A photo-journal of my awesome weekend

Joshua Tree National Park!


It was chilly. Think 40 degrees, but with a rather stiff, biting wind. I have no idea why my down jacket is here in Southern California with me, but it was a very good item to have.


Mickle and I met up with Lauren Austin (on the left), our beloved teammate who is now studying geology at UC Davis and cramming her life full of climbing adventures.


Lauren brought Ian, who is our new friend/hero. I've never (in person) seen anyone climb like he does.


All these rocks had me feeling prehistoric. I half- expected to see a dinosaur thundering off in the distance.


Can you spot Ian? He's placing gear in a route called Leave It To Beaver, which he climbed a few hours later.


And here I am, un-gracefully shimmy-ing up this off-width crack while Lauren belays me from behind the pointy desert plant.


Half way up the crack I got stumped and made an angry face for awhile.


But later I redeemed myself by climbing this more challenging route. I enjoyed it immensely because it was in the sun.


I love trees, and rocks.


Mickle loves my headlamp.


It was good to get back in touch with my love for escapades like these. It's easy to get wrapped up in numbers and training and forget that the reason I started kayaking in the first place was because of my passion for outdoor adventure!

Femmy Emmy's Weekend Roadtrip: A Photo Essay

Not too much out of the ordinary happens here in Chula Vista: we train, we eat, we sleep, we watch movies... like I said before, this part of the year is not known for its excitement. So when Tyler got the opportunity to go to Lake Tahoe this past weekend, I jumped at the chance to explore more beautiful places that I've never seen.

We got an early start on Friday morning because we aimed to make it to San Francisco ASAP. We brought Tyler's friend Dan along. Both of the boys were tired, but naturally, I don't get tired, so I took the early morning driving shift. It was really windy through the mountain passes, but gorgeous... and since the boys were asleep, I could play all the country music I wanted.



Upon reaching San Francisco, we visited more of Tyler's friends and then set out to find a place to eat dinner. We happened to park outside a very busy Senegalese restaurant and decided to try it. The wait for a table seemed like forever, but I am not exaggerating when I say it was the best meal I've ever had in my life.




On Saturday morning, we left early for Lake Tahoe. The drive was breathtaking, especially when we reached Truckee and were driving through the mountains. There was snow on the ground, but it was still warm-- 45ish?-- outside, and very sunny and crisp. I was in mountainous heaven.






We got to Northstar Resort, our final destination, around lunchtime.



We were attending a snowboard/technology trade show of sorts, called Snowmodo. They had all kinds of cool inventions on display-- tracking programs, heated clothing, video cameras, and cutting-edge snowboard technology. We learned a lot and came away with free stuff.

After the event (and the party!) we decided to see if we could bum a ride up the gondola. The answer was a resounding YES. So up the mountain we flew, watching the snowboarders on the half-pipe as we went up.






We snapped a few pictures at the top but opted to head down quickly so we could catch sunset at Lake Tahoe.






That's right. So we could catch the sunset. At Lake Tahoe.





Lake Tahoe is 22 miles long, 12 miles wide, and 1000 feet deep. That's deeper than Lake Ontario!! True to form, it was frigid, but we walked around on the beach awhile until the sun went down.







A fantastic weekend, during which I never though about kayaking. Sometimes a mental vacation is a really good way to re-gain focus. And focus will indeed be the theme of the next 2 and a half weeks leading up to World Cup Team Trials!