The Great Escape

Not only a classic war movie, and a classic sport climb, my personal interpretation the phrase is "getting away from all the things that get me down about Laramie". My PhD is winding down, and I'll soon break free of the vortex. In the meantime, I've been practicing my prison break techniques. For instance, escaping winter by spending the holidays in California:

The family wisely decided to spend Christmas somewhere nice this year, and so I met up with mom, dad and sis in sunny SoCal in late December. When I left Laramie, it was snowing and -10 F. 24 hours later:

Escape: successful! We had us a hell of time cruising around California in a huge rental car, hanging on the beach, eating seafood, seeing old friends:

Fortunately for all of us, at some point in her life Mom made an executive decision and vowed never to stay in any hotel with less than four stars. I gotta admit, it makes for pretty comfy living:

So for ten glorious days, I was as happy as a pig in mud. Or to put a California spin on it, a seal on the pier:

However, all good things come to an end, and all too soon I found my self Laramie-bound again. But wouldn't you know it, the weather actually cooperated this year and turned out warm. Winter almost didn't happen, and Spring rolled around two weeks early:

To celebrate, I practiced my wall-climbing technique (so I don't have to dig out when the time comes). After 10 long years, four major and six minor joint injuries, and two dozen trashed pairs of climbing shoes, I think I'm finally getting the basics down:

I figure that's almost practice enough. When the chain-gang boss finally looks away, I'm ready to break my shackles and run. Where the road goes from here isn't all that clear yet, but as long as it's heading somewhere different...