My Trip out West VOL 2

Saturday, May 24, early in the morning

Morning in the Buttermilks is gorgeous! I have already maxed out my memory card (and in order to stretch it out have lowered the resolution on my pictures, so sadly I have no high quality pics) Today I hope to get to town and buy a new one.

I didn't sleep too well last night, my stomach was killing me! And once I got good and comfortable, the sun woke me up blazing hot on the black rain fly on my bivy. So I'm sitting here in my sleeping bag writing in my journal to keep me occupied until the others wake up.


Sunday, May 25, evening

Yesterday shaped up to be pretty nice. Erin and I were getting a little stir crazy being in the same spot, because the Buttermilk region does not have a whole lot of lower grade problems. We were both ready to get to Tahoe and climb some routes on rope. But we played around on a few V1s, refusing to top them out with only one pad and one spotter... We played on the Iron Man Traverse, a V-Hercules, but it was a lot of fun anyway. Mid-afternoon we went into town and bought a new memory card, got some dinner (I say dinner it was closer to lunch probably at 5pm) at Jack's Restaurant (not the fast food place). Back in the Buttermilks, we hiked and took some pictures then wandered back to camp. We built a fire and made some new friend. Mike, from Monterrey and John from Chattanooga. They hung out with us into the evening, drinking beer and watching Hippie Prime-time. For the first time since I've been out here I've actually been entertained in the evening and not really wanted to go to sleep.

Sunday we woke up in the morning to rain... lots and lots of rain. So we went into town to eat breakfast and hope the clouds would pass. They didn't. Ran into Mike and John at breakfast and they invited us to the Gorge (cannot for the life of me remember what the full name of the Gorge is). But Alex didn't want to go with them, so we packed up camp and headed for Tahoe. Sometime last night/this morning I misplaced my phone, so I'm cut off from outside connection to the world, it's a little frustrating seeing as I am playing third wheel something fierce.

On the way from Bishop to Tahoe we drove thru a blizzard. I took this pic out the window of the car, so it's not all that great... but SNOW in MAY none-the-less



Author's note: From here on out my travel journal turns into somewhat of a whiny mess, so I'll summarize the not-so-teenage-girl stuff.

Sunday night: Stayed at the Heavenly Inn, in a room with a queen bed and a futon, it was plenty nice- nicest part being the showers =)

Monday morning we woke up and it was raining again!!! So we checked out and went to see Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. Good flick, I recommend it. After that we went back down the street and checked into the 3 Peaks Resort and Beach Club, also a very nice hotel. This time we got two rooms, and I must say I was very pleased to have a room of my own. The rain let up for long enough for us to walk down to the beach by the lake. We were able to "climb" a little on the jungle gyms:


After our "climbing" and dinner, Erin and I did a bit of shopping and decided to hit the town, I mean we were in South Lake Tahoe! So we found an Irish pub called McP's. They advertised pool tables and live music, our kinda place! (Alex stayed at the hotel) Erin and I blew off some (much needed) steam hanging out with the bar tenders and laughing it up. When they closed we walked down the street to the Casinos and had more drinks! Fun times!

Tuesday we woke up and headed for Reno. We stopped and ate along the way, made some detours looking for a place to get out and hike, with no avail. It was still raining. So we ate some Mexican food in Reno and settled into the La Quinta Inn for the night. Alex and I finally were able to get along for a little while, so we managed to end the trip on a good note. Erin passed out early while watching 300- so Alex and I emptied out the change holder in his car and raided the vending machine at 11pm.

Wednesday woke up and ate, went shopping for a minute and caught my plane in Reno.

Erin is staying out west with Alex until the end of June. They are headed to Seattle to pick up some friends and then crossing into Canada to live in Squamish for the rest of the summer. I hope that Erin has fun being the only girl in a house full of guys in Canada.

Back in Alabama, Adam picked me up from the airport and we went to Katie's to drink a beer before heading home. I was exhausted from travel, but so excited to see my friends! Now I'm back at work and life is trucking on...