Au Revoir... et à Bientôt

Spent the last week or so trying to climb in Red Rocks with Camille, Sara, Koti and Kristie. I say "trying" because the weather has been less than agreeable. Either way, we had a few very lovely and sunny days on the rock.

Camille even captured my favorite activity: taking nice big falls!

She also got a shot of me attempting to climb back down the route.

Here's Sara on a classic: Fear and Loathing III, 5.12a.

We spent a day at a wall called Sunny and Steep, which was bolted by a group from Massachusetts in the 90s. The name was quite accurate. Here's Camille quickly learning how steep the wall was. 

Then came a snow storm... Koti flew back to MA just in time.

Rather than sitting in the wind and cold and waiting a couple days for the rock to dry, Camille and I drove to Death Valley for some hiking and better temps.

We explored the salt flats a bit. Badwater Basin sits at 282 feet below sea level making it the lowest point in North America.

Rather than our usual camping spots on BLM land we found some free camping in the park. We quickly built a beautiful fire pit as the sun was setting over the basin.

The wind made a big and bright fire. That fire ended up costing us $180 the next day as we received a citation from a National Park officer. They don't mess around when they say no fires allowed. Thankfully he cut me a break from the usual $530 citation.

The sand dunes were pretty cool.

We also checked out an open air museum located in Rhyolite, a ghost town on the CA/NV border.

For Camille's last night we booked a hotel room on the strip... in a castle!

The view of the strip from our 26th floor room was pretty jaw-dropping. A change of pace from our usual camping spots in desolate areas.

We explored the strip, walking through New York, New York, then Paris, then a Chinese New Year themed Italian Palace and finally watched the fountain show at the Bellagio. After many tiring miles we had to pass on the pyramid and instead tried our hands at gambling back in our castle. $5 poorer and we were satisfied with out Vegas Strip experience.

Unfortunately I had to drop Camille off at the airport today. Reflecting on the last 2 months feels so long and also way too short. The Saturn feels too quiet and empty. 

Already starting to figure out when we'll see each other again. She'll be working for the next 8 months in France so hopefully I can make a trip there sooner rather than later. But in the meantime I might also look for a job... who knows, it could be fun...