TRAVELS WITH MATTIE

...but we're back!  HI EVERYBODY(especially Uncle Kevin and Great Uncle Mike)! Let me get you caught up on what's happened over the past 3 months: The end of summer in the Eastern Sierra is perfect and warm. There are no mosquitoes. You sleep without a tent in sagebrush flats that usually look something like this:  Looking south toward Crowley, September.    There are artifacts everywhere, boulders everywhere, good people everywhere. The music at the Whoa Nellie is amazing, it's cool enough to climb at the Buttermilks, you eat Mono Bars for every meal and drink beers every night. Shooting stars all over the place. Mattie and I were really, really gross after 12 weeks of tent-living.  The most perfect quartzite mano (thanks John the Geologist!). And a little tardifact sitting on top.  Sid turned 7 (holy christ) and we had a face-painting bowling insanity party with a cake and Thai food. Scott became a tiger.  Anni ...

Hi GUYS! Things are still incredible on the east side, but Mattie and I are starting to feel a little sad as summer starts to wind down. The aspens near the mouth of Lundy Canyon are already starting to change, and the recent cold storms blowing through the Mono Basin are reminding us that fall is on its way and soon we'll be heading back to the coast...and work.  But FIRST - more fun in the mountains! My most loyal followers (cough. ha.) will remember Mike from last year's backpacking adventures out of Mammoth Lakes and through McGee Creek. He's one of our beautiful/hilarious/heartwarming buddies. It was his first night back in California and the start to his 4 month road trip adventures, which kind of deserved some kind of celebration. So after a Shoot From the Hip in downtown Truckee the first night he rolled in, we hung out under the stars and listened to music in a perfect meadow off Highway 89.  Mike rolls into California (no, we didn't drink ...

Hey guys, it's been FOREVER!  We've been busy bees up here around Tahoe for the past few weeks, and I'm feeling overwhelmed trying to write about all of it. So here are a few recent pictures (not in order...at all) from epic mountain adventures, and I'll try to get back on the blogwagon.  First, this is how we're looking these days. It's getting wild. We smell bad. Clothing is getting brighter, and dirtier, at the same time. My flip flops broke in half. Mattie has the worst bed head ever, all the time. I bought those tights in the kids' section at REI (they're the official climbing tights). Gremlins. It was Anni's 4th birthday and we went to the water park with Scott and Sid. Then we came back for a little party and gifts, and Anni got her first real bike. I love this picture. This is how proud every kid should be when they get their first real bike. We climbed with the infamous and unbelievable Greg Reynolds around Tahoe an...

GUYS!!! I actually don't even know where to start with this post.  Shasta is the best? I guess that's a good place to start? Anyway.  Mattie and I left Lee Vining Thursday morning and started driving north, and it was warm. We spaced out along the way and took it easy in some amazing meadows along Highways 44 and 89, and rolled into Mount Shasta City around 4:30 with a little time for a nap on the Forest Service lawn while we waited for Ryan to get off work. Then everything awesome started happening really quickly.  FIRST, right after he got home we went swimming in Castle Lake (I think? I think that's what it's called...). The water was perfect and totally clear, it was warm out, there were PBRs involved. A short hike took us up to Heart Lake and an unreal view of Shasta as the sun went down. On the drive home we were stopped by a black bear. We made tacos for dinner. THEN Friday happened, and it was one of the coolest days ever. Ryan led me ...

Great things happened this week. I mean, great things happen every week when you're up here...but still. It doesn't make them any less great. Anyway. Last week Mattie and I did a lot of wandering, including all around Mosquito Flats where I read about dragons and soaked my ankle in this awesome little lake with a terrible view.  Then we crossed the 395 and found a magic secret canyon (with secret chalked holds) somewhere on the south end of the Sherwin Plateau: ...and then we spaced out and played a serious game of Artifact-or-Notifact around the rim of the canyon, which we DESTROYED: Then Mattie got all pissed off because she didn't find that mortar (and Artifact-or-Notifact is getting pretty competitive between the two of us), so we came back and worked on a lot of school stuff early on in the week until she mellowed out and my ankle felt better.  Thursday we climbed a little, then went and saw Dead Winter Carpenters at the Mob...