Rock Climbing at Murrin Provincial Park + Workouts of the Week

Happy Easter, err'body! Don't mind the radio silence that overtook my blog for the last week-plus. I'm still alive! I KNOW YOU WERE WORRIED.

Last Sunday found me in Squamish, BC for some light rock-climbing with Dave and some friends (Evan, Amin, and Sona), so I thought I'd share some pictures from the afternoon. It was a gorgeous day - blue skies, light breeze, and sun shining down on our wall. We set up in Murrin Provincial Park on a wall called Sugarloaf, where there were a nice range of beginner-friendly routes.

.  clockwise from top left:  amin, david, evan, sona  .

.  amin and david  .

.  sona  .

I took all of those photos, so none of them are of me, unfortunately. I can only assume that I looked absolutely spider-like.

This was only my second time rock-climbing outside on a wall (read about my first time here), and it's pretty fun but definitely a little frightening. Ok, sometimes it's really frightening. There has to be so much trust in the equipment, which isn't an easy thing to come around to. Your life depends on the knot that you've tied and the care with which you've secured your carabiner and how strong your rope is and how much your belayer at the bottom knows what they're doing. Honestly, I'm too unsure of myself to belay for anyone yet. It's a lot of responsibility!! I'm learning though, and eventually I'll trust myself to do it.

For the last couple of weeks Vancouver's weather has been going back and forth between beautiful blue days with light breezes and grey rainy days with complete cloud coverage. I've been trying to take advantage of the blue days by going on long walks to get fresh air and balance out my regular weekly workouts. Because I neglected to post a "Workouts of the Week" blog last week, here's an outline of all of my workouts since my last workout post:

4/6 - hiked up to first pump of Mt. Seymour (pictures here)

4/9 (upper body and core)

3 mins jumping jacks

10 overhead press, 12.5 lbs each hand

20 crunches on exercise ball, holding 12.5 lbs

15 deltoid raises, 5 lbs each hand

40 Brazilian crunches

10 close grip chest press on exercise ball, 12.5 lbs each hand

20 lying overhead raise + double crunch, holding 5 lbs

15 deltoid flys, 5 lbs each hand

40 alternating weighted side bends, 12.5 lbs each hand

10 chest press on exercise ball, 12.5 lbs each hand

20 Russian get ups, 5 lbs each hand

15 tricep extensions on exercise ball, 5 lbs each hand

20 leg raise + reverse crunch

30 alternating chest flys, 5 lbs each hand

40 weighted v-sit twists, holding 12.5 lbs

15 squats, holding 15 lbs

15 squats, holding 20 lbs

15 squats, holding 25 lbs

10 lat pulldowns, 30 lbs

10 lat pulldowns, 40 lbs

10 lat pulldowns, 50 lbs

10 lat pulldowns, 60 lbs

4/11 (lower body and core)

5 mins biking, 1 mile

15 deadlifts, 12.5 lbs each hand

15 suitcase deadlifts (each side), holding 12.5 lbs

40 bridges

40 weighted v-sit twists, holding 12.5 lbs

40 calf raises, 12.5 lbs each hand

20 lying overhead raise + double crunch, holding 5 lbs

30 diamond clamshells each leg

30 cobras

4/13 - rock climbing

4/14 (upper body and core)

5 mins elliptical, .5 mile

12 bent over rows, 12.5 lbs each hand

20 crunches on exercise ball, holding 12.5 lbs

12 deltoid flys, 8 lbs each hand

20 lying overhead raise + double crunch, holding 8 lbs

12 close grip chest press on exercise ball, 12.5 lbs each hand

40 weighted v-sit twists, holding 12.5 lbs

12 deltoid raises, 8 lbs each hand

20 Russian get ups, holding 8 lbs

12 overhead press, 12.5 lbs each hand

40 Brazilian crunches

12 tricep extensions on exercise ball, 8 lbs each hand

1:15 plank

10 lat pulldowns, 30 lbs

10 lat pulldowns, 40 lbs

10 lat pulldowns, 50 lbs

10 lat pulldowns, 60 lbs

4/15 (lower body and core)

5 mins biking

12 deadlifts, 15 lbs each hand

40 weighted v-sit twists, holding 15 lbs

60 bridges

40 plank knee to elbow

40 calf raises, 15 lbs each hand

20 lying overhead raise + double crunch, holding 5 lbs

30 side lunges + plyometric pushoff each leg

40 alternating weighted side bends, 15 lbs each hand

15 squats, holding 15 lbs

15 squats, holding 20 lbs

15 squats, holding 25 lbs

30 cobras

4/16 (cardio and core)

5 mins elliptical, .5 miles

40 weighted v-sit twists, holding 15 lbs

40 Brazilian crunches

30 Russian get ups, holding 5 lbs

40 leg raise + reverse crunch

40 alternating weighted side bends, 15 lbs each hand

40 plank knee to elbow

20 lying overhead raise + double crunch, holding 5 lbs

30 cobras

20 mins stairstepper

4/18 - 4.8 mile walk 

4/19 (upper body and core)

5 minutes elliptical, .5 miles

13 chest press on exercise ball, 12.5 lbs each hand

20 crunches on exercise ball, 12.5 lbs

13 deltoid flys, 8 lbs each hand

20 Russian get ups, holding 8 lbs

13 close grip chest press on exercise ball, 12.5 lbs each hand

40 weighted v-sit twists, holding 12.5 lbs

13 deltoid raises, 8 lbs each hand

20 lying overhead raise + double crunch, holding 8 lbs

13 overhead press, 12.5 lbs each hand

40 alternating weighted side bends, 12.5 lbs each hand

13 tricep extensions on exercise ball, 8 lbs each hand

30 leg raise + reverse crunch

13 bent over rows each arm, 12.5 lbs

40 Brazilian crunches

I assume my gym is closed today for Easter, so hopefully the grey sky I'm looking at right now won't turn to rain before I have a chance to go for a nice walk. Now if you'll eggggscuse me, I'm going to go cook up an eggs 'n bacon breaky. Enjoy your day!

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Parents Visit + Touring Vancouver

This past weekend, David's parents came all the way from Massachusetts to visit us here in Vancouver! We had a packed weekend full of tourist-type activities and LOTS of amazzzzzzzzzing food. No, seriously. Did you see how many z's I put into the word "amazing"? The food was all really that good. So here's a little breakdown of our time very well-spent last weekend:

Friday

Tony and Pauline arrived in Vancouver mid-afternoon and settled into their room at the downtown Marriott hotel, where they stayed on the 28th floor and had an impressive view of downtown and the Coal Harbour/Gastown area. David and I met them at their hotel and the four of us walked a few blocks north to the waterfront and ate dinner at The Cactus Club Cafe. I've eaten at 3 different CCC's around the city and they're all completely lovely as far as I'm concerned. This time I ordered a roasted butternut squash soup that came with seared scallops, apple curry foam, and basil oil. (I just realized this is what I ordered the first time I went to CCC, way back in October 2012.) I also had a salad of seasonal greens with almonds, feta and a lemon-thyme vinaigrette. All yummy!

After dinner we walked around by the water, but it was quite cold and rainy and the view of North Vancouver wasn't too great, so we walked back to the Marriott to have a nightcap for an hour or so before Dave and I grabbed a cab back to our apartment. We don't "grab cabs" often at all - we usually walk or bus it everywhere - so this was a treat that we kind of indulged ourselves in all weekend long!

Saturday

On Saturday we picked up T &P at their hotel in the morning and we drove north of the city to Squamish to show them some of the views along the Sea-to-Sky Highway. Again, it wasn't as clear as we were hoping, but we did get some patches where the clouds would part and show us a towering mountain peak or two:

.  david admiring the mountains  .

From there we continued just north of Squamish to the town of Brackendale, where we stopped at a tourist viewing area for nesting bald eagles. It's apparently the home of one of the largest congregations of bald eagles in North America. We got to see an eagle up close right away - in a tree above us right as we were getting out of our car in the parking lot!

The eagle viewing area, known as Eagle Run, is atop a long dike with a stretch of the Squamish River between us and the eagles in the trees.

We probably ended up seeing around 15-20 eagles (and also a couple of seals!) that day. Apparently there'll be waaaay more eagles in December and January, so I hope to go back then and hopefully take some better photos. For now, you can sorrrrrta see the eagles in the pictures below - just look for the bright white spots in the trees!

On the way home from Brackendale, we stopped in Horseshoe Bay, a small community in West Vancouver. There, we took a few pictures...

.  tony took this picture with his ipad. ayo technology!  .

... and then grabbed some lunch at Troller Ale House, where I ordered a quinoa/black bean veggie burger with a side salad. The burger was ENORMOUS. Like the size of my face.

We began making our way back to Vancouver (via a detour around Stanley Park to show Tony and Pauline some big trees), and went back to our Kitsilano neighborhood to give an extremely brief tour of our apartment before heading back out for a nice afternoon walk in the lingering daylight.

We're in love with our Seaside Bike Path, so we knew we wanted to take Dave's parents along it so they could see the beautiful views it affords of the city. We walked along the path from our apartment for a half hour or so before eventually turning around and heading back towards Granville Island...

On the island, we got some tea, showed Dave's parents around the bustling Public Market...

... and then we all split up for a couple of hours to refresh and regroup before our 6:45 dinner reservations at The Sandbar (just recently voted the Best Restaurant on Granville Island).

Dave and I had been to the Sandbar twice before, but this was the first time we were eating inside on their second floor, rather than out on their third floor's heated and covered patio. Totally different vibe than being on the patio, but - good news! - being surrounded by four solid walls inside the building does not detract from the incredible food. I ordered pan roasted prawns with citrus cream and a chile-rice that were just as good as you'd imagine them to be. I really love this restaurant, and I'd recommend that anyone who likes seafood head there if they're in Vancouver.

Sunday

For their final day in the city, we took Dave's parents around the UBC campus, where Dave gave us all a tour of the lab building where he does all of his research everyday (I know I don't talk about it much here on the blog, but Dave is in a graduate program in the Earth and Ocean Sciences Department at UBC - that's why we're living here in Vancouver!).

For lunch we did a quick walk up and down 4th Ave in Kitsilano before deciding to stop in at Burgoo. I'd been to Burgoo just the week prior for a solo lunch, and it was yummy food with a nice atmosphere. This time I ordered their Gooey Grilled Cheese Grillers - a generous portion of grilled cheese made on angle-sliced baguette with mozzarella, gruyere, Swiss and white cheddar cheeses. It's a yummy sambo, but a LOT of fried cheese!! Burgoo has a great soup-and-sandwich combo option so I added a cup of butternut squash soup to my order. (Are you picking up on the fact that I love butternut squash soup?) The soup is filled with warm spices and maple syrup and garnished with toasted hazelnuts. I actually hate hazelnuts, but that wasn't Burgoo's fault. I should have asked for the soup without them! #Oops

On Sunday night we made sure to bring Tony and Pauline to Kibune - arguably our very favorite restaurant here in Vancouver. It's a deliiiicious Japanese restaurant that's right around the corner from our apartment, and I'm actually perpetually appalled at myself for not having written a blog all about it yet. Someday, I swear! I've entirely lost count of the number of times that we've been to Kibune at this point.

We ordered an amazing spread of different Japanese dishes - sushi, sashimi, gyoza, vegetable and prawn tempura, spicy beef and lots more! Really, the food is worth an entire blog post so I won't go into it too much right now. Suffice to say - if you're in Vancouver and looking for some Japanese food that will knock ya socks off, head to Kibune!

After we'd stuffed ourselves with Japanese food, we took a quick walk up the hill to 4th Ave so that we could then walk back down the hill and check out the view of the city. I didn't snap any pictures of the view that night, but this is basically what you can see walking down the hill from 4th Ave to my apartment:

And that was the end of our evening and our eventful and food-filled weekend with Tony and Pauline! It was so much fun to show them all of our favorite spots and be a tourist in my own city. Having visitors is a great excuse to really take advantage of all of the awesome things that Vancouver and BC have to offer.

I can't wait to go back to Brackendale in a month or so to see some more eagles, and I've been re-inspired to spend more time in the Granville Island Public Market because there are so many talented vendors there.

Have you had any visitors lately? Anyone else want to come visit us? :)

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Beginner's Rock Climbing in Squamish

I am so behind on telling you about some fun outdoor activities that I've been getting into lately! I wanted to share some pictures from a recent rock-climbing trip - the first time I've ever climbed an actual, legitimate rock wall. You know, one that exists in nature... outdoors in real life and not in a gym.

The weekend before last, David and I picked up our new friend Amin - who Dave met through the University of British Columbia's Varsity Outdoor Club (VOC) - and we headed north of Vancouver to Squamish for some relatively easy rock-climbing fun.

{Sidebar, the VOC is quite an amazing club. Here's a brief description of the club, pulled from the VOC website: "The VOC is a student run club of the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada. Our members are avid outdoors enthusiasts and enjoy hiking, rock climbing, mountaineering, back-country skiing, paddling, and most anything else that’s fun outdoors. Membership is open to students at UBC, VOC alumni, and the general public."}

Squamish is an incredible destination for rock climbers. I can almost guarantee that anything you read about Squamish is going to mention the rock climbing. A couple of months ago we took my sister hiking there while she visited me in Vancouver. You can check out those hiking pictures here if you'd like. This time, we continued through Squamish past the Stawamas Chief till we got to Smoke Bluffs, a rock-climbing park that offers hundreds of different routes for climbers of many skill levels. This was perfect for me since I'm very much a beginner.

After parking the car, the three of us hiked for 5-10 minutes up the Loop Tail, passing tons of different walls and climbing routes along the way. We were looking for a particular wall called "Call It A Day". The fact that the walls and individual routes all have oddball names amused me. Other "rock wall name" gems at Smoke Bluffs include Mosquito, Nubile Woman, Octopus' Garden, Cheap Mango Wall, and Zombie Roof (just to name a few).

Call It A Day was a perfect place for my first real rock climbing experience. The wall had five different routes of varying difficulty, three of which we eventually climbed (2-3 times each) that afternoon.

.  call it a day  .

.  call it a day  . 

.  dave and amin getting our ropes set  .

I think Dave was a bit excited about my first rock climbing excursion, because he took lots of pics of me as I climbed:

.  oh heeeey  .

.  look at me go!  . 

.  amin heads up  .

.  dave's turn!  . 

This was the second route up Call It A Day:

.  me again  . 

.  buns  .

.  coming down!  .

.  amin  . 

.  almost there!  .

This was the third route we climbed that day:

.  amin is in a very tricky spot here!  .
.  this was a tough one  .

.  dave working on the third route  .

.  random picture of another wall we passed - looks tricky and beautiful!  .

After spending several hours climbing and re-climbing the different routes on Call It A Day, we... called it a day.

This was my first time wearing the second-hand rock climbing shoes that I bought a couple months ago from Sports Junkies in Vancouver, and they definitely held up well. My only minor complaint about them is that the leather material of the upper part of the shoe is a bit stiff - as if maybe the past owner got them soaked in water and let them dry like that. For that reason, I kept my ankle socks on while I was climbing, whereas I believe most climbers go sans-socks. I just didn't want the stiff leather giving me cuts or discomfort on my ankles. Perhaps after more use, the leather will soften up a bit? I hope!

For my next trick outdoor adventure blog, I'll tell you about an awesome hiking/camping/scrambling trip that I took last weekend to the Tolkien Group - a group of mountains in Pemberton, BC that are named after characters from the Lord of the Rings books!

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