Jason Lancaster

Last Thursday night Em and I packed our bags to set off for Shreveport, Louisiana. I’ve come to look forward to the time with her family and the different things I do while I’m there.

My first day was spent setting up and playing on a slackline, where I finally got walking backwards down and can go from start to finish on a line. In addition to that, I ended up working on and mastering a new way of mounting that starts with a hang from the line. I tried mounting by jumping both feet directly on the line but think I need a spotter and some more practice as I was thrown onto my head or side each time.

After slacklining, Emily suggested we go to the Revel, an outdoor festival held in Shreveport each year. I was unimpressed with the beer selection until we eventually found a little stand that sold Abida amber beer. The food was really great and I wish I was a little hungrier as there were all sorts of southern foods to try, including: red beans and rice, jambalaya, deep fried jambalaya, gumbo, shrimp dishes, gyros, and all kinds of other stuff. And yeah, I know gyros aren’t southern! Emily and I settled on a few dishes and shared.

Second day was spent at the lake house. Em’s father and I woke up before others and played a morning game of disc golf. Then, after gathering sticks around the property and chopping up and dragging 2 fallen trees into a bonfire pile, we went water-skiing. This marked my third time water-skiing. I’m really comfortable on two ski’s. Not so much on one. I tried the kick off a ski to slalom method and fell a few times hard. Then I tried to slalom straight out of the water and fell a few times. I’m not sure what I need to get the feeling of slalom skiing but it sure is annoying not being able to figure it out. I hope next time works out better. Then it will be off to barefoot skiing.

Third and fourth days were low-key and relaxing. I have some videos of the water skiing which I’ll post on youtube and this entry soon. That sums up my vacation!

On Saturday I went bouldering at the Gunpowder with Em. This was my first time ever really bouldering outdoors: meaning the first time I’ve ever taken a crash pad along with some climbing shoes and given something my all without regard (or much regard) to falling. It was exciting.

I don’t think the Gunpowder is really considered much of a hot spot for bouldering and I’ll admit from other videos of places like Bishop on YouTube this doesn’t really compare. Gunpowder is just a small 20ft cave with a 45 degree roof that is about 12 or so feet high. Still, it’s really fun and I can see myself going there a little more once the weather gets cooler. It was super hot and humid — 88F with 90% humidity.

Since the area isn’t all that popular, I actually can’t find any information on what climbs are there. That means whatever we do there we’re just making up. That part was actually quite fun. I found what I thought the easiest route would be and figured it out in a couple tries. It’s not that serious of a route and would probably rate something along the lines of a v3. My parents came along, which meant extra spotters so one of us could videotape.

One of the trickiest things was the first time I got to the top I realized it was entirely covered in leaves. My parents threw up a brush and I cleaned it off, but it was a little dicey hanging on to the top and cleaning everything.

After losing interest on the first route I made up, I moved on to one that starts at the back of the cave. Hopefully I’ll work that out and get a video on that one.

Videos: The first is Emily trying the route with a few little modifications of her own since she’s shorter than me. The second is me doing the route for the 4th or 5th time.

The last couple days of my Shreveport vacation were spent at the lake house with everyone. We went out on the boat a few times and went water skiing. This would mark my second time ever water skiing and this time I felt very comfortable on two skis so I began trying to get on one. That is actually called slalom water skiing. My attempts to get up out of the water ended up with some pretty spectacular crashes, so I opted to go with the method of getting up on two and then kicking one off.

The following set of images is a pretty good example of that process and the end result:

Regardless of the fact that I fell, I had an amazing time trying it. EEE’s father suggested I try barefoot skiing but I think I’ll continue working on the slalom skiing first.

After skiing, I built a huge bonfire for everyone’s enjoyment. I wish we had gotten some pictures of how much wood I cleared from the yard. Makes me realize how badly I need to buy a new camera since my accidental cleanup mistake of throwing the camera in the dumpster and not realizing it.

As with typical outdoor outings, I ended up with poison ivy on my feet and I hurt my thumb pretty bad when I slipped on the boat and bent it backwards. No climbing for me for a couple weeks until I’ve healed. Oh well. That just means more time at the house working on renovations.

Tying knots in the webbing was just something to do to pass the time. I looked up a website on different types of hitches and such and just began playing with them. No reason to it at all.

I ended up getting my beignets yesterday but lucky for me I’m not a beignets virgin. I’ve had true beignets once before (on my last trip) and my mother often cooked what we called “fried dough” on weekends which was quite similar to a beignets. Actually, Mom, you’d appreciate the fact that I think you’re fried dough was much better.

Emily and I cooked this killer 14 spice indian salmon recipe last night, this time on the grill. Previously it had only been baked. Honestly, I didn’t notice much of a difference. Had the grill been charcoal, I think that might have been another story. Supposedly charcoal allows the meat to get juicy or something and keeps the smell in.

I’m sure today will be busy. The EEE family is having a pretty large crawfish boil, upwards of 40 people. I’m looking forward to some crawfish but I think breakfast would be best first. Looking forward to omelets made by EEE’s sister. Now if only she’ll wake up. It probably would help if I left the confinements of my room…