I'll start where I left off, July. A few trips to Phoenix were in order. I spent a lot of my time cooking and going climbing, and maybe had a toga party. The usual! Enchiladas, cauliflower tortillas, curry, date cookies. It was a feast! It was also really nice to see so many of my friends on a fairly regular basis. I miss the Phoenix crowd a lot. But I'm starting to find my bearings in Atlanta :)
Cauliflower tortillas!
Another great part of this summer was my first visit to the Northwest! In early July, I took a visit to Seattle with my friend Melissa. We spent the week going up and down the state with her friend Sean who hosted us the whole time, and I quickly came to like Sean through our mutual appreciation of beer, climbing and stellar mutual friends!
I quickly fell in love with Washington. What a beautiful state. Our week there was such an adventure, every day we had a different journey. Cliff jumping in Bellingham. Surfing in Westport. Climbing in Leavenworth. Swimming in Wenatchee River. Hiking in Skykomish. And of course exploring Seattle, highlighted by Pike's Market!
I don't think I can reiterate enough how gorgeous Washington was. It was so great getting to explore the state with friends, new and old. I cannot wait to visit again!
Another special trip I made this summer was actually quite an exhausting trip, physically and emotionally. As many of you know, I used to climb competitively in North Carolina when I was a senior in high school. I trained with Team Underground on a private indoor gym at a warehouse where my coach ran his business. This indoor gym was particularly special to me, not just because I had trained on it with my team for over a year, but because I had helped build it myself. Hours of sweat had gone into building and training this wall. So many fond memories rested here. But this past July my coaches, Kat and Aron, were moving back to Texas and the time had come to disassemble the wall. I made a VERY quick sprint to NC and in a short 48 hours we took down the walls. But not without some great laughs and recalled memories throughout. The original Underground Climbing wall will always be remembered by myself and all of the lives it touched. I cannot wait to see the next chapter of Underground Climbing unfold.
So August comes up and I find myself running off to the Outdoor Retailer Summer Trade Show in Salt Lake City. This is one of my favorite trips that I take every year. I love SLC, it's an amazing location we a loving outdoor community. I could really see myself living here one day. The trade show is an industry event that gives me an opportunity to stay current with new products and technologies for the outdoors, as well as connecting with new and returning companies. I tackled the show head on this year, and it was a complete blast. I met up with my friend Michael Pang out there, too. And the rest is history!
My Osprey pack takes Blue Bell everywhere!
Ultimate was one of my favorite activities freshman year at NC State, and it felt great to be playing on their fields again. I even reconnected with some other NC State friends, Ian, Ian and Geoff who came out to play as well! Post game time was filled with tasty beers and even more good times as I reminisced in the cool August evenings at NC State. It was a short two evening visit, but I wrapped it up with what seems like such a common theme from this summer: cliff jumping! This time the water was clear as we splashed into the Eno Quarry in Durham, sun shining making it the perfect temperature to wrap up August in North Carolina.
Well, I left out a lot of smaller trips but this pretty much wraps up my June, July and August. September will see me returning to Texas and possibly Arizona and North Carolina if time permits. So much travel excitement! I want to throw a big shout out to everyone that has let me crash on their couch and driven me to the airport haha :) I miss all of you guys, I hope you enjoyed your summers! Until next time, cheers!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment