The Good Life

This is it.

Beloved Mathews House. This first post goes out to the lovely lady Nelly.

I arrived at Sunrise Ranch June 1st. Leaving Fort Collins was a whirlwind. However, I have only myself to blame for allowing 1 day to pack all my belongings. But come on, after graduating college who wouldn't want to leave ASAP to go climbing? And spend all available time climbing as well? And that's exactly what Fumie and I did.

God willing, my 88' Toyota Camry started on May 15th, allowing us to depart from the Parker Residence Graduation Party with out complete embarrassment. My pits were beginning to sweat just a little as I pushed in the clutch and turned the key, "Come on girl, not here, not now." All that positive energy took Fumie and me all the way to Salt Lake without any hindrances. For whatever reason, Lidia (the name my dad gave to Old 88' Carmy) decided she had about enough, maybe she didn't like Utah.

Fumie and I felt like a clip straight out of Little Miss Sunshine. Bump starting Lidia every stop from Salt Lake all the way to Arcata. And we became masters, receiving cheers and encouragement. Thank God its a stick!

We kept it real in Arcata with my amazing family but soon departed to Bend, Oregon. Fumie and I were on a mission to climb as many routes as we could before we would go our respected ways. Fumie is one of my only friends that I met in the dorms and still continue to have a giggly, immature, loving friendship with. If you said whats your schema of friends, I would say: Fumie & geese.

With our loving friendship aside, we're still people. And when people are around each other for ungodly amounts of time, sometimes the temperature gets a little uncomfortable. But in the end, Fumie knows I'm not a mind reader and I'm the one to blame for leaving the keys in the ignition and draining the battery in the, supposedly more reliable, Phoebe (dad named her too), my new 03' Toyota Avalon. So the moral, we still love each other, possibly now more then ever.

After leaving Fumie in Tillamook (more to come later), I started driving in the general direction of Colorado. I emailed a few peeps off Mountain Project to try to get in a little more climbing and got connected with a dood named Tyson. Tyson and his friend Victor are two of the most welcoming people I have met in a while. Despite then later telling me "Yeah, we thought you were gunna SUCK!" they still invited me along for 5 days of climbing in Joes Valley Utah.



Since I currently do not own a functioning digital camera, I have stolen the above pictures from my own facebook (which don't actually belong to me?) Anyway, we met up with two charming traveler guys Stu and Charley. Stu and Charley took loads of pictures so I will have more to come in the near future.. that is if I keep up with this blogging stuff.

Climbing in Joe's changed my life and the way I think about climbing. I have begun to assess what climbing really means to me and why I climb. Its for the love. For the love of the movement. The power. The grace. The balance between the two. The technical. The mental. And the physical.

It was hard to leave the send train after I was so graciously welcomed aboard. But I think the friendships I made in Joe's are ones that will last.

So after a hectic day in Fort Collins, I moved up to Sunrise Ranch where I will be a farming intern for the next 5 months. I will be blogging hopefully on a regular basis. I would love to hear comments and feedback. Welcome to a little glimpse of my life.

I'll see ya out there.



Julie