Happy Friday!
Any fun plans for the weekend? I have a couple of things on the books that I’m looking forward to! I’m sure I’ll be chatting with you about them next week, but today, I want to back it up to last Saturday, when my hubby and I had a fun day date that included a great workout together.
Grotto Climbing & Yoga is a new gym that opened up last month in the Mission Valley area of San Diego. When I heard about their unique combination of being an indoor climbing gym plus a yoga studio, I was intrigued. I had never gone indoor rock climbing before, so that alone made me want to visit Grotto. The gym was nice enough to welcome me to come try out their facilities and see what they were all about, and I brought A along with me.
We got there right before the gym’s noon yoga class began. When I walked into the warm yoga studio and saw all of these smiling faces, ready to start stretching and moving, I was surprised to see just how crowded the class was. I think the room was pretty much at max capacity for a class! People had to kind of make room for us, and A and I had to get situated in different areas of the room.
The beginning of the class was kind of funny. We began with these funky fire breathing exercises, which was a little iffy because 1.) I felt like I was going to be pass out, and 2.) I was laughing imagining what A was thinking. My hubby is no yogi, and I had to sort of convince him to take the class with me, so I was just hoping he wasn’t thinking, “What did Nicole get me into today?” 🙂 
After the class got warmed up, I felt like it sped by really quick. There was lots of stretching, vinyasa flowing, twisting, lunging, headstand practice… and no shortage of sweat! Beads of sweat were quite literally dripping off of me during the class. Got to love that kind of yoga practice!
Can we talk about how great the above sign is? I spotted it in the back of the room during an arm bind lunge hold and knew I wanted to snap a pic of it after the class. I kind of want to nab one for my house!
Afterwards, A and I borrowed some climbing shoes from the front desk, and channeled our inner Spiderman to climb up some walls. As expected, I was more like holding on for dear life, while A was more jumping around like a monkey on the walls. I managed to skin my leg, but I didn’t completely wipe out or anything, so I consider that a success for my first time rock climbing!
If you’ve never rock climbed, trust me when I say that it’s hard work! Granted I’m not at all conditioned for rock climbing, with it being my first time and all, but my forearms, hands (from gripping so hard!), and shoulder blades were sore for a few days after. I definitely felt like I was working muscles that are not normally activated so much.
We also checked out this area of the gym that’s equipped with conditioning equipment for climbers – think American Ninja Warrior style. In speaking to the owners of Grotto, I found out that they’re really working to create a strong sense of community among Grotto members. As expressed on their website, “The Grotto Climbing & Yoga lifestyle combines modern ingenuity with genuine connection and a love for adventure sports.”
Though the gym just opened up a mere couple of weeks ago, they already have a lot of things in the works – including a Valentine’s Day package for couples that includes fresh juice from a local company, and potluck dinner days. They’re also going to be starting an organic garden next to the gym. How fun right? I have a feeling that I’ll be making more trips to Grotto Climbing & Yoga! You can check out more about them here.
Between the long yoga class and rock climbing, A and I were both tired out and ready for some relaxation when we left the gym. We used to live in the Mission Valley area close to where the gym is located, so we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon around that area, since we haven’t been spending time in southern San Diego so much now that we live more north. We made a stop to our favorite coffee/tea drive-thru joint called Cuppa Cuppa, and I ordered my usual drink whenever we stop there – iced chai tea with soy milk:
We also journeyed over to Coronado – the beautiful island that I always say we’ll aim to retire to one day in the very distant future!
Hotel Del Coronado
We walked around the beach for awhile, explored the town, and refueled with some food at Panera. I ordered their new soba noodle bowl with edamame, and I loved it. Who would have guessed that Panera could do Asian food pretty well?
Between yoga, rock climbing, and the beach, A and I had a pretty awesome day date together! 
Tell me… Have you ever gone indoor rock climbing? How often do you do workouts with your significant other?
Disclaimer: Grotto Climbing & Yoga provided me with complimentary day passes, but as always, all opinions expressed are genuinely my own.
I can imagine that rock climbing is a hard workout. Looks like you two did great though, and the gym sounds awesome!
It certainly is! Thanks for reading, Ali!
I haven’t been on a climbing wall in ages but I love them!!!!! I need to go find one! Ha! Something else I can do in LA 🙂 Thanks for the awesome reminder!
Sounds like an interesting workout! I’ve never done indoor climbing but Im sure it would be a real challenge for me. Sometimes I run with my husband, but usually we just do our own thing:)
Nice! Running with my hubby is something we don’t do because he is wayyy faster than me and I don’t enjoy running! 😉
My youngest son (13) really wants to try rock climbing. I’ve been trying to find a good place around us – I think there are a couple in Kansas City that we will try over spring break!!
Chris and I like day dates on his days off – sometimes we do normal stuff just together and other times we try to do something more “date-like.”
Oohh a family rock climbing date – could be a fun time!
I used to go rock climbing all the time and loved it! I haven’t been in awhile but you’re inspiring me to find a rock climbing gym near me to start back up again.
You should, especially if you know you love it!!
I’m with you on the fire breathing! I’ve done it before and it is kind of weird. I hate doing it. I do love rock climbing though! My hubby and I used to go frequently when we lived in Australia. It is really fun. I like it when you can actually belay up the big walls instead of just bouldering. I get kind of scared though.
We were supposed to go to Coronado after I took the bar exam but the weather was predicted to be so bad that we ended up changing it to Newport Beach instead. I still want to go back sometime!
I did get a little scared too! We used to hike at a park where people went rock climbing for real — now THAT would make me nervous, but maybe one day I’ll try it!