After a few final days in Buenos Aires, we said goodbye to Argentina and flew back to the States. April was a wonderful month full of reunions, and a great reminder that we have the best friends.
Our first reunion was before we left Argentina: with a fun Aussie-Kiwi climber couple that we met in Piedra Parada. They were our tourist buddies in Buenos Aires, where we roamed around by foot and boat, exploring the city and chatting about life, travel, and climbing. After a final pizza dinner (and cheese overload), we headed to the airport to catch our flight to LA.
We kept busy on the first days back! After running various errands in town and packing our car to take to Texas, we had a beer in Venice with coworkers from SpaceX. Afterwards, we had a fantastic Passover dinner before heading to Joshua tree to sleep under the stars.
After 2 days of driving I-10, we arrived in Kerrville to see Melanie’s parents before moving on to New Orleans for our friends’ wedding, which was a blast! Not only was it an authentic and amazing New Orleans experience, we also reunited with our old college friends.
After soaking in the bayou air for a few days, we drove back to Texas. We were lucky to see many of Melanie’s family members in Kerrville before heading towards Dallas. On the way we rode horses, climbed in Austin, and had dinner with Melanie’s sister and her family.
After our Texas time, we flew to DC for a giant (and somewhat impromptu) friend reunion. We had an incredible long weekend full of fun and games with friends from all parts of our past. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom as we toured the monuments and museums of the capital. We visited a really cool burning man exhibit at a gallery near the white house and brunched hard!
After we returned to Dallas we were back on the road with the CRV – this time we avoided I-10, driving through new desert scenery. Our favorite stop was in Flagstaff, where we spent the afternoon climbing and visited a local brewery. When we finally arrived to LA, we picked up our friend who we met in Piedra Parada and his friend at Union station, so that we could spend the weekend together. They had just hiked from Mexico along the PCT.
After showing our European friends around Santa Monica and Venice for a day, we drove out of the city to our favorite spot – the Eastern Sierra! After taking some classic pictures of our guests on the Shark’s fin in Alabama Hills, we set up our camp and watched the sun set. Friends from LA started arriving near midnight, and together we slept among the rocks and the stars.
The next day, the ladies (and Sebastian) went to climb in Owens river gorge while the guys went to Mammoth Mountain to play in the snow. Afterwards, we all converged at the hot springs between Bishop and Mammoth, where we set up our dome, hammocks, and a campfire.
After a supremely chill Sunday, we drove south once more. We stopped to climb and watch the sunset at Alabama Hills, and we liked our sunset spot so much that we made camp there. We cooked dinner over a small fire, played guitar, and took in the night sky. The moon was just bright enough to light up the mountains, making the scene totally magical.
After two very brief final days in Los Angeles, we packed our backpacks and boarded our plane to Germany …
