Farley, Platform 9 and 3/4, Jay kicks my ass at Acey Deucy (twice)
Let's see, I left off in Massachusetts having eaten much lobsta. It was hard to leave the Newburyport area again. The last time I was there it was 2000 and I thought it was purely the company I was in that kept me there and tugged me back. To a degree, it was, but I had a really hard time leaving this area again. There's something about those quaint towns along the New England coast that really draws me.
Jay and I headed to Gloucester to try to find some bouldering and also hang at the beach a bit before heading back to New York. We never found the bouldering, but did spend some time on the beach and then reluctantly headed west again. We actually took the turn north to go check out Maine, but then as we rethought things decided it was best to stay with the prior plan or we'd end up back at Ryan and Michelle's eating and drinking and invading their space for longer than we should. We stopped at a place called Farley Mass that Tim Toula gives four stars in his Rock'n'Road as the best lead climbing in Mass. Rock'n'Road and our atlas are the two guides that we have in the basket in between the front seats and we are allowing those to be our tools of navigation.
It was late afternoon by the time we got to Farley and the directions to the crag were sketchy at best, but Farley is a small town and we saw the cliff from the road and luckily navigated ourselves to it quickly. The local grassroots climbers coalition has acquired a parcel of land and even a house and therefore secured access at this little crag, which is great for them and for us. We did a few sport routes before the darkness fell. A local guy named Pete (who is actively involved in the climber's coalition and living in that house) invited us over after we were done, but we didn't find said house. I would have loved to have talked to him about how their organization is run and compare to the SSCA. I have really enjoyed my involvement in that organization since I moved to California, and I know that the SSCA would step up and do the same kind of thing if and when necessary in Cali. Local climbing organizations are important to keep healthy relations with landowners and government agencies, lessen the impact of climbing on the environment, and to form a cohesive voice among other things.
We ended up sleeping at a rest area that doesn't have bathrooms (or anything aside from a pull out for truckers). It was loud. As I let Brutus out to pee I noticed at least one trucker "checking the tires". Why do they make rest stops that don't have restrooms? I mean, I didn't get close enough to the ground to check, but I'm sure it smelled like urine all over. I could never be a trucker. It seems like a miserable and torturous life and I have a lot of respect, or maybe it's sympathy, for them.
On to platform nine and three quarters... We then made our way to Torrington to hit the Big Lots and stock up on CHEAP groceries. We are thrifty and have spent only $450 thus far on the trip. We are out of oatmeal, though, so grocery stop is a must. Big Lots is cool because they have a lot of non-perishables and even a good deal of organic stuff. It's all overstocked and sometimes old, but for what we're getting it doesn't usually matter. So, after spending $50 on food I took the shopping cart back and realized that there was a buffet that even had Sushi right next to Big Lots. It concerned me to think there was an all you can eat Sushi buffet next to a thrify overstock store, but Jay LOVES buffets and it was lunch time, so I went in to check it out mainly out of curiosity. IT WAS CLEAN AND THE FOOD LOOKED GREAT!!! I couldn't believe it. AND it was only $6.95. Most of the time I can't eat enough to get my money's worth at a buffet, but this place had a huge salad bar, tons of fresh fruit, and sushi. I can eat seven dollars worth of veggies right now. I went out and ran it by Jay and he was in. As we started eating it became more and more obvious that this place should not exist. There was so much food and it was one of the cleanest and most amazing buffets I've ever experienced. It really may have been a figment of our imaginations and it disappeared as soon as we left. There were 12 different kinds of hard ice cream at the end and 5 different kinds of shrimp dishes. I'll stop.
We got back to the gunks and met up with Michael's wife, Erica and climbed Shokley's roof (clothed). This climb is traditionally done naked in the moonlight. I think I turned the 5.6 roof move into a 5.10 and scared the shit out of Erica, but she pulled through it like a champ. She's a tough girl, and I like her more everytime I hang out with her. We went back to the DEC and I taught Jay to play Acey Duecy and he proceeded to whip my ass, twice. Damn that Ivanic. Sorry, Gramma and Grampa, we spent a lot of hours in training, but he still beat me twice.
Jay and I headed to Gloucester to try to find some bouldering and also hang at the beach a bit before heading back to New York. We never found the bouldering, but did spend some time on the beach and then reluctantly headed west again. We actually took the turn north to go check out Maine, but then as we rethought things decided it was best to stay with the prior plan or we'd end up back at Ryan and Michelle's eating and drinking and invading their space for longer than we should. We stopped at a place called Farley Mass that Tim Toula gives four stars in his Rock'n'Road as the best lead climbing in Mass. Rock'n'Road and our atlas are the two guides that we have in the basket in between the front seats and we are allowing those to be our tools of navigation.
It was late afternoon by the time we got to Farley and the directions to the crag were sketchy at best, but Farley is a small town and we saw the cliff from the road and luckily navigated ourselves to it quickly. The local grassroots climbers coalition has acquired a parcel of land and even a house and therefore secured access at this little crag, which is great for them and for us. We did a few sport routes before the darkness fell. A local guy named Pete (who is actively involved in the climber's coalition and living in that house) invited us over after we were done, but we didn't find said house. I would have loved to have talked to him about how their organization is run and compare to the SSCA. I have really enjoyed my involvement in that organization since I moved to California, and I know that the SSCA would step up and do the same kind of thing if and when necessary in Cali. Local climbing organizations are important to keep healthy relations with landowners and government agencies, lessen the impact of climbing on the environment, and to form a cohesive voice among other things.
We ended up sleeping at a rest area that doesn't have bathrooms (or anything aside from a pull out for truckers). It was loud. As I let Brutus out to pee I noticed at least one trucker "checking the tires". Why do they make rest stops that don't have restrooms? I mean, I didn't get close enough to the ground to check, but I'm sure it smelled like urine all over. I could never be a trucker. It seems like a miserable and torturous life and I have a lot of respect, or maybe it's sympathy, for them.
On to platform nine and three quarters... We then made our way to Torrington to hit the Big Lots and stock up on CHEAP groceries. We are thrifty and have spent only $450 thus far on the trip. We are out of oatmeal, though, so grocery stop is a must. Big Lots is cool because they have a lot of non-perishables and even a good deal of organic stuff. It's all overstocked and sometimes old, but for what we're getting it doesn't usually matter. So, after spending $50 on food I took the shopping cart back and realized that there was a buffet that even had Sushi right next to Big Lots. It concerned me to think there was an all you can eat Sushi buffet next to a thrify overstock store, but Jay LOVES buffets and it was lunch time, so I went in to check it out mainly out of curiosity. IT WAS CLEAN AND THE FOOD LOOKED GREAT!!! I couldn't believe it. AND it was only $6.95. Most of the time I can't eat enough to get my money's worth at a buffet, but this place had a huge salad bar, tons of fresh fruit, and sushi. I can eat seven dollars worth of veggies right now. I went out and ran it by Jay and he was in. As we started eating it became more and more obvious that this place should not exist. There was so much food and it was one of the cleanest and most amazing buffets I've ever experienced. It really may have been a figment of our imaginations and it disappeared as soon as we left. There were 12 different kinds of hard ice cream at the end and 5 different kinds of shrimp dishes. I'll stop.
We got back to the gunks and met up with Michael's wife, Erica and climbed Shokley's roof (clothed). This climb is traditionally done naked in the moonlight. I think I turned the 5.6 roof move into a 5.10 and scared the shit out of Erica, but she pulled through it like a champ. She's a tough girl, and I like her more everytime I hang out with her. We went back to the DEC and I taught Jay to play Acey Duecy and he proceeded to whip my ass, twice. Damn that Ivanic. Sorry, Gramma and Grampa, we spent a lot of hours in training, but he still beat me twice.
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