Lights, Camera, Action!

Merrick Shaefer just rolled through town while on a whirlwind world tour. Merrick was just climbing in Hampi India, then flew back to New York to visit his girlfriend and then I got the word that he would be blazing through Southern France on his way to Rome. I picked Merrick up at the airport at 11:30am local time Saturday. He had left New York on a night flight and managed to sleep on the plane so he was fully energized and he wouldn’t stop talking. A couple hours later we were wondering through the forest of Annot surronded by boulders. We climbed until dark and afterwards Merrick wanted some fancy french food. Still in climbing attire with chalk on our pants the first two restaurants refused us service. One restaurant told us they didn’t have enough food. More than likely we didn’t have the look of their standard cliental. The third and last restaurant in the small town of Annot greeted us warmly and Merrick enjoyed the quail with wine from the region while I had the fish of the day and a martini. The next day was back to work pulling pockets and slapping slopers. After a good session we jumped in the car to get Merrick to Nice to catch his train. We gave ourselves an extra hour but still managed to get to the train just ten minutes before it departed.

CLIMBING
- Merrick confirmed that everything I was saying about Annot wasn’t just spray.

PHOTOGRAPHY
- I always find it much easier to photograph old friends than new people.

TRAVEL
- Merrick is one of the best travelers I know and he seems to pull it off full time. I think he simply desires to be in new places all the time.