adam bouldering on Super Mario (V4) at Little Rock City, TN 

Sweet Home Alabama

Melissa and Adam are back in the Deep South after a great Xmas break in NY. While we were home, the local Rochester paper did an article on John Lipani's bread baking. The article should be found at: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050108/NEWS0202/501080316/-1/ARCHIVE3

We're currently in Alabama climbing at Sandrock and Little River Canyon. Sandrock is good for free camping but there's a lot of graffiti on the rocks. Plus there seem to be 3 dozen guys doing National Guard training in the campsite next to us. Kind of strange to have guys in military uniforms walking through the woods with blue M-16's. We want to go bouldering at Horse Pens 40 but we have some injuries currently that are keeping us from pulling that hard. Hopefully, we'll heal up fine.