Thursday, January 1, 2015

Snow in the Desert (Dec 24th-Jan 1st)


Holidays on the road are celebrated slightly differently. Considering we usually have a hard time keeping track of what day it is, the fact that we knew it was Christmas Eve was a plus! We were staying at a free campground outside of Socorro, NM in the Box Canyon. We planned it all out and on Christmas Eve, we headed into town and found eggnog and ingredients to make a delicious meal of hamburgers:) 

Making our Christmas Eve dinner in Socorro.
Christmas Eve was fun and we had our holiday meal before enjoying eggnog and watching "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." It was fun to celebrate in our little home. In the morning, we exchanged our gifts and went climbing! It was cold but sunny so we enjoyed being outside. 


Zach getting his climbing shoes on.
It was a little harder to put on tight shoes when it was cold!
My new shoes and a Christmas gift:)

Socorro ended up getting hit by a cold front so, Zach and I got to see how prepared we were for colder temps! Luckily, we had our down sleeping bags and coats and we played lots of computer/ Nintendo games. My monopoly skills have improved a lot! 

We had some great climbing days in the Box Canyon. I was able to lead climb my first 11b, which is the hardest climb I have lead! I was pretty excited:) 

After we survived the cold of Socorro, we headed up to Albuquerque to see my friend Evelyn who was starting her travel nurse position. It was so great to see her! She even let us stay inside with her! A warm shower and warm place to sleep was the best present ever!! It was fun catching up with Evelyn. Her and I had fun chatting after we laid down and it felt like an old fashioned sleep over! 

In the morning, Evelyn headed out for her first day and we hit the road again to find warm temperatures! Cochis Stronghold was where we ended up. It is a beautiful area outside of Tuscon and we are enjoying getting used to the climbing here. It is mostly traditional climbing where we place our own gear, but there are also sport climbs and preplaced bolts we can use. It has been much warmer here and more manageable. 
Zach getting ready for "Nightstalker" 5.9

Making the move over to the first bolt!

Zach almost to the top!
For New Year's Eve, we made a pasta dinner and Zach enjoyed his first monopoly win! We watched "Castaway" and managed to stay awake past midnight!! It had started raining around 10pm and at some point switched over to snow because this morning we were treated with real snowflakes! I enjoyed seeing the snow and also knowing it wouldn't last top long because the sun was already up and doing it's job. The forecast for the next week looks amazing! Highs in mid 60's with lows in the 40's. Considering we handled a low of 16 at one point, I am ready for the weather shift! 
My snowflakes made friends.

Zach getting ready this morning..brrrr

I eased my way into the cold with lots of layers:)
Even though celebrating the holidays is different, it is still so great to be on the road and seeing new things. The area we are staying in, for instance, was the home to Cochis, an Apache leader who was unbeaten in battle and defended his tribe by keeping the high ground and knowing when anyone was approaching. It feels so cool to be climbing around and living  in an area with such history! I love learning new things about the history of our country! Anyway, it was been an awesome four months and I can't wait to see what 2015 has in store!!

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