Thursday, October 21, 2010

Indian Creek

I got down to Indian Creek just south of Moab, Utah this past weekend.  For those of you who don't know the Creek is the mecca of crack climbing.  There are miles of cliffs with splitter cracks and seemingly endless canyon fingers with an unimagineable potential for new routes.  Unfortunately crack climbing is a bit of an acquired taste.  This was my second trip to the creek and to be honest I have only climbed a 5.8 on toprope without having to rest every half dozen moves.  I still haven't come to a conclusion whether I like the place.  My opinions have ranged from climbing utopia to "I don't give a shit if they flood this place".  I did manage to get up a 5.8+ on lead, however the route was only 25 feet tall and fittingly named Short and Stupid...not to mention I had to hang on my gear once.  Did I mention I can't crack climb to save my life.  Luckily there was a lot of good food, drink, conversation, and company to distract me from my lack of ability.  Below are a few pictures from the trip.  Despite the rain on day one I managed to get a few shots.  There are no pictures of me climbing but I did get a few of Jason, and crackmaster Shane.

-Mike


North Six Shooter Peak


Camp

Jason trying to stay dry while belaying Shane who is trying to finish up the climb in the rain.



Shane finished our first day with Jolly Rancher a 140' 5.10

Starting off Jolly Rancher with no anchors in sight


Heading up to the Second Meat Wall on day 2



Jason heading up a nice 5.9+


Newspaper Rock

Fall in the Creek

Heading to Hawaii on Saturday with photos to follow...

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Finally Made it to Philly





 Several years ago I promised Sal I would come to see him in Philly.  The opportunity presented itself and off I went.  Turns out Philly is more than the a few sports teams and cheese steaks.  I was pleasantly surprised...
There was a lot of cool architecture throughout the city, both old and new.

City of Brotherly Love

 It's always a good experience when you get to tour a city with someone who is a proud resident.  You get to go to favorite restaurants, bars, shops and historical sites.  They can also point out things you would normally miss...I shot this picture after Sal pointed out that from this position the statue appears to be obscene.
The famous "Rocky" stairs with some fool doing what is expected.  Don't worry I was that fool in someone's vacation album.


A typical contrast in architecture.

Good to see national monuments are getting their share of the stimulus money.


Back to school sale????? (note sign in window)
After a "close down the bars and then get pizza at 3am" type of night, we got breakfast at Sabrina's.  If you ever have a layover in Philly it would be worth your time to leave the airport and take a cab to this place...seriously.
This little cafe just a couple blocks from Sal's place had one of the best breakfasts I have ever had.

And the coffee wasn't bad either...I would go back to Philly just to eat here again.




Best photo at the Good Dog Bar
After a couple rainy days in Philly Sal and I headed to the Jersey shore, where his family own a beautiful home.  Our plan was to check out the surf and lose some money in the casinos in Atlantic City.  I was skeptical.  I pictured Snookie sauntering down a boardwalk with a coastline in the background including half sunken ships and oil drums washed up on the beach.  Turns out Margate was a chill beachtown similar to low key east coast FL towns.  Atlantic City was a bit more colorful.  We played roulette, and somehow I managed to get my $20 to last me over an hour at a $10 buy in table.  Should of cashed in while I was ahead...
Yes, there is a 3 story elephant named Lucy in Margate.  Why wouldn't there be?
No beach shots, but we ended getting two great surf sessions in while were there.  The waves were nothing remarkable, but surfable and it was refreashing to get in the ocean.  It's funny how a FL boy can find the ocean novel after living in the mountains for a few years. 
These 3 Photos were taken at highway speeds...



They even have their own soda.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Introduction

Welcome to my blog, Facebook just couldn't fulfill my need for shameless self promotion.  The purpose of this is actually to share my experiences with friends and family (Hi Mom!) without the needs of membership or marketing...Although if enough people start looking at this I can't promise I won't sell out.  I am also hoping this will motivate me to get out more and take more photos.  Just so you know, all typos, run on sentences, misplaced commas, and grammatical errors are actually purposefully placed in an attempt to drive Crystal insane.  Thanks for looking, and let me know what you think.

-Mike