Chill is the best word to describe today. We woke up around 10:00 and were eventually ready to roll out to the wall around 11:40. We had three groups today: Kyle and John going to Drive by for one last run on John’s project Easy Rider, which I’m sad to report that he fell on the last holds again, Morgan, Ellen, Peyton, and Peter who went to Purgatory; all had a good day but no sends there either, and the last group Alex, Ashley and I took all the other kids to The Shire wall to climb 4 super fun routes: 5.7, 5.8, 5.9, and 5.10.

Goodness! I can’t believe that tomorrow is our last day of climbing! This trip has absolutely flown by. Today was yet another great day at the Red; there was lots of climbing, laughing and hiking. We split into two groups: Kyle taking Ashley, John, Peyton, Gentry, and Maggie to Drive By wall, and Alex, Morgan, and I took the rest of the crew to Muir Valley. The Drive By crew had a hattrick of sends on Check Your Grip (12a) done by Peter, Maggie, and Peyton. John got super close to sending his project Easy Rider (13a) he is sooo close! As far as our crew went, we had a day of firsts.

Today was started off with Maxime singing Kyle’s wake-up song in French to all the late sleepers, and breakfast tacos for a scrumptious meal. Then phase 2 of our day was commenced: Cleaning the barn, porch and vans. The kids were split into groups and all the work was done. The guides are quite happy for the cleanliness; it’s a nice change. Upon passing Kyle’s final check over we loaded up into the vans and headed to Winchestertonfieldville.

Since we are a good way through our trip talk of “home” is starting to be heard here and there, so I decided to do another little questionnaire of the kids thoughts about the matter. So I asked: What are you looking forward to most when you get home?

Peter- Having free time/ down time again.
Drew- Sleeping until noon or later again.
Sammi- Seeing my sister before she goes off to college.
Ellen- Climbing inside again, my fingers hurt!
Maddie- Having something other than cereal for breakfast.
Jess- Going to Gulf Shores the day after I get home!

With a late night ending around 1:30 in the morning the barn voted as a whole to sleep a little later than normal, this meaning about 10:15. Which was splendid for me, and most the other kids were happy to get the few extra hours of beauty rest (as if we need it, we’re the best looking team there is). Well rested and ready to climb, we made our way to return to Military Wall. It was a fantastic day of rock wall climbing! We had a handful of exciting sends and too many great runs to count.