Arizona/ New Mexico

So we are currently in Flagstaff planning to leave for Joshua Tree National Park area this afternoon. We will be in JT for a week and will probably not be able to update during that time. The rest of our time in New Mexico and our time in Flagstaff has been great. On our last full day in NM we visited Bandelier National Monument and Santa Fe. Santa Fe was a tiny city with many shops selling various forms of art. We window-shopped checked out a 400 year old church and ate tamales (a first for both Noah and I). In Bandelier we mostly walked through Native American ruins and looked at petroglyphs but we did see what I am sure was a snake (yikes) poking his head out of a hole near the path we were on. Our time in New Mexico was very relaxing and we had a great time staying with Cyndi and James.

On our way to Flagstaff we stopped to look at Lava Beds at El Malpais National Monument and stopped at the Petrified Forest National Park to see petrified wood and views of the Painted Desert. The forest was ok but the views of the painted Desert were amazingly breathtaking. My favourite area of this was “the Tepees” an area just off the road with several sand hills of green gray purple pink and brown.

We continued from here to Flagstaff, a city which Noah and I have both fallen in love with. While here we have checked out sunset crater volcano national monument and the town of Sedona. In Sedona we hiked around the Red Rock of the area and climbed up Sugarloaf hill to see great panoramic views of the town and the area around it. In Flagstaff we checked out the downtown and areas around it. Sadly in June a large fire burned a portion of the forest just around Flagstaff but luckily narrowly missed the city itself. (the fire was started by an abandoned campfire... a reminder to always put out fires with water, never leave fires unattended) We had a lot of fun staying with Graham, bouldering at the Priest Draw area, climbing at the Pit and taking place in recreational Ultimate and volleyball games.

We also spent a day and a night in the Grand Canyon. We were unlucky enough to arrive on an extreme heat warning day (115+ at the base of the canyon) but then again what else could we expect in July. We did a short but rewarding hike along the South Kabib trail which offered great views of both the east and west ends of the canyon. We got out of the canyon by 11 but not before the temp at our turn around point was already over 95 degrees. Luckily we were prepared with plenty of food and water, hats and a ton of sunscreen. The canyon was beautiful and full of wildlife we saw a herd of 6 elk, lizards, ravens, squirrels and a massive black widow spider that was hiding in a hole in the limestone of the canyon.

After leaving the canyon the drive back was full of surprises with torrential rain followed by SNOW. If you don’t believe it we have photos.

Texas and New Mexico

Texas is big.

We pretty much just drove across Texas in two days, from Beaumont to Junction in a day, then Junction to Carlsbad in New Mexico the next day.

Texas was pretty hot, we did not really stop much after Beaumont, but the speed limits were crazy high, I managed to hit 100 miles per hour and didn’t really feel like I was speeding because everyone else was going 90.

We stopped for the rest of the day in Carlsbad Caverns which were super cool and saw the bat flight at 7:30, which is when the 200,000 bats all fly out of the cave, it was really amazing but no photos or videos because it messes with the bats echo-location.

After the bat flight we drove down the road a bit and pulled down this dirt road that one of the park rangers said was owned by the Bureau of Land Management so we could camp on it for free, this sounded like a good idea but we ended up driving down a pitch black dirt road that was blocked by cows.

At this point we decided it was late and we were tired, so we slept on the crash pad in the back of the car.

The next morning we drove up further into New Mexico, through the Sacramento Mountains, which were super beautiful, to Alamogordo and the white sands desert.

The mountains were amazing and we stopped for breakfast at this little place called big daddy's dinner which was really good, but the most amazing thing we did today was visit white sands.

White Sands National Monument is the largest gypsum desert in the world, and being inside the park surrounded by these large pure white sand dunes is very otherworldly.

While inside the dunes all you can see is bright white sand in all directions, with the Sacramento Mountains on one side and apache mountains towering above from the other side.

After white sands we drove through a rather large thunderstorm and are now in Albuquerque

The gaping maw of Carlsbad Caverns

Different cool rock formations in the cave

Enjoying the fresh air after being in the caves for 2 hours

The dark dirt road we were trying to drive down and camp off of

The white dots are the eyes of the cows we almost hit that were hiding in the dark

A tunnel in the Sacramento Mountains

A narrow and winding mountain pass

Coming down the other side of the mountains, that white strip on the horizon is the white sand desert

Enjoying the weather and scenery in White Sands National Monument

New Orleans/ Fontainebleu /Beaumont photos

Steph on a dock at Fontainebleu

Chilling at the Fontainebleu dock

Driving over the 30 mile long causeway from Fontaineblue area to New Orleans

Steph in New Orleans at Jackson Square

Some really awesome street performers on Bourbon street

This guy drove around New Orleans singing out the side of his truck what fruit he had for sale

Muffuletta Sandwich, from central grocer in new orleans

coffee and beignets from Cafe du Monde in New Orleans

Gators at the gator park near Beaumont Texas

We're in TEXAS!!!!!!

Greetings from Beaumont Texas!
We are currently staying with the Davis Family in Beaumont and will be leaving today to begin to cross the state heading to Hueco Rock Ranch. After leaving Chattanooga we experienced some crazy Southern rain showers unlike anything I'd ever seen. We'd be driving along the highway through sunshine and see a dark patch ahead, suddenly we would be stuck in the heaviest rain I've ever driven throughand 2 minutes later it would be sunny again. This happened all through Alabama and Mississippi. Luckily when we arrivied in Louisiana the rain was not too bad. We set up a tarp and pitched a tent and spent a night at Fontainebleau State park in St. Tammny Parish La. The park was beautiful but unfortunately we could not swim in the lake due to high bacteria levels and the possibility of tarballs in the area. We then moved on to New Orleans where we stayed at Chateau Hotel and had a ton of fun exploring the city despite the opressive heat and humidity (I don't understand how people live down here!). We ate at Central Grocery for Muffaletta Sandwiches, Cafe du Monde for Bengiets and coffee and Parkway Bakery for Po-boys. It was a blast walking around the city and sightseeing/people-watching. Bourbon Street at night was wonderful madness full of people of all types and levels of intoxication. We happened upon a group of street preformers on the corner of Canal and Boubon and time flew by as we listened to their music. I can't remember the name of the group but it included a tuba player and two percussionists and they were great!
Driving out from NOLA the next day we passed through huge bayous full of aligators and snakes etc etc. The drive was beautiful and the low lying land showed how vulnerable this ecosystem is to rising sealevels and global warming.
So now we are in texas at last, leaving for Junction Texas this afternoon and moving to Carlsbad Caverns and Hueco Rock Ranch tomorrow!!

Hey All,

So we eventually got out of Jersey on the afternoon of the 2nd and traveled to DC. We were welcomed into the city by Noah's uncle aunt and cousin and had a wonderful time exploring and relaxing. We were able to see two of metro-DC's excellent farmers markets, and enjoy delicious fresh fruit from them. On the afternoon of the third Noah and I were lucky enough to enjoy a private tour of The Brookside Gardens given by Kathy the Mana

ger of the greenhouses and Butterfly exhibit. On the 4th we toured the capital's Mall etc. Yesterday we left DC, making a side stop at Clint's BBQ in Sevierville, TN for some real southern fare. Noah was quite bewildered by the kindness of the

southern hospitality we were shown. We are now in Chattanooga preparing to drive to New Orleans area today.

The George Washington Bridge

And then the car overheats.......

As we left Jersey we saw a...

Giant Mary statue! this must be a good sign

We arrived at DC...

Now in DC at the Markets

I wish I was crazy enough to do this to my car!

The Market

The Gardens

Exploring DC

The Smithsonian

American History

Natural History
Air and Space
Mountains Of Virginia

Starting on the road

We officially started our road trip today, the first drive to my uncle's house in Washington DC.

Having made good time for most of the day and somehow not getting stuck in traffic leaving Boston area or driving through New York, we were going to arrive in DC around 7, most likely in time for some delicious food.

However the Jersey turnpike had different ideas, while crossing a rather large bridge we hear a beeping and notice the engine temperature indicator light had come on and the gauge in the car read the engine temperature to be at 260 degrees Fahrenheit. This is a rather worrying thing to happen while traveling over a bridge with a narrow shoulder when the other drivers on the road simultaneously speed like demons and pay no attention to their surroundings.

So we pulled over, checked the various liquids, and decided to keep going slowly and pull off at the next exit in hope of finding a garage (On a side note standing on the shoulder of a bridge while cars and trucks race by you realize how much the bridge sways and shakes with each car, it felt like the thing has going to fall over).

After pulling off the turnpike and finding a garage that said they could fix what they thought was wrong we realized we were pretty much broken down in inner city New Jersey, probably the most dangerous neighbourhood I had ever been in.

After an hour and a half the mechanic said it was the water pump that was broken not the thermostat like they thought, it was not going to be ready till tomorrow and was going to cost six times as much as they though to fix.

After digesting this news we placed some rather frantic phone calls and the very nice garage people drove us to a nearby hotel, so now Stephanie and I are watching Gran Torino on the TV and ordering pizza from a nearby place instead of eating Philly cheese steaks and hanging out with my uncle.

All things considered, it is good that this happened here, where there are garages with friendly mechanics, instead of Texas, New Mexico or Arizona where there are many miles of empty desert.

No picture today because we left the cord for the camera in the car in the garage.

Also here is a rough timeline for our trip.

July:

2nd-4th, Washington dc.

5th-6th, traveling to New Orleans, hotel probably night of the 5th, camping out side New Orleans the 6th.

7th, in New Orleans all day, staying at a hostel at night.

8th, leaving New Orleans later in the day, Houston Texas for night.

9th, hotel at junction Texas.

10th, Carlsbad Caverns for the day then arriving at Hueco rock ranch near El Paso.

11th, climb at Hueco tanks with a paid guide in the morning, check out El Paso at night, stay at Hueco rock ranch again.

12th, climb at Hueco tanks again in the morning, once it gets too hot, drive up to Albuquerque after and stay with my mom's cousin for the night.

13th, check out Bandelier national monument in the day, camp/stay with my friend graham near flagstaff at night.

14th, climb near flagstaff.

15th, check out the Grand Canyon.

16th, climb near flagstaff.

17th, travel towards Joshua tree national park, sleep in car or camp somewhere.

18th-24th, boulder, camp and hike in Joshua tree national park.

25th, possibly stay in Santa Barbra.

26th-28th, San Francisco and the bay area with Rowan.

29th, redwood national park.

30th, Portland Oregon.

31th, Vancouver, and climb in Squamish.

August:

1st-3rd, Vancouver and climb in Squamish.

4th, Kelowna with dads brother possibly.

5th, jasper.

6th-7th, Banff and the Colombia ice fields.

8th, glacier national park.

9th-13th, Yellowstone national park and the grand Tetons.

14th, a hotel somewhere near Glendive.

15th, Winnipeg.

16th, Duluth Minnesota.

17th, Sault st-marie.

18th-19th, Toronto.

20th, Montreal.

Bouldering and the public gardens

Hello, so basically we have just been bouldering, sleeping and hanging out with my friends from high school, its been pretty warm here in Halifax although there is a thunderstorm going on right now...

The places we have been bouldering so far are as follows, Chebucto Head, Chebucto foot and Crystal Crescent, but we are going to Duncans Cove area tomorrow night with the Climb Nova Scotia Monday night bouldering event.

So far i have enjoyed climbing at Crystal Crescent the most, it has a good mix of problems spread out over a very nice bit of coastline and you have to walk by a nude beach to get to it from the parking area which makes it more interesting.

below is a few photos from our climbing trips along with a few randoms (no photos of the nude beach though).

Steph pulling hard on a slab some where near Crystal Crescent

Steph walking back around from the very same slab

Me climbing a crack at Crystal Crescent

The ocean

Working on my tan

Steph next to the big lake in the middle of the Public Gardens