Climbing and Dinner Date Night
So, here was my proposal for my husband, “we have a mom from our babysitting co-op coming over to babysit, and if you can’t come up with an alternative plan, I want to go rock climbing and then out for dinner.” Come Friday night, he hadn’t found anything he wanted to especially do, so we threw on shorts, tennies and tanks. With a black dress slung over my shoulder and flats stuffed in my purse, and he with a nice shirt folded neatly in a messenger bag, off we went.
My plan: Rock climbing at Brooklyn Boulders for a couple of hours and then out to dinner somewhere nearby. I wasn’t so interested in the dinner part of it and I figured if worse came to worse, we would just head home and eat there. *Bonus: save money on the food portion of the night.
His plan: Rock climbing at some gym for 20 minutes and then heading out for a long dinner with a good bottle of wine. *Bonus: get some exercise but relax for most of the night.
The result: we compromised (like most of our decisions!)
On a field trip during camp, our son had been to Brooklyn Boulders. He was bubbling about it, so we went on the internet to see the photos so he could show us where he had climbed. The photos were so cool: a replica of the Brooklyn Bridge, a high wire, yoga studio, bouldering walls and caves. I wanted to go myself.
We arrived at the gym on a Friday night at 8:30 pm. We couldn’t believe how packed it was. It was teeming with people: mostly young, mostly in amazing shape and mostly in their own tech gear. We looked like shleps, and we felt intimidated. We checked in signing our lives away in waivers and picked up a pair of disinfected climbing shoes for which you don’t wear socks. A bit of eww factor, but you’ll get over it. Admission for the 2 of us and shoe rental was a steep $50. But, read on, every penny was worth it!
We walked around admiring the incredible feats that the climbers were performing- from sheer strength on the climbing walls to getting great height using ropes. My husband was the most shy and sought out a wall where we could be the climbing novices we are. That wasn’t too hard despite the gym being heavily occupied. We headed to the back where they have a yoga studio with hardwood floors and one wall of climbing grips. We were the only ones there. There was a small stereo system that my husband plugged his iphone into. We jammed on the tunes and started climbing. We didn’t use ropes since neither of us in comfortable in belaying, but you can choose to do that option.
It was amazing: we were both nervous, cheered eachother on, felt invigorated and challenged. After a good hour of climbing, our fingertips, forearms and legs began to shake and we called it quits. Happily sweaty we walked to the changing rooms, slid into our dinner clothes and headed out the doors holding hands. We drove over to Smith Street’s Chestnut and had a lovely glass of wine and salads each (we were feeling healthy).
The next day, we were both sore but felt like we had really done something that challenged each of us and held us together. Best date night yet.
Details:
Brooklyn Boulders
575 Degraw Street
Brooklyn, NY 11217
By subway: Take the 2, 3, 4, 5, N, Q, R, B, or D to Atlantic-Pacific, transfer to the R for one stop to Union St. Walk 2 blocks north, turn left on Degraw, we are the last door on the right side of the street.
