Sunday, June 15, 2008

Fun Monday - Another Brick in the WALL?

Rejoining Fun Monday this week - the host is Jan of The Prytz Family. Apparently she's got a thing about walls and she wants to see ours!

Jan says:
The subject is walls. We all have walls of some sort. What I want to hear about and see, if you're going to show off your amazing photo skills, is what is on your walls, what color are your walls, what is special about them, what is your favorite or least favorite, is it inside or outside. You get the idea, let's show and tell about walls.

Um. Okay. First off, if you're a regular or semi-regular reader, you've seen my walls. With horrid wallpaper, with texture, with ugly paint, with patterns, in progress, at home and at the office. I have a thing for home improvement, don't 'cha know...

So why is it that when Jan asked about walls, none of those were what came to mind?

I'm gonna tell you a story.

Once upon a time, there was a guy named Larry. He was friends with Darling Man. Larry was a single guy, working a job that gave him lots of money and lots of free time. One day, he decided to build a wall in his back yard. Not your garden-variety wall of wood or stone, but one that incorporated both. Then he invited his friends to come and visit his wall.

They came. They oo'd and ah'd and visited the wall time and time again. It became a regular date to visit the wall on Tuesday nights, as the mosquitoes buzzed and the humidity kept your person hot and damp. This went on for quite some time - and then Larry decided to invite MORE people to his wall on a Saturday afternoon. People of all ages and abilities came and saw that it was good.



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YES! A climbing wall! He held an actual competition and climbers came from all over. It was really quite amazing.


Setting up the Routes Klaus

People of all ages came. And this one guy, the one with the cigarette was Klaus from Germany. How he managed to show up here is a mystery. I mean, North Florida is NOT widely known as a climbing hotspot seeing as how we don't have mountains or anything...


Larry's Climbing Competion was quite the success, and he set his sights on bigger things. Those bigger things led him to invite me and Darling Man to go camping and climbing - in Texas.



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"WHAT? Texas doesn't have any more of a climbing reputation than Florida!" you might be thinking...


And there, you would be wrong. Because the place we went to climb is rather famous in the world of climbing. Just outside of El Paso, Texas is this marvelous pile of gigantic boulders in the middle of the plain. Looks a bit like Paul Bunyon's Babe left a present out there. It's called Hueco Tanks and people came from all over the world to climb these boulders.



The Round Room

One of the most amazing features there is The Round Room. It's quite an interesting climb just getting there, but once you're in - WOW!



One big step

Darling Man and Larry were very good at bouldering. They made it look like ballet on a wall.

Ornament inspiration scan0005
Me? Not so much. I kind of look like I'm hanging on for dear life.

In the treetops
There's also spectacular bouldering outside in the open air. Darling Man is about 20 feet up (that's the top of a tree behind him).
But there is actually a boulder called "The Wall". It has an overhanging face and is not so easy to climb.

The Wall
I'm facing it from this rock, but you don't really get the scale of the thing from this picture.

How tall is the Wall?
Perhaps this one gives you a better idea.


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After a long day of climbing, everyone needs a foot massage!

And there you have it... my version of a wall. Be sure to go visit the Prytz Family and see everyone else's walls!!!

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the story and the photos of the walls and etc. Never tried climbing and I want to keep it that way.

Jan said...

Very fun and creative. I'm happy that you posted about outside walls, and I learned some 'climbing' things from your post.

Heather said...

Not exactly your walls, but very cool walls! I loved the beautiful pictures!

Molly said...

What a wonderful surprise, a story about wall climbing. Although I enjoyed your story and the climbing boulders in Texas are beautiful, I will leave the rock and wall climbing for braver folks

Unknown said...

YOu always come up with something new. I never knew you liked to climb walls. :) I think my son would love an adventure like that, he's a pretty good little mountain goat.

ChrisB said...

This is a brilliant post, I'm full of admiration for all climbers~ I have trouble climbing a ladder!

Jo Beaufoix said...

Wow, I loved the story about the climbing wall, and all your pictures are fabulous. I am in awe.

storyteller said...

What a wonderful illustrated story! I loved your off-beat ‘take’ on walls … though I’m not likely to go climbing myself any time soon. It took me a lot longer than anticipated, but I did eventually post a few things on my wall this afternoon at Small Reflections.
Hugs and blessings,

the planet of janet said...

this is SOOOO cool!!! i love your interpretation of "walls" ... my kids always loved those climbing walls. they even had them at school!

karisma said...

Wow! I don't think I would brave those walls. Maybe the backyard one!

That girl said...

Wow Sayre, this is probably my favorite post of yours.

Wonderful pictures! Absolutely lovely.

Faye said...

Okay Sayre, it's between you and songbird for most unusual "wall" post. Your post makes me reaslize how little of the West's beauty I've seen.

If I ever am able to do a chin-up, then I'll consider climbing rock walls. . .

Anonymous said...

WOW! very cool! never done wall climbing, would like to try one day

ellen b. said...

Oh how I love your creativity. These are wonderful walls for me to look at and other adventurous people to scale!!

Gattina said...

Yes that doesn't look at all like my walls, lol ! What a beautiful place in Texas !
To your question of selling my pictures yes I do. If you want to see more go here Gattina's Paintings"

Anonymous said...

Wow! Now those are walls.

Just A Girl said...

Hi,
What a great wall story! And I loved the wall in the back yard. I'm with you...climbing no thanks!
Thanks for stoping by my blog.

Mariposa said...

Wow, lovely! I'm into wall climbing...and the photo excites me so much...and I so want to kick my asthma in the butt so I can wall climb soon!

Peter said...

That one took the prize for the most unusual walls Sayre.

Ari_1965 said...

I like walls you don't have to decorate (or vacuum the cobwebs off).

trkndude299 said...

Hey hey,
Glad you had a great time in my beloved Texas. (I've been all over there a lot lately.)

I have done my share of climbing and was happy to see you using some safety gear. Only thing missing was a helmet.

I had a particular hard fall once + credited my intact brain to my safety hat. My fingers + elbows didn'nt fare as well.

Cruise Mom said...

Great pictures, and a unique post. I'm terrified of heights, so rock climbing doesn't work too well for me.

Thanks for visiting me, I'm really late replying to everyone. In answer to your question, no I didn't make the display shelf - it actually came with out house.

Anonymous said...

Great work.