Monday, November 16, 2009

A Narrow Escape from the Evil City of Stockholm

Our weekend to Stockholm was meant to be a two day affair to visit friends and sample some rock but it turned into a desperate fight to escape from the city's evil clutches. The weather gods mocked us with constant rain, illogical street signs more than doubled driving time in the city, and our planned escape on Sunday was thwarted by the sudden disappearance of our car. Apparently when a dozen cars are illegally parked they tow the one from out of town, not the ones that have been there for a few days and have tickets filling up their windows. Stockholm hates me.

Despite the misery there were some bright spots.
I managed to climb for an hour or so Friday on the way to Stockholm. I circled a single boulder south of Mariestad, climbing every brushed problem on the block and wished there was more.
Once in Stockholm the only thing that kept the city from eating us whole was Jon and Katrin. They put us up in their cozy apartment for three nights, tolerated my whining and even cooked a feast. I was even coaxed to a climbing gym where I pulled plastic and managed to enjoy myself when I wasn't sulking.
Many thanks to Jon and Katrin for providing a bright spot in the city of darkness.



Sit start for full value on the Mariestad boulder

Another fun problem in Mariestad

Katrin and Jon's kitchen. We thought Hammie would be difficult but it was me that did all the whining.

2 comments:

Dan Carter said...

Looks like you're getting in more climbing than myself, despite I'm in the land of sunshine (but swine flu) and your in wetter lands. Anyways I saw this vehicle you might be interested in:

http://lascruces.en.craigslist.org/rvs/1471781587.html

Look forward to seeing yall soon.
tn d

walkerkearney said...

thanks for the tip dan. little to rvish for me and i think i just sealed the deal on a sweet camper van in utah. road trip machine.
and don't take your sunshine for granted. we had a total of three and a half hours of sun the first 3 weeks of november. brutal