No, its not a typo, its just my most quoted line from the 1989 Weird Al comedy UHF.

But in all seriousness, I did have a great Father’s Day Surprise this year. My wonderful wife made some secret plans for a climbing outing, and even my 5 year old and 3 year old didn’t spill the beans.

The real story started about a week prior. And actually further set-up back in January. As you may have read in one of my earlier posts, I had set some climbing related goals for 2013. One such goal was to get outside climbing more days in 2013 than previous years. Twenty days to be exact. Well, guess what didn’t cooperate with my plans…

Winter Weather – Snow into May

Needless to say, the late start to (in my opinion) climbable weather coupled with various additional schedule conflicts that come with a “Real Life”, I had not made it outside to climb a single time yet. So when I was whining away about not having gotten outside yet, in the second week of June, my sweet wife had to bite her tongue and keep the surprise alive.

So Sunday morning, Father’s Day, I am awakened by a shake. “It’s 9 o’clock, time for church.” [wait a minute… if it’s 9, we’re already late] So I open my eyes to an envelope waving in front of my face. I open it and it goes something like this:

Happy Father’s Day!
Get packed! We’re going Rock Climbing.
We leave at 7:30 sharp.

It is then that I look at the alarm clock and read 6:45. [Wow, this is awesome] So we get on the road and I notice some funny business, like secret texting and asking me what towns we drove through to get to the crag. But I play along. After all, this is very thoughtful of her and I am EXTREMELY appreciative. We hike to the base of the bluffs and set the gear down, when all of a sudden, “Oh, I forgot the bug spray in the car. Can you run down and get it?” [For real??? OK] And as I’m jogging back down the trail, around the corner comes my climbing buddy and fellow Father. Supplies!!!

Sharing Beta and a Belay

It was a great day. Good warm-up on a classic 5.9, one mis-read sequence away from a 5.11c onsight, and the 2nd go redpoint. I had fun in the great outdoors, doing something I love with the people I love. Plus, although my wife is a distance runner, she is a natural on the stone.

So the seal has been broken. Outside climbing is the name of the game. And the Game is ON!!

2013 Goals Update
20 Days – 1/20 – 5%
13 5.12’s – 0/13 – 0%

~ Climb 4 Real ~