Winding down and at home

My trip is unfortunately winding down. It seems like how ever long you think your trip should be, you always want it to be longer. We had beautiful days at Mt. Charleston (as you can see in the picture). I met new people like Joe Brooks, and Dave Banks, and other cool climbers from Singapore, Spy and Ling. The trip was fruitful, involving a lot of good climbing, training, and not the best, but some O.K. rest days. Although I understand people have to work, I like to do things on my rest days: hike, play, that kind of thing, . One idea I have learned from this trip it is to be happy with what has occured. You cannot live your life wishing something would have happened, it's just too stressful. Be grateful for what you have at that moment, Thinking positive for the future, and something better will come. 

I finished my book on meditation, gathered a lot of information on cooking recipes and had a fun trip at the cliff. It was really good to see Chris and Jodi, and get this blog started on my not so active rest days. The trip gave me a lot of time to work on Asana Climbing Articles, a great outlet for my writing. I also had my first Traditional Climbing experience in Red Rocks. Chris and I hiked out to Juniper Canyon and got pretty hardcore. Climbing a total of 1,200 feet. We did 11 pitches of some really classic Trad climbing. The first one, we did in the dark was a 5 pitch 10c, called Night Crawler (ironically the conditions fitting the name). We slept on the edge of a cliff propped up against our empty packs. Right away some crazy looking animal that looked like a squirrel with a huge black and white tail jacked my Soy Bread. I chased after him a little bit and scared him away with some rocks. I partook in the worst sleep of the whole trip that night, but loved waking up with the Sunrise. The second day we climbed Cloud Tower, a six pitch 11d that had some super scary pro. The hike in was 2 hours and the hike out was just as excruciating. We left the Crag and got message that a good friend from San Diego came into town, Nate ClayColb. We hung out at the Hooters pool and got one of my favorite new treats, Boba. My last days handed me the coolest experiences, showing me that staying positive pays off. The mind is a crazy thing, but I learned that it's job is to try and distract us. "It is a tall order to ask for chicken without the bones and tea without the leaves".The mind is made of emotions it is how react to them, which dictates our mood. The mind an emotion is like being an old wise man watching children play. 

Now Back in San Diego, I realized that I am living in one of the most beautiful areas. Just confirmation that there is no place like home. The weather is much cooler than Las Vegas and that is quite enjoyable. I witnessed Lahna's High School graduation (who is my girlfriend of over 2 years) ,which was exciting for both of us. I saw my good friend Ben Ferrel the first day I came back, and we watched some of the Beatle's Anthology. I ran a circuit at Santee Boulders early Friday morning, and trained in the gym the rest of the day. I start working at the local gym sometime in the next two weeks to save for my trip to Lander, Wyoming in early July. I went surfing this morning and found much enjoyment in the meditation of the water. I am eating really healthy, staying active all the time, and am grateful to be where I am at. It brings me much happiness to be on summer, and am looking forward to sending some really hard routes later this year. The only thing I am lacking here at home, is the huge limestone routes at Charleston!