High Point B'ham

Took a few of Chan's friends to High Point to climb today as part of the birthday event.

It's a little different than the one in Chattanooga.

First, you have to have waivers, even if you have one on file at the other location.  This was annoying, but took less than 5 minutes.

Second, after getting geared up (shoes and a harness) we had to go through the gym with a guide and be shown how to use everything.  Even though we have climbed at the other location on several occasions. That was also annoying, but I would rather everyone have to hear the safety talk.

The other thing that was different is they have a weightlifting room and the bathroom has a sauna!  I never noticed either at Chattanooga.

They do NOT have the outside climbing area in Birmingham.

Overall, it's a great facility and the kids had a blast.  We were there around 3 hours, leaving after the after school and work crowd started coming in around 4:45

The race wall is always a hit with these two

In Chattanooga, the climbing area is in a pit, so it does not seem THIS huge (to me).  They are both 55 feet high.

There is a bouldering room as well as the kid area and the main climbing room

I imagine there will be some SORE kids tomorrow!

Afterward, we went just up the road to Thirstea and had bubble tea and grilled sandwiches.  What a GREAT combo idea!

Moss Rock Preserve

We ended up in Birmingham for a LONG day last Saturday while Jake and Chan went to KamiCon for about 13 hours.

We got them dropped off and checked in and headed to get lunch at Jason's Deli and walked around in town a bit. Then decided since the weather was so nice, to get in a hike.  We decided to try Moss Rock again, we went there several years ago when there were only a couple of trails and totally missed the rocks!  By the time we realized there was more to it, we were too tired to explore more.

In the years since our last visit, there are new houses galore and a row of shops, mostly restaurants, along the main entrance between 2 roundabouts.  In the second one, there is a sign directing to park, so we headed up the little hill and parked in the red clay parking area.

We headed off to the left of the parking area toward some rocks and just wandered up the trail a while before deciding to drop down and skirt some of the boulders.  Once through, we could hear the creek quite clearly.

All along the way there were people of all ages (and dogs) climbing rocks and lounging in hammocks, kids running all over and it reminded me of Cherokee Rock Village, but much more tame.  Still plenty of big rocks for big kids, though!

We crossed the little creek on a small wooden bridge, interrupting 2 women who were taking photos of one another with their phones and seemingly posting them immediately.  They were VERY intent and had 3 hats each.  I found it bizarrely amusing, they would snap and then furiously thumb their phones, change hats and do it again,  They seemed a little put out that we wanted to use the 2 foot wide bridge and huffed as they stepped down, which was even more funny to me.  "Let's go take pitchers of each other and post them down at the park where there will be at least 100 other people and only one bridge!"  "OKAY!  And let's stand ON THE BRIDGE!"  "Ooooh, yeah, PERFECT. Which hat should I wear?"  "Oh gosh, I can't decide, just bring 'em all!"  "Whooo!  Great idea, no wonder we are besties!"  LOLZ  ( I'm just jealous.)

Anyway, we followed along by the creek, up and over the little waterfall cliff and there were bunches more people in hammocks all along the way.  I could see this was shaping up to be my kind of place. Ben said we should come back with friends, so I set up a date to do that as soon as we got home.  :)

I did not get many shots as I was suffering from a lingering chest cold and walking up and down the hills was working my poor diminished capacity lungs.  However, I will be back soon and likely get more. (Photos, not lungs)

There was still snow in our yard, 60 miles to the north.

It's a lovely spot, some 10 miles of hiking trails are in place.  I can't wait to go back-with my hammock of course!

Green Mountain, AirWalk, 1st Ave Rocks

Our weekend was not as busy as planned, Friday it rained all day and we watched a couple movies and Saturday Matt and I ran errands all afternoon including test driving various used cars and one 2 year old mutt.  Didn't take any of the cars, but the dog might be a go.  Going to have an overnight soon to see how Nia likes her.  She's VERY shy-not Nia, the other dog.  She's been abused, she had puppies very young, she's had a hard life.  She's been living with a very nice older man who has done nothing but love and pet her since the first of November.  She's physically healed and is super sweet, but I am afraid Nia will beat the crap out of her!  Or, for that matter, the cats.  Ack.  Nia needs a rough and tumble dog, she loves to wrestle and jump around being terrifying.  One thing is for sure, she needs a friend, that dog is depressed.  She's SO sad, we still can't even say 'Kaiju' around her, she darts up and then lays back down and sighs.  It's breaking my heart!

Sunday we headed out for a walk around Sky Lake up on Green Mountain with Katy and her crew.  That was about 20 degrees colder than I thought it would be, hahaha!  Ran into Kelley that I graduated with, so now I have a new Facebook Friend!  I have not seen her in 23 years.  That's cray.

Chan and Chan Jr.  

How scary is that?

We had dinner at Taziki's with everyone and picked up goodies at Fresh Market!  Not a bad afternoon!

Monday, I promised Ben we'd go to AirWalk AND rock climbing.  He's missed a couple weeks and has been really bummed. I posted about going and Katy opted to drive down and go with us!  We met Melanie and her Ben there and the kids had a blast.

AirWalk has the same deal as Shakalaka-$5 per homeschooler for an hour of 'flight time' any time school is in session.

It's less than half the size of Shakalaka, but has three bonus things.  1.  A really cool touch-screen drink machine that takes debit  2. massage chairs in the observation area and 3. they don't mind the younger kids making things out of the foam blocks.

Story of my life.  haha

We went to Jason's Deli for lunch and then over to 1st Ave Rocks for a couple hours of climb time.

Chalk Buns!

There were some breaks for aching hands, that's hard on their little hands to hold the wall so long

Inde  I mean Stephanie enjoyed climbing with the harness, she is SUCH the imp.

Loads of fun, but they were ready to head out.

Ben went home with Katy and they stopped at her Alma Mater to walk around on campus.  Chan was ready to get home-provided we arrived there with cheesecake.

It was a lovely sunset!!

I did get cheesecake for the girl, though she went to bed without eating it.  Which makes me feel sad for the cheesecake...I should just go check and see how it's doing.