The long awaited update, sorry!

Sorry about not being more diligent in keeping this more updated (for your sake and mine)! I guess we left you all back in Sinks Canyon, Wyoming!! That was almost a month and four states ago! Well. We met some really awesome people in Wyoming. God led us to Lander Church of Christ on a Sunday and they were so good to us. One couple from the church, Tom and Sarah took us out for lunch then another couple, Beth and Jeff Leafgreen invited us to their home for dinner and bible study. They were so kind, they offered us showers, then to do laundry, then they let us stay in their spare bedroom!! That was a real treat since we had been sleeping in literally freezing wheather all week. So, that lifted our spirits and reminded us that God and all his people are on our side. This gave us motivation to go and visit Tom and Lisa in Boise (besides, we needed somewhere to declare recidency so we could get some insurance, but to no avail). We took off the next morning from the Leafgreens, stopped in Jackson Hole to see Molly for a night, then drove to Boise.

Tom and Lisa were great, as usual... called them last minute to tell them we were coming and we had no plans of how long we'd stay. Regardless, they took us in and fed us and entertained us for almost a week. We even got to crash their church book group while they were discussing a book Josh and I had recently read, "Sex God" by Rob Bell. Really great book. Makes you think a lot about marriage and sexuality and how it realates to God and who we are called to be in Christ. Josh started a debate on torture at the book group. It was great. Thanks to Ashling for sharing her bedroom with us : )

After Boise, we were itching to climb again... so we drove to Salt Lake City, UT. There we waited for a package of antibiotics for Josh from Dr. Mom- thank you a million... he's all better now!! We climbed a little bit in Little Cottonwood Canyon just outside the city, but it was so cold, we didn't last too long. We'll definately have to go back there when it gets warmer again... the rock climbing was so much fun, and that canyon was so beautiful. The one night just as we were coming down from a climb we spotted a HUGE white mountain goat!!! It was awesome...

Can you see the mountain goat? He's just above the crack we had just climbed!

We got cold, and tired of the city scene, then drove to Moab, UT... the desert! We got to Moab at about midnight and pulled in the camground then got our car stuck in the sand!!! We couldn't get it out! We just grabbed our sleeping bags and left the car there and decided we'd try to get it out in the morning. After sleeping just next to a city for a week in northern Utah, the desert was so so quiet. God blessed us with a wonderful sleep despite our car troubles. In the morning we saw a pack of coyotes run right in front of us at the campsite. They were so cute... just little dogs. They were way more scared of us than us them. It was cool to see the gentle creatures we had been hearing make these horrific screaming noises in the morning. That's just how they communicate with eachother. Maybe they think our voices horrific too? After we spent some time and effort (and money) getting our vehicle out (thanks mom for the tech support) we spent a couple days touring around Arches National Park. It was so beautiful there... huge red sandstone formations, petrified sand dunes, and white capped mountains in the back... a landscape unlike anything I had ever seen before.

Josh in his new wind breaker! This was a cool spot in the park! An artsy shot on our hike out to delicate arch

Me doing dancer pose under the "Delicate Arch" Can you see Josh amongst all the towers??


There we hooked up with Steph and her crew from Telluride, CO. We climbed with them for a weekend which was so nice. Climbing entails so much responsibility that sometimes it's exhausting when it's always just Josh and I. It was great to work as a group for a change versus working as a pair, if that makes any sense. What great company, too. We had such an awesome time with them.

Josh climbing the scariest roof ever! What a great lead! Felt like we were in the Gunks again!

Me on my first 5.9 trad lead! I was so scared, but it was fun when it was done!! Woohoo!

They invited us back to Telluride for Thanksgiving too!! So, turkey day was a blast. Telluride is a beautiful, swank, little ski town tucked away in a canyon. Just beautiful. Steph showed us around town, and we got to spend sometime staying with her at her church, Telluride Christian Fellowship. What a wonderful group of disciples!!! After thanksgiving dinner we spent the night singing worship and dancing and hula hooping... so much fun!!! We woke up the next morning to about 5 inches of snow, so plans of meeting friends in Indian Creek got cancelled, and we ending up staying at the church for a few more days. Not a bad deal... we went out to visit the farm Steph lived and worked on this summer ans stayed there for a night at Sarah and Gerrard's place. Friends from Chicago, Ryan and Merridith cooked us an amazing meal. We had so much fun with all those guys... we hope to connect with them in the not so distant future.

Meridith, Steph, Trent, and Kelly at TCF Thanksgiving dinner All of us jammin out and worshiping after eating!

Jesse, from Taoz, New Mexico and I Steph, Trent, and Hubby on the free gondola up to Mountain Village!

So, we then went back to Moab, tried to climb Castleton tower, but it was too cold. Spent some time in the library researching straw bale houses insted, then headed south to Zion National Park. We hiked up to observation point in the park and found out Josh is a chipmunk whisperer! Ha!

Josh in Echo Canyon, Zion nat'l park, Utah "Observation Point" overlooking Zion Canyon

Yes, that is a chipmunk!!! There must've been atleast six of them around him! Can you count all three in this picture??

They were so used to people stopping at this peak to eat lunch they were swarming us at the sound of a crumpling bag. It was almost better than the view of the canyon! The next day we went for a much needed run then headed even further south to Las Vegas. Man, that was such a dark city... drt and trash everywhere, literally and figuratively. I hope I never have to go back. We went in, grabbed a guide book for Joshua tree and decided to push on to Southern California. Josh and I were truly disturbed by the state of our species in this lost city.

So, we've finally made it to Joshua Tree! Who Hoo! Last night we arrived late, but were actually warm!! The tent is a much happier place to be when we aren't freezing our butts off if ya know what I mean! But wouldn't you know... we woke up this morning to rain! RAIN IN THE DESERT! What is that?? This place gets 7 inches of rain a year, and it has been steadily raining for about 12 hours now. Everyone is talking about how rare this is, and we can't believe our luck! So, we've been sitting in this coffee shop now since 10:30 this morning (it's now 4:45). We're going to go catch a movie in a little while. As I write this I'm thinking maybe all this rain is a blessing in disguise... after all, at least we won't have to worry about the wild fires coming our way for a little while, and all the wild flowers should bloom like crazy when the sun comes out again! I'll post some pics if it turns out as hoped.

I'll sign off now. Really looking forward to coming home for Christmas on the 18th! We love & miss you guys...

Greetings from Wyoming

Susan the naturalist loving life at Eagle Bluff


A typical Minnesota sunset from the bluff.


3,371 miles as of last week when we left Minnesota.

Hey everyone! We're here in Lander, Wyoming where we've been freezing out butts off for almost a week now. We left Susan's in Minnesota and headed to Devil's Tower where it was very cold with a snow storm on the way, so we decided to climb for a day (sadly, no summit... but next year for sure).

The tower is a cluster of igneous intrusions in the middle of the Northern Plains of Wyoming. It's unique presence in the otherwise feautreless rolling hills of northeast Wyoming caused the native Americans of the area to worship it. They actually still do to this day. We saw some "prayer scarves" hung in the trees surrounding it's base... it felt little eerie if I do say (not to disrespect the deeply spiritual practice of the natives). To us as climbers, the tower is 800ft. of vertical cracks with a mere half acre grassy summit. So, we were all gung-ho to summit this thing, but as we drove up to it we were seriously humbled by intimidation. This is world class vertical crack climbing here, a whole new ball game for us, as our whole three weeks of traditional rock climbing skills have been aquired on the horizontal cracks of the Gunks.


Devil's Tower, the veiw from our campsite.

Josh and I among the cotton wood trees at our beautiful campsite at the base of the tower.


Besides, it was cold and windy, and a snow storm was on the way. These factors not helping build the mental commitment we would need to muster in order to undertake this summit. We decided we'd just do couple of pitches and return next summer for our summit. We'll gain some experience with vertical cracks this winter in the desert, and come back with a bit more confidence.


So after two days and a gorgeous full moon night at Devil's Tower, we were headed to Tensleep. Plans changed as soon as we hit the Big Horn Mountain Range where everything was COLD and icy. Our sights were then directed a little further south to Lander. So, here we are. We're camping in Sinks Canyon State Park. The rock here and style of climbing here is very similar to Ten Sleep or Paint Rock Canyon, so we haven't been dissapointd by the change in plans. It's still pretty cold here though. On Halloween morning, we unexpectedly woke to a frozen campsite. We also had a little problem with deer mice taking refuge from the cold IN OUR CAR!!! This was quite scary as we just read an article on mice carrying Hantavirus and transmitting it to climbers living out of their car last year in Colorado (about 6% of all deer mice carry the virus)! So Josh insisted we immmediately drive to town, empty out all our belongings, vaccuum, and wipe down the whole car with bleach water. The Sentra's never been so clean. We've been setting mouse traps every night since then in the car, and sadly, I think the deer mouse population around our campsite has really taken a hit. :(




Happy Halloween!!!

We've been waiting on a few packages from the family which finally came today. We're dying to get down south. Getting out of your sleeping bag in the morning to face cooking oatmeal with freezing hands is becoming quite difficult. We put off getting out of the tent every morning until our blatters are about to explode!! It's amazing how much you miss the comfort of four walls and a roof as soon as the cold creeps in. Getting our packages today was great!! Whoo hoo!! Feels like Christmas... by the way Mom Di- Josh wants to know where his Halloween socks are!! :) Seriously though- thanks for the granola and seeds... they will help to keep us regular in the face of too much camp food!! We'll climb here for one more day, then we're off to the desert. May I just say, praise God for warm places to go and the means to get there. When we figure out where we're going next, we'll let ya'll know.


Can't beat a view like this! Another beautiful sunset while making dinner at the campsite at Sinks Canyon.

As for Josh and I, we're learning new things about each other everyday, and falling deeper in love anyway : ) We are learning many lessons in patience, grace, and mercy being within 6 feet of each other 24-7. We've decided that if we can do this for a year and still be so in love, we can do anything. We've been meeting some really great random people along the way that are encouraging us when we need it most. Married Life is interesting and fun, and certainly a blessing from God.

Missing you all, Love You!


Mitzi and Josh