Last night at the Lucky Lab was so much fun! A big turnout to support climber Kevin Rauch (pictured with a climber from the climbing forum I belong to) and his family.The kidlets and I came straight from Crossfit Kids. They were starving so they grabbed seats while I ordered. I bumped into a climbing friend while in line who offered to run to his car for his camera when he heard I didn't have mine with me. He also let me take the camera home last night to download everything so a big thanks to Bill or I'd have no pics for this post!
One of the first things I wanted to buy was the guidebook! They had a room set up for the silent auction and guidebook sales. One of the guys (and an author of the book) was someone I'd met at the climbing gym. He's also on the climbing forum I belong to. The silent auction had some really great items. I started bidding on a guided climb and a few other things caught my eye, but as the evening wore on I knew the kidlets would never make it to the time the table closed so didn't bid anymore. 
The Climbing Cutie showed up with a friend of his. The kidlets were so happy to see him. Me, too. It had been a while. Of course, the Cutie proved himself total romance hero material when he sat next to the kids, watched and entertained them the entire evening so I could walk around, take pics and talk to people. This was great since I'd missed the Ice Fest on Saturday. At one point, Rose was on his lap and the other two were hanging all over him. Thank you so much, Cutie!I also showed him the dedication for my upcoming November release, Rescued by the Magic of Christmas. He's there! Since that's the book that got me into climbing and how I met all these people doing research, it was the perfect time to bring out a copy. A PMR member was also there and got to see his name, too. I'm sending them all books, but my cold got in the way last week.
I saw a lot of familiar faces from the rock gym as well as the local PDX crew who posts on the climbing forum. But there were a couple of surprises last night.My daughter ran up to me and asked if a guy in line was Zach, the climbing guide we use when we go to Smith Rock. Turns out it was! He came over to visit for a while and it was great to see him. He's also the one who sold me most of my climbing gear when I first decided to climb. I remember being at Red Point in Terrebonne, Oregon. The Climbing Cutie had given me a list of gear and Zach had a question so I had the two talk on my cell phone. Last night I introducee them, well, over the table, noise and kidlets!
I also got to meet two new climbers from the forum. One was from Colorado and I've wanted to meet him. He and the Climbing Cutie have a somewhat adversarial relationship on-line so it was great fun to introduce the two in person.Another climber had driven down from the Seattle area. She and I had pm-ed about climbing together so it was great to put a face to a name. She does not like having her picture taken (I thought of a couple of you!) but was a good sport and let me take a picture of her from behind for the forum.
I also met one of the event organizers, Jon Bell, who commented on this blog a couple of days ago. Turns out he's a writer, too.
All of Kevin Rauch's friends should be proud of themselves and take a bow. An event like this takes so much work, but I know I had a blast and so did everyone I spoke with. Thanks for helping your friend out and bringing the PDX climbing community together for such a great event. The Ozone Guidebook is really cool, too! I'm so happy I got a copy!
