Because it's there

For today's adventure, Cas and I went to the North Texas Outdoor Pursuit Center.  I had been there in my twenties when it was called Stoneworks.  It's a rock climbing gym built inside of the "historic" grain silos in Downtown Carrollton.  I used to go there with Jeff when we were younger and I was thinner.

It was still a blast.  Cas and I received the instruction on how to tie the proper knots and operate the ropes to belay one another.  We didn't exactly scale the hard courses or really make it to the top of the grain silos, but we did have a pretty good time.  I managed to keep him from plummeting to the ground, and he managed to return the favor.  We both did our level best, but it's a really particular skill set, and not just anyone can walk in off the street and do the hard courses to completion.  Neither of us had any expectation that we would find immediate success at this task, either.  In fact, I think we went into it with the correct attitude.  We both thought we would give it the best shot we could and quit to go get some beers when it was all too much.  That turned out to be the best plan, and we both felt like tapping out at around the same time.  I knew it would be tough, because I am 15-20 years older (and a bit fatter) than I was the last time I tried it.

We climbed a bit.  Since it's Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I thought it may be appropriate to try to think of the struggle for civil rights as I struggled to climb an actual wall.  As it turns out, I was far too goal-focused to contemplate much besides where to place my feet and how to get my hand to the next grip.  Here's Cas hooking up to the apparatus he used to keep me from falling:

After we were all tuckered out, we walked over to the Twisted Root burger company across the train tracks and had a bit of dinner.  They had a few of the coin-op style pool tables at the burger place, and since neither of us had played in ages, it seemed appropriate.  

Here's Cas lining up a shot.

He beat me both times, but we were pretty well matched.  I sunk a few and only had two or three of my balls left on the table each time.  

I have a four day work week coming up, and I think I should probably get to work on my school stuff this evening.  He had to head home to grade some tests, himself.  So, it's back to work for us tomorrow, but today was pretty great.