Camp Lo

One day, way back when snow was still on the ground, I got an email asking me to come to Camp Lo from Terry, my Boston pal. Not really knowing the fuck Camp Lo was I inquired and I got this email responding to my inquiry-

hey nora,

camp lo is the best time of the year.

charlie or ashley never told you about it?

you should come... seriously,

terry-

So Camp Lo was to remain shrouded in mystery...
After some back and forth with Charley and Jersey (no one I know calls her Ashley...) I figured out it was like a sleep away camp for "grown ups" complete with an arts and crafts table, boating, tubing, hiking, and drinking. Lots of that.
And then I forgot because snow and cold doesn't make me want to leave my well heated apt and think about living on an island on Lake George.

Fast forward several months- the gang's all here, in size order, on a dock.... waiiitttinngg for the mystery boat to pick us up with our gear.
The prep email we all received said something to the effect of
"You don't have to call, just be there by 4 and you'll get on the boat. If you miss the last boat, you don't get to come to the island until the next day."
To pass the time Charley had the really awful idea of playing badminton with himself right on the edge of the dock.
45 minutes later we decided to call.
And our trip was able to begin! Being a city gal, getting on a boat to get to an island where there is nothing really like civilization at all is really exotic. Even if is only a ten minute boat ride tops. And a walkie talkie. And iPods.
The NYC kids (us) were supposed to be on clean up duty after dinner, but I missed the memo and came too late to really help. I contributed by taking photos of Babs cleaning the skillet. She seemed to be having such a good time I didn't want to impede on her fun.
And later that night we played round after round of 13-person-teamed Flip Cup. It was my third time playing. Ever.
I loved it!
We must have played close to 10 rounds of the game. My team won all but 9 of them.
(see what I did there?)
The next day it RAINED every single moment. This didn't stop anyone from going on a boat, tubing, or swimming in the lake. The weather just contributed to making me sleepy as fuck, resulting in the most EPIC NAP EVER! Now that's what I call vacation.
Babs made her beer can carpet all by herself! Babs also loves skull caps and Joe Boxer bathing suits.
And any favorite rainy day activity- FACE PAINTING TIME! By the time I left most ladies had facial hair. Its tres chic indeed.

Climbing the 'Dacks!

It seems like when I go upstate to climb the weather just turns to shit and makes any attempts at outdoor climbing almost impossible. Saturday it rained the whole time so we hollered at the indoor gym instead.While the gym is mostly a bouldering gym, as the ceilings are not super tall, I was able to get some leading in.
What a thrill. My gym has a super rigorous lead test on an inverted wall at a super high rating (not fair! I'm a lady, I never claimed to be able to hold onto a wall for that long, upper body strength ain't my forte) so I don't get to climb lead there (YET), but I am able to climb at AIR, which I love. The thrill pushes me harder, and I love a throbbing forearm. Its less climbing vertical and more traversing at this gym (again, because of the low ceilings I presume) which can be more intense, especially 20 plus feet off the ground.
Someone at the gym had set up a swing out, aka super terrifying. Brendan has climbed about 6 and a half feet away from his last clip in and is prepping to jump off the wall any second now. Its like trying to tell yourself to walk off a cliff.
Every good gym has a dog. This one is Riley. She's adorable.
Speaking of dogs, look how good Brendan's are. SOOOOOO CUTE!fdasklg;jasklag
We took the dogs camping with us, but since it was raining and gross we did "fake camping" at Nate's grandparent's cabin near the lake. It wasn't real camping, but it was a real good time. One bottle of Jameson later, we all went skinny dipping, something I haven't done since 8th grade graduation. Even the dogs joined us!
One hung over morning later we got ready for some outdoor climbing!
We got ready very slooowwlllyyy....
Across the street from the lake shack was this house, which is maybe the ugliest, most poorly decorated, designed, and thought out house ever. Lets chat about it, shall we?
Oh yes, the ever popular vertical siding, commonly used nowhere, a mysical floating colbat mirror orb on a pedistal, THE LETTER Q, and last but certainly not least, an empty shrine, or as Nate insisted, a urinal. So bizarre.
We brought the dogs climbing- check out that figure 8 on the static line we used to keep them from jumping off a cliff. YEAH!
The walls were so wet from the day before I really struggled against the slime. Also our first routes were crack climbing, instead of face climbing. The most common way of climbing a crack is by jamming, which is exactly what it sounds like. Shove your hand or foot into the crack and twist it around until it stays there. Some people say if it hurts you're doing it right. Needless to say I'm not a fan of crack climbing.We switched to a climb called Afternoon Delight, which was something like 65 ft high. The exposure was fantastic but boy oh boy did I get super scared up there. Total adrenaline rush! I can't wait to get back at the walls!

That's me just about to pee my pants doing the swing out.

Upstate New York

My recent obsession with rock climbing has not gone away at all. Its increased, there is more or less nothing else I want to do (except be the owner of every fancy dress and fabulous shoe out there, and lets face it, that will probably never happen) (also, except for laying in grass in a park, and/or listening to live music) (and also, drinking good beer in perfect weather) and last weekend I was given the chance to jump on some real rock in the Adirondacks, or the 'dacks if you like speaking in climber lingo, which I totes don't.
So I took a two hour train ride, and a two hour car ride to somewhere near Albany, and then the weather was stupid cold and stupid raining and stupid stupid. No outdoorsing for me. We did hit up AIR, an indoor gym, where I lead climbed (or lead, or leaded, what is the past of this?) for the first time and totally got high (ha ha, I'm very punny) from that alone. They also had miles and miles (or like almost two) of indoor caves, the only gym like this in the nation, which will make any claustrophobe throw up and any kid or kid at heart pee their pants with glee. Yours truly especially liked the zip line. A playground for adults!

So- upstate is nothing like the city, and its kind of boring, and you have to take cars everywhere, a personal annoyance of mine. And yet I had SO much fun on my break from the city (even though I was away I insisted we watch New York, I Love You) I only took this one photo of Brendan with his dog, Cooper. I was too busy drinking at bizarre bars, eating delish veggie food, and pulling plastic.
I love dogs, and Brendan's were really special and you should go and holler at them if you like handsome dogs.