Hueco.

Right now I'm sitting in Hueco Tanks State Park with my little 2 year old friend, Tessa. She's sleeping in a running stroller and I'm sitting in the windy park. I'm looking up at the rock bands and out at the prickly pear cactus and creosote.

I have been humbled on the boulders out here, and think that I should take my friend Jeep's advice to: "Get in really good shape and drag your fingertips across pavement to get ready for climbing in Hueco." It was fun to check a few out this morning, and I definitely want to get back on some problems that I attempted while putting my ego on hold next to Tessa's strong parents.

Tessa is very cute. She empathizes about my cut hand, and recounts for everyone how I fell running in North Carolina. She loves On the Road Again by Willie Nelson, which is ironic since she has been to so many climbing sites in her 2 and a half years. She loves the puppies at the ranch, Hueco and Boulder.

We had to watch an orientation video, about which Tessa said, "Oh, we watch the movie again!" This park is pretty cool with rock art and formations called huecos, which remind me of those little basins on cave floors. Because of the way the rocks formed here, water collects in these bowls of hollowed-out places and there are many birds, rabbits, snakes, javelina, and insects around.

I'm sleeping in Roomie's tent in the campground outside of the Hueco Rock Lodge. Nights are cold with the open black-blue sky and full moon. It's amazing to see the silhouettes of the mountains in the distance from the scrubby dirt on which I sleep. I have been journaling and got to practice yoga in the quiet stillness this morning.