End of Week Outing

After teaching my 8 am class ("How to Find Your Research Topic"), my climbing buddy Emily picked me up from school and we rocketed north to hit up Palisade Head.  This was Emily's first time up there, and she got a great taste of my favorite place to climb in Minnesota.
We hit up a lot of the moderate classics, including Bluebells, Rapproachment, and Hidden Treasure.  I ran up Bluebells 3 times- the second two times to check out gear placements and get a good flow to the route to lead it later.

(Emily working the top of Rapproachment)
The day was beautiful, the sun was warm (I ended up with a little sunburn), and there were a lot of local Duluth climbers to chat, hang out with, and cheer on as we all climbed and enjoyed the day!

(Me enjoying a lap on Rapproachment)
Emily and I are either going to go back up to Palisade on Sunday, or stay in Duluth and boulder around the area.  We're tentatively planning a trip down to the Red River Gorge in Kentucky over MEA weekend in October, which means we have 7 weeks to train our butts off for strong fall sends!

I also finished the first Northlady mitten body at the end of the week, and plan on casting on the second soon.  The mittens fit perfectly without the second layer of mitten inside, so I'm contemplating not putting the inner layer in at all for the fear that it will make the mittens too small.  They were knit with such tight gauge that I don't think it will be a huge compromise- the knit is very tight, so they'll still keep in a lot of warmth and (hopefully) the cold and snow out!
One more cup of coffee before starting on weekend chores.  It is Saturday morning, after all...