Boo!

I spent a couple of days with my favorite girl cousin (a tall honor!) and her husband (my newest cousin), aunt, and uncle in Boone, NC. Their hometown has become one of my favorite retreats, especially as Aunt Janet & Uncle Bob welcome everyone to the rocking chairs of their kitchen and porches.

The Ellison house recently welcomed a couple dozen keets (baby guinea hens), and although they are a smelly bunch, they are awful cute and will grow to be excellent watch dogs for the house.

Katherine, Jesse, and I rescheduled our first climbing day for a hike since the rock we were scoping out was sopping wet. We made it to Price Park off the Blue Ridge Parkway for a 5 mile loop but bailed a few miles in when the rain and other extenuating circumstances dampened the trail.

The best place to beat the rain was obviously Black Cat, arguably the best burrito outside of Chapel Hill, and finished up at Espresso News for a rousing game of Bananagrams.

Becky's special handicap for Bananagrams when playing the Ellisons:

-I get to turn all of my tiles over first

-then form my first word

-then form my second word

-then the Ellisons can start turning over their tiles and play

... and I still lose.Sunday proved to have better weather and the rock at Holloway Mtn was dry so Jesse and I set up an anchor and hopped on some nice cracks. I'm stoked to finally know a good place to climb in Boone since much of the rock in Western NC is trad and exceptionally difficult.

Katherine had a rough day of napping, snacking, snapping photos of her buff husband, and encouragement from the hammock, but what a cheerleader she is! Stay tuned to Stitching Hope because her next task is to figure out how to make me a chalk bag.