Today, David and I took a trip to the Biltmore Estate. Lucky for us, some buddies from back home were in town celebrating their engagement, and were nice enough to hook us up with their passes once they left, saving David and I $70 each! America's largest home has the largest price tag attached. Here's a few from around the grounds.







Now on to the garden house.









And now for our parting shots.







That's it for today...

When one gives up the working life to spend 12+ months on the road climbing on anything and everything, it's safe to assume ones gear is going to deteriorate at a much more noticeable rate. With that in mind, one must be prepared to replace certain items as they reach their end, and there is no piece of gear in a climbers arsenal that is going to see more use than their shoes. Knowing this, it is the climbers responsibility to take advantage of discounted shoes while they can. This is something I did not do. Whoops. 45 days into this excursion, and this is what the only pair of climbing shoes I brought looks like.



Christmas for myself is going to have to come a little bit early this year.

Today we explored the boulder field out on the east side of the Bald. I'd like to thank the Asheville crew for the guidance and the pad coverage, Thanks guys! Probably would have never even found half of the lines you guys put us on today, and I can truly say that they were some of the best problems i've seen yet!













Thanks again guys! Hope to see ya out there again real soon!

Starry starry night...

Here's a few from today. Ended up taking quite a few more abstract shots than normal ones. Gotta be a little creative at some point or another.

Yet another day wandering around downtown Asheville...



Back to the Bald tomorrow.

Today, being Thanksgiving, we decided to give thanks to Rumbling Bald, and what better way to do that than by climbing all over it's gorgeous granite spires and slabs! David was the most thankful of all today, proven by providing a blood offering! By showing this extreme devotion, David is now eligible for the Thanksgiving Award, which will consist of one hot shower at the facility of his choice, one apple fritter from Starbucks, and a bandaid, not one of the boring ones, but a designer leopard print bandaid. Tastefully tacky. Good luck David! Our winner will be announced at midnight.







Now, off to the pre-awards party with some of our new friends in Aheville...

The town of Chimney Rock, just outside of Asheville, is a gorgeous place with just about anything you could ask for, except a coffee shop and cheap camping. Due to that fact, we are camping in 'stealth mode' as not to draw attention and hanging out at the Ingles deli to charge up electronics and do important Internet business, such as download free movies and see what everybody's doing on facebook.



The lack of any 'legal' place to set up shop and call home for the month hasn't detoured us away from the primary goal of bouldering as hard as we can, as much as we can. We've been hitting up The Bald as much as possible, taking in all the sights and putting up chalk where there was none. We're not letting the 'homelessness' affect us in any way, shape or form. When we need to eat, we simply go into town and set up the stove on the picnic tables. Sure, the tourist look at us funny for cooking on a gas stove in the park beside a diner, but when all's said and done, we're the one's who are actually getting out there, off the beaten path, and seeing the things that they wouldn't even know existed had we not gone out there, taken pictures and sold them to the brochure company! VIVA LA DIRTBAGS!!!

Rumbling Bald, day 1.

We decided to ride our bikes into town tonight, as not to have to worry about designated drivers, and it turns out that the nightlife in Asheville is just as amazing. Thank you Jessica and Nathan for showing us the spots, and thank you Rosetta's Diner for giving us a healthy vegan alternative to Waffle House at 3:00 am.





Bedtime. Gotta go find a campsite tomorrow and quite being spoiled rotten. Thank you Beth, Hutch, and the 3 stooges for letting us inconvenience them! We'll find a way to pay you back somehow...