Father's day weeend

The weekend started early with the Chattahoochee Contra Dance that happens every friday night. It is one of our favorite events in Atlanta and we love to take there guests and co-workers. This time I went all by myself, which was still great. I'll dedicate a post to Contra dancing someday.

Saturday was a calm day with some housekeeping, climbing at the gym and coding. I finally started my new App that will conquer the world... of climbing... at the gym. Yes, it's a rock climbing app to be used at the climbing gym. 

Sunday was father's day in the USA, so pass holders at Six Flags could bring a guest for free. Two of my co-workers have passes, so they got me in for free!

Of course we were not the only ones taking advantage of the free pass, so there were twice as many people in the park that day, compared with a regular Sunday. But we managed to avoid the longer waiting times and enjoy the most popular rides like Batman, SkyScreamer and American Scream Machine. I also tried one of those games where you win a big stuffed animal as a prize. It looked really easy! Climb up some stairs, for a rock climber who also does slack-line... easy right?

One of the best business models I've seen is Water Blaster. There is a ride in the park where people go down a river in a giant raft. They won't get wet (at least until this point), unless they get blasted by other people. Of course these people don't know each other and the only motivation to pay $0.25 for two seconds of water is to see the other suffer, yell at you and get wet! 

After noon, the lines get really long and it is not worth it any longer to wait 2h just for one ride, specially in the sun! So we decided to join the Portuguese in Atlanta and commemorate the "Dia the Portugal" with a picnic by the lake.

This was my third 10th of June in Atlanta and the first time I joined this picnic with the portuguese community of Atlanta. It was a great way to refresh after a long morning at the park.

one year

Actually, it's more than two :)

Day trip to Deep Creep (Chattanooga)

The weather forecast didn't bring good news for the weekend and with the recent phenomenon last thursday, so a day trip seems just perfect to try out a new climbing are near by: Deep Creep.

I joined my climbing partner, Scott Cox, who planned this trip with two other climbers. Two hours after leaving Atlanta we were hiking how a gorgeous trail to the "deep" creek.

The warm up was crazy hard! We didn't send any of the routes and Scott even left a locking carabiner behind to bail out from a 5.10d that had a lot of loose rock! We moved to a more solid section where we had to sweat a lot to get to the top of the routes: it was hot and humid! 

After this second,and more successful warm up, we decided to try the real stuff! But the real stuff was hard! Very hard!

Deep Creek - Main Wall

This 5.11c we tried, called Keep Deep, was the easiest route in the section we were at, but it was the biggest "sandbag" in the wall! A sandbag route is a route which receives a much lower grade than deserved. The route was at least a 5.11d, maybe a 5.12a... but the hot weather could the one causing the problems, so we decided to cool down for a second!

Scott Cox at the swimming hole

The cool thing about climbing in the USA is that most of the cliff are in creeks, so there is always water and, most of the times, swimming holes! Some are deep, some allow you to jump, some you can even deep water solo (which was not the case here, but Scott tried).

Scott DWS in the moss

The cooling down lasted until 5pm and we didn't feel like going back to climbing. Also, by this time, everyone realized I was going to be the designated driver, so everyone just got drunk! What happened next had nothing to do with climbing, but it was as eventful as you can imagine, specially if all these drunk people have to hike up the creek with huge backpacks. We decided to have dinner in Chattanooga, so we were driving around town, with the minivan doors open. Stopped at the Crash Pad, a local climber's hostel for it's 3rd anniversary party and ate a burger at the Urban Stack. It was about 10pm when the designated driver (me) drove back to Atlanta with the 3 climbing partners sleeping. Long drive for me but very short drive for them. 

It was an EPIC day trip to the Deep Creek that got everybody excited and wanting to come back! Let's do it... but next time with more climbing and less drinking :)

Happy Birthday Isabel

I wish you a happy birthday and a year with lots of love (and blog posts).

Finally, the beginning!

This blog had to be started. But first things first and I had some priorities: rent an apartment, get my Social Security Number, get Internet at home, get my Driver's License and buy a car. So if you are finally reading this blog post, it means I got all that and I'me ready to blog!

Atlanting was the name I picked, in line with the previous Californing and Lisboning blogs that I had. It will probably have the same style as the older brothers, with weekend trips and a lot of photos, but there is one main difference: it's in English.

So add this blog to your feed if you want to know what I have been "Atlanting" lately.