Rock-tober

Well, It's October and that almost always means Indian Creek rock climbing. Not to be put off by cranky hips and night shift schedules, I made the trek down last weekend. We met our good friends BJ and Lacy there along with Heidi and Max and spent the weekend soaking in the red sandstone, sunshine, fresh air, and yellow-leaved cottonwoods. It was beautiful! I swear, i only climbed with one leg. I even left my hiking shoe on my affected hip side so i wouldn't be tempted to use it climbing. my surgeon has said that rock climbing is 9-12 months out from the surgery date, as it is one of the most intensive things i could put my hip through. but i've got to say, just putting my hands into a crack and touching the rock down there this weekend was so good for me. i had a good cry too while i was down there, but mostly i was just very happy to be there. eric and i also brought the road bikes but i got a flat just 5 miles into the ride and we had already used our spare tires. so we just drove into canyon land national park and had lunch, dorked around moab for a bit, and came home. the hip wasn't even a bit angry after climbing (i was very good to it though and didn't use it a bit). i'm hopeful this week about my range of motion. slowly ever so slowly i am improving. I'm about 5 months out this week- seems like a long time and yet, not enough time to be healed.




ahh Indian Creek: the reservoir, the six-shooters, the bridger jacks...and me!


Our friend Max had a shoulder injury and also could not climb. It was nice to have a fellow gimp along.


yay! i just climbed in indian creek!!!


How to climb with only 3 appendages.....


Lacy and BJ and the classic tape glove.

Happy Halloween!

Bet you can't figure out which one is mine and which one is eric's.... :)

Return to Camping....

Last weekend Eric and I took a trip down to Bryce Canyon National Park. We are trying to take this opportunity to visit the non-climbing parts of Utah. Bryce Canyon is totally worth it! This was my first camping trip since the surgery. I slept on two thermarests and two pillows, and actually, it wasn't that bad. i've slept much worse, and i've slept better. so pretty par for the camping course really. it felt like i had never stopped camping/roadtripping. it was great to get back out into the sunshine, desert air, blue sky, and camping food. we took the road bikes and biked to the different view points on sunday and hiked around on saturday. i'm not up to hiking even small hills yet, so we stayed on the rim, which still had the best view. Bryce is an amazing spot!




The Rim from Bryce Point


Different part of the rim


Look Ma! No Hands AND a bad hip!


Bristlecone Pine....somewhat dead. okay, a lot dead.


Eric's sunrise shot of the ampitheater. I was still tucked into bed with my mound of pillows, thermarests, and sleeping bags.


a daring traverse...


Have you taken the picture yet?



On the rim trail


Despite what it looks like, i actually did NOT base Bryce Canyon

Ahh Yeah!

My sister is staring them early!!! This is my 1 year old niece, Esther. Miranda sent me this picture with the title "Eat your heart out Aunt Polly!" i LOVE it!