The land of ostie de tabarnak de calisse

I finally got my act together to book the free Canada trip that I won from the New Yorker caption contest last August. And because people inevitably ask, here is a truncated version of the cartoon. This part that is cut off from the bottom is the name of the ship at Niagara Falls: "Maid of the Mist."

[THE CARTOON DOES NOT EXIST IN ANY WORLD I KNOW OF NOW.]

My winning caption was: "No, Jimmy, we will not be referring to Dad as Mistman."

Please don't ask me to explain why that's funny because I'm just going to mumble something about: 1) New Yorker humor generating a wry smile at best and 2) how apparently the editors saw something funny that I don't even get. Let's just talk about how each of those eleven words is worth $454. Eyes on the effin' prize!

So I'm taking Chris and Erik along, and the three of us are going to jet off to Toronto for five days over July 4th weekend. Yes, we're very patriotic like that, so just be glad we didn't choose to go earlier for Canada Day on the 1st of July. We'll ride the Maid of the Mist, traipse around Toronto proper, hitch a train to Montreal to see the sights, and then finish off with two days in Quebec. Trains, planes, and possibly automobiles are all involves. We're also going to be staying in a haunted castle. Hello, Château Laurier, hello.

And the title of this post is a reference to the amusing profanity of Quebec French that uses Catholicism for some of the big guns in its literary arsenal. I like that the Québécois can adequately translate "a fuckload of food" as "la bouffe en tabarnac."

I notched my first 5.11b ('Dacks!) last week, and I'm definitely feeling how the months of pure bouldering have improved my toproping. Solid climbing day today too! I flashed two 5.11a routes, the first one being super stemmy, which is right up my alley. My big concern is keeping my right shoulder healthy, so there are definitely times when I could just lean back and go for a lunge, but it ain't worth months of wishing I were clambering and starting from scratch. I'm signed up for two more outdoor trips: Goat Rock on the beach in Sonoma Coast State Park and Cosumnes River Gorge.

I have no idea why the Irish vampire chimpanzee didn't attack sooner.

 I can confirm that trivia night at Rogue Ales Public House has been the best one I've been to in San Frnacisco (so far). Organized, audible, and the rounds were entertaining. Who knew there was a prolific bluegrass band devoted to doing covers of...everything? Add in the excellent Rogue beer selection, and yeah, get me another pint of  Hazelnut Brown.

Such a relaxing Saturday bouldering with random bros at Great Western Power Company. I don't think I've had so many congratulatory fist bumps in my life. GWPC is definitely like the 24 Hour gym by Montgomery. Tiny but often empty, and it has a cozy feel. Definitely one of my favorite Touchstone gyms and I haven't even found anyone to toprope with there yet!

Kelis will never get to play any other songs.

Trueburger'd afterwards with Talia/Jason before headed off to talk to Berkeley undergrads. My first career panel, and it's so weird to talk about your life so far as some planned route, when really I had very little idea what I was doing while I was doing it. It was good to be asked to do some navel gazing, and I stand by the fact that it really was all about the people. Connections got me jobs and friends kept me happy, inspired, and motivated. I like that I've stumbled into two fascinating jobs since law school, and I really can't wait to see what's next. Meeting tons of people who do international work keeps opening my eyes to what's out there, and I don't think I'll stop osmotically learning in the near future.

Wrapped up the Saturday night with Samovar times and some Turkish oil wrestling at Hi Tops. Kisbets are for putting your arm through! There really need to be more venues to hang out at that don't involve drinking.

Sunday was yoga times, and then crisping at Dolores Park with amigos. And finally sampled Truffle Man's wares. Rum and dark chocolate: yes.

Sausage festin' in hot springs

Checking Sykes Hot Springs off my bucket list for the year was an easy one since Big Sur is only 2.5 hours from the City. From the trailhead, we set off with our loaded packs on a 10.5 mile trek into the shrubbery. My first time using the new pack and while there definitely is a little adjustment to be done to make it fit in glove-like fashion, the heft of my stuff felt pretty good.

The hike had a a few fun obstacles, mostly involving crossing little streams. So cool to have these giant redwoods as bridges, though I cringe to imagine what a faceplant/sideplant would feel like. Little madrones and big adult ones everywhere, so splashes of silky orange on all the light greenery.

Cragginess

Once we arrived at the campsites, we threw down our stuff, pitched tents, and immediately set off for the hot springs. Darkness swept in pretty quick, but it was fun scrabbling around on rock faces, hillsides, and again across a giant redwood. Wearing flipflops for this obstacle course was not the best idea ever, but we did finally get hit by the cloud of sulfur. Frogs freaking out as well. We stripped down to join some wasted bros and their even more plastered ladies in the river-side hot spring. For straight boys, there was certainly a lot of references to our end being a "wall of dicks" and "sausage fests." And claiming to wake up with Vaseline on anuses. Truth and such.

Basically pitch black within an hour, but the frogs are still screaming and we get the hot spring to ourselves. A bottle of wine and hot soaking after a hike is...just as awesome as expected. We hustle back to camp, cook up some turkey chili and rice, wash it down with Back in Black IPA. Note to self: snag a six-pack of 21st's cardamom beer (Sneak Attack).

Group shot as we take a quick breather

So much eating before the hike back. PB&J and avocado/cheese sandwiches!

Mid-nom.

The pit bathroom. It was basically a throne on top of a steep hillside.

View on the drive back

 So glad we decided to stop at Kome for sushi buffet times on the way back! I must have eaten my weight in geoduck and imitation crab.