Quincy and the first outdoor climbs of the year

Saturday, 30-Mar-13

 

When I go to bed, I always plan on waking up early.

But, lets be honest, that only happens when I either have work, or an amazing climbing trip to do.

Well, this Saturday I had a climbing trip, so I was up and mobile by 09:30… Quite early for a Saturday.

I started the morning off right, with a quick run down to Pemberton Farms and McKinnons (the local grocer and butcher shops, respectively) for bacon and eggs and some fruit. It’s one of the many nice aspects of living in Cambridge – tons of tiny little shops that serve the best of the best… though while some (McKinnons) are cheap, at others (Pembertons) you pay for the extra quality that you get. Through the nose.

And this was the perefct morning to take a walk down there too – the sun was strong, but not painfully intense yet. There was the tiniest hint of wind too – not enough to disturb the afternoon, but enough to keep you cool while in the sun and to push you out of the shade. Even the streets seemed to respect the serenity, and there were nearly no cars on the roads that I walked.

And with that serenity, I made myself bacon and eggs and fruit. I was breakfasting by ten thirty, and after an amazing chill and eat on the veranda I was on the road by noon.

I picked up Deb at her place, and we swung onto the highway toward Quincy by early afternoon, arriving there just as most people were getting a bit tired and pulling ropes. That’s the trick to urban climbing places like Quincy – you need to either arrive crazy-early, or mid-day, or late-day. Getting there in the middle-times is horrid, and nearly everything in full of people.

But, we got there right in time to meet a few NUHOCers and set up some ropes in a spot that I’d rarely climbed before… the Alien Invasion wall, in the Harvard corner!

(Ed note: Walls and areas of Quincy Quarries are named after two things – random events and the graffiti tags on the rock. The quarries are a favorite haunt of local artists, which both annoys and entertains rock climbers: the tags are helpful for finding routes… but they regularly change, and the paint makes it quite difficult to find holds sometimes.

So the “Alien Invasion” wall is named after a large tag entitled “Alien Invasion!”, and the “Harvard Corner” is named because Harvard Outdoors club regularly climbs there.)

And so, we climbed:

• Three routes off Alien Invasion. None particularly difficult, but they all had some interesting routefinding aspects… trying to find a foothold on nearly half an inch of accumulated paint is not particularly easy.
• We did two more routes off another teams rope over at the slab corner – this was a nice trade, since they wanted to climb our area and we wanted theirs… we simply traded setups and used theirs.
• One final route at the end of the day was set off the larger slabs – again, nothing particularly difficult, but definitely a nice long climb that both Deb and I loved.

Camping at Shawmee Crowell state park – 22 & 23 Mar 2013

Friday, 22-Mar-13

 

As with many of these “random camping” stories, the tale starts in Mike’s apartment, with him and I eating meatballs. Mike makes meatballs a lot – they’re simple, you put them in the crock pot, and they come out delicious.

This time, we even had some BBQ brisket Mac and Cheese that I’d made too.

But really, that doesn’t matter. We ate, we laughed, we were lazy. And then, finally, we were on the road in my brand new Mustang.

This was the first camping trip that I’d ever done in the new ‘Stang, So we had a blast with it – tearing down Route 3 with the top down, the music cranked (not fully… this thing has a massive stereo system, so it was maybe 40% power), and the stats in our faces. It was seriously a perfect night – the moon was full, but somehow we could still see the lions share of the stars too.

It did take us a while to actually find a campsite though – we tried the ranger station, but as no one was home we decided to just recon around ourselves, and pick out a spot that looked good. Easier said than done, but about half an hour later we finally found a spot that looked good enough to settle in at.

Remember how I said the moon was full? We didn’t even pull out the headlamps – the moon was enough for us to see by, and we didn’t have any trouble setting up camp by moon/starlight.

By the time we’d finished setting up camp, we realized our mistake – we’d chosen the one spot in the campground near a house… a house with a rather annoying searchlight out back. Thankfully our unexpected neighbors turned it off soon after we arrived, but it still didn’t bode too well for the morning – somehow, neighbors are always annoying in the mornings.

But we ignored them, and set about the domestic tasks in front of us – namely making a fire, drinking beer, and having a cigar or two.

And, of course, random insane discussions.

But for once, those were slightly light – instead, this time we just stared into the stars and played around with the fire. See, the firepit was one of those multi-use pits, where you can grill on it too. I’d built the fire on the grill area, so that it wouldn’t get stuck in the snow (yes, I went camping in a rear-wheel-drive convertible in the snow). But after a bit, the snow had melted off and we decided to drop it down a bit, to keep the heat facing us.

Not the simplest of tasks, but thankfully we were able to get it done… helped in no small part by the fact that I’d brought along a snow shovel just in case. A shovel that, magically, fit perfectly into the slot that the firepit made.

So with the fire moved and restoked we set about more beering and chilling, until I finally gave up on the night and headed into my tent to crash.

One note about sleeping in the snow – it’s amazing. Assuming you have a good sleeping pad, of course. But if you do, the snow slowly melts under your pad/sleeping bag, making a custom-shaped mattress for you as you fall asleep.

In my case that night, fall asleep on a custom-mattress, serenaded by Mike’s guitar playing.

 

Saturday 23-Mar-13

 

I awoke to a very different serenade.

I mentioned that neighbors are, somehow, always annoying in the morning. Well, this was very much the case in Shawmee-Crowell. The neighbors had a dog. And they didn’t like us much, it seems, because they set it loose in the backyard, under very strict orders to start barking and not stop. Ever.

Seriously… I don’t know how the dog held up that long, but from the time they let it out to when Mike and I left a few hours late it we were serenaded by a constant stream of yaps.

I even went for a walk (not long, maybe two miles), and the dog was still barking when I got back. I mean… dang. That is dedication to duty.

Thanks to the dog I was quite happy to be back on the road again, and we made a pretty straight line back toward Cambridge – Both of us had stuff to do, and not a huge amount of time to do it in, so after a quick stop at Friendlies for lunch and a driver change (since Mike hadn’t driver the Mustang yet) we put the pedal on the floor and burnt the gasoline back into the city.

15-Mar-13 – St. Paddies day with the folks from Artisan

People say that you shouldn’t go drinking with your boss. That it’s dangerous and no fun, because you can’t drink too much around someone with that much control over your life.

People also say that I do things that I shouldn’t do.

They actually say that on a regular basis. Today was one of those times.

 

• I left work a bit early, around 4:00, to drop my car off at home and jump on the T.
• From there, I dropped my friends Allegra and Bridgette off at Government Center, and walked over to meet my coworkers at a cool pub called the Kinsale.
  • I arrived a bit late, but quickly got caught up with a round of Guinness
  • From normal Guinness to Black Lager
  • We mowed through a whole slew of wing orders
  • Dinner was had by all – I ate an amazing dish of Mac and Cheese with BBQ Brisket. I’ve since learned the recipe, and made it on multiple occasions. It’s amazing.
  • More drinks were had, Shots included.
  • We got kicked out of our table to make room for a huge party. In return, my coworker Csky got us a round of free shots.
• After a bit we got bored of the Kinsale, and moved over to another bar downtown called The Harp.
  • Fun times getting in – some people had passes, while the rest of us had to pay a cover. We all split the cost once Csky had saved the day yet again by convincing the bouncers to let us all in at once, ahead of the line.
  • More drinks (Bass, or Black and Tans this time) were had by all
  • There was a dancefloor. We had a dance party. It was awesome
  • I hit my “ohh crap I’m loosing it!” moment
• Once I hit that peak, I knew it was time to go home. So I quickly excused myself, grabbed my coat, made a quick trip to the bathroom, and hit the dusty trail…
  • Literally. I hit it. Faceplanted pretty quick, but I recovered admirably and made it to the T.
  • But I made it to the wrong line. In my state, I couldn’t deal with this, so I got off and walked to the correct line.
  • This part was horrible and I don’t want to remember it.
  • Finally arrive at Alewife, where Allegra and Bridgette are waiting for me, like guardian angels sent from heaven.
  • They help me home, put me to bed, and set me up to sleep off the nights adventures…