Friday: Kids are watching the house, and just Rach and I drive to Wallace for the annual Blues Festival. Great music. Food. Dancing. Late nights out like this make me feel like we are still two kids in college just having a good time. Tons of fun. We spend the night in our Wallace home.
Saturday: Back in town in time for Post Falls Day parade with kids. We sit next to several families with younger kids and it strikes me how grown up we are all looking. We spend a lot less time running into the street for candy, and a lot more time waving to people who we know in the procession. We have made a home here.
From the parade, we walk down to the park for more music and fun on the Post Falls beach. Home for a quick lunch, and then to the swimming hole for afternoon cool-off. Play in the river with kids.
That evening we throw meat on grill and welcome Colby, MyKel, and family to our house. I haven't seen Colby (cousin) for a long time, but he was a part of a lot of childhood memories. It's super good to catch up with them.
Sunday: Morning with Colby's family, and then they have to leave. Rach and I go to grand opening of new climbing gym where we volunteer for event. We take turns demoing the Moonboard, bouldering, shuttling kids around, and hanging out with friends. Chill atmosphere with booths and live band in the courtyard- it's clear that a climbing community is growing here, and that is really cool.
As part of the opening, I get to meet with one of my longtime heroes of the climbing world. Alan Watts changed the face of climbing in America due to his willingness to go against the rules of his community. That's not an easy thing to do. In the context of a the new gym, surrounded by friends who, like me, climb hard but see the sport as only one of many competing priorities, it is easy for me to draw a direct line through history from his glory days to the present moment. The bolt wars. The magazines. The first 5.13. Changing tactics. The first 5.14. The first manufactured climbing holds. Sport competitions. Guidebooks and the sharing of beta. Really, the whole climbing world as we know it today. It all passes through this guy. In fact, there is a very real possibility that, had he not been who he was, a large part of my own life today would be nonexistent.
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| Me holding the first ever manufactured hold. Kinda cool. |
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| Rach and me with Alan. This guy is a living legend. |
Anyway- it was a really good weekend. Meeting Alan was a highlight for sure, but it seems there were lots of smaller parts that just made me feel very content with the way things are right now. Friends. Family. Community. Hard work mixed with fun and relaxation. Enjoyment of nice things/healthy bodies that we are able to have. Makes me feel lucky.
Have a good week!
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