Headin East & Back

Whew! We have been gone 10 days and it was a whirlwind!! After a quick visit with Ed Maggart in Asheville, we headed to the New River Rendezvous for fun, friends, and climbing. It was our fourth festival at the New and we were grateful to get to participate. The weather varied from gorgeous to wet, and we got to see tons of friends and did some climbing. We particularly had a blast with our hosts, Jay and Wendy. Note Phil's grandparents' couch which which was a popular feature at the hospitality tent where Wendy slaved away most of the weekend! Then Phil headed to Falling Creek to spend the week training their mountaineering staff and I headed to Ohio and Kentucky for an MK sales trip.

I logged a ton of miles on my rental Prius, which managed to get nearly 50 miles a gallon- very entertaining when on a road trip solo! I saw a large portion of the Shuler family as I made my way south, then we headed to Highlands to relax for Memorial Day weekend with Joel, Rachel, and Phil's parents.
It was intoxicating to see so much green! I finally got to wear flip flops, but still enjoyed cool evenings. We found that the humidity was quite a bear when trying to keep up with Joel & Rachel on some trails in Panthertown Valley. I thought all of our climbing and boarding at altitude would make us bionic-- not so.

The week went by quickly, and we are happy to be back in our own beds with the dogs. Jasmine particularly enjoyed the king sized bed at the kennel and now has it on her wish list. Thankfully, we ran into some friends headed back to Jackson in the Charlotte airport and were spared a night in the Denver airport by getting re-routed to Idaho Falls. It seems people rarely get all the way in and out of Jackson without some epic travel tales, but still, we are home and pooped.

All of you that we got to see- we enjoyed it immensely and continue to miss you lots. Those who we didn't see- we hope to soon!!

XOXO