Once we were back at the car with all the gear safely stowed away, we headed out for what we had been dreaming of since we first started our descent off Whitehorse: Applebee’s.  We had passed the restaurant on the drive up from Boston, and were both drooling over thoughts of a warm seat, a hot meal, and a cold milkshake.  We arrived there with literally 15min to spare before they closed, and got a table.

Turns out that the Matre’D for the night was also a rock climber, and he happened to be rather bored.  So, after hearing the short story of why we were muddy and soaked, he asked if he could join us for a bit, since he was effectively off work anyways.  All three of us sat down and started swapping climbing / adventure stories, starting with the long version of Daniel and my day, and ending with him telling us about a few wicked cool trips he took out to Utah.  The longer we talked the more people showed up to hang out, and by the time Daniel and I had finished our meals (chicken fingers for him, steak for me, both with milkshakes) we had accumulated a group of five or six people at the table, waitresses and bus boys and hosts all telling stories about outdoor adventures and “general epic excitement” from our lives.  Funny story: North Conway doesn’t only have some of the best climbing, it also has some of the best climbing culture too, from years upon years of people gravitating towards the big walls.

After our meal was done and story time was over, Daniel and I mounted back up and headed home towards the Loj.  We arrived about an hour before everyone started heading to bed, and so had time to hear what everyone had been up to, and chat a bit by the fireplace (which was not lit, once out of the rain we realized how hot it actually was out) for a bit.  Before we went to bed we discussed plans for tomorrow, deciding that enough was quite definitely enough, and we’d let the rain take the rest of the weekend and book it back towards Boston for a bit of R&R before the next week.