Vanessa was up and gone before I’d moved from the couch. I was vaguely aware she was up and about, but think I must have rolled over and blocked all thoughts of getting out of bed. I was surprised to find I’d slept in past 9am. After making myself some breakfast, I set myself up at the small desk by the balcony door and got to work on my laptop. I had a few things to organise before going home and on the top of the list was bike insurance. I’d done a bit of research yesterday but hadn’t made much headway. I called the company “Markel” and after waiting on hold for twenty minutes found out that their $315/year policy would cover Scottie in every situation I’d put her in. After going in circles for so long it was nice to reach a solution! That took me all morning so I had lunch and relaxed for a bit before getting into anything else.
After a couch sit, I started updating my Astro Tracks spreadsheet so I could finally find out how much the trip cost me, how far I went and all the stats. That easily kept me busy the rest of the afternoon. When I messaged Rob to see if he was keen to come to a concert tomorrow night that Kaila had organised, he called me and asked instead if I would like to go climbing. Would I?! We quickly made a plan to meet at the Planet Granite in Belmont, halfway between him and me. I got on the phone to Vanessa to coordinate key swapping and we decided it would be best for her to join us at the gym. After a quick snack on some leftover pasta, I got my and Vanessa’s climbing gear and walked out the door. I walked a couple of blocks south to the Caltrain station where I bought a ticket and walked onto a packed train. I was stoked I managed to find a seat, even if it was in the corner.
The Caltrain only took half an hour to get me to Belmont and from there I walked twenty minutes to the gym. Public transport can really be a wonder sometimes, it’s a lot better than driving in the city! By the time I’d signed in at the desk and re-watched the intro video since it had been so long between visits, Rob walked in the door. Perfect timing. We walked into the cave and I was surprised to see it wasn’t as crazy as its sister gym in Sunnyvale. This would do us just fine.
It was sweet to hang out with Rob doing what we like best. In between climbs we talked nonstop about everything we’d missed the past year and also what was coming up next. We were both out of climbing shape so pushed ourselves, even dicking around in a chimney to the roof. It was about 9pm when Vanessa showed up and it was too late for her to get on the wall so she just hung out for our last couple of climbs. We ended on an 5.11d which was a ridiculous tall person’s climb that I had trouble with it and Rob couldn’t lunge the first move. Both shattered, we were happy with our night, thinking we’d done at least eight routes.
V checked out Yelp to find us a spot closeby to get some beers and we ended up at Van’s Restaurant. The name made the decision for us. We climbed a hill and walked into the place that was just about closing. Depsite the white tablecloths and fancy server uniforms, they didn’t seem to mind us being in our climbing rags, hands covered in chalk. We got a round of a very strong vodka-infused pineapple drink that was on special and honoured Taco Tuesday with an order of six. We sat in a corner and caught up some more then delighted in the tacos, they were delicious. I finished Vanessa’s drink for her then we were gone, the last ones out of the bar.
On the walk back, Rob discovered he still had photos of me from the day he walked me out of Tesla (one year ago in two days) and showed them to me. Wow!! I will never forget that day. We said goodbye to Rob and I drove us home in V’s mini. It didn’t take us long to get back and Vanessa was straight to bed as soon as we walked in the door. I stayed up a little while, eating some ice cream and watching a TV series, but I asleep on the couch not long after the little one.