Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Sorry
For those 0-1 people that have actually slightly enjoyed reading my journal, I apologize. For the rest of you, you could probably care less. But although writing in a "detailed" obnoxious style is very enjoyable to me, it is too time consuming, especially when internet is few and far between. So I prefer to spend my traveling soaking in new cultures, taking way too many pictures and eating and eating. And more eating. If anybody cares, I might try to write it all up when I get home. Otherwise, I'm going to have the time of my life until I have to think about starting my life.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Creamsicle and the Beardless Woodsman: Day 14
Today ended up being another relaxing day, which I totally won’t complain about at all. Relaxing is one of my few talents, and I like to take advantage of my talents whenever possible. Vaughn and I drove to Safeway to get some groceries, and I got a haircut on the same trip. The first place I went to check out for my haircut was a run-down looking salon, and when I walked in it was all Latino ladies in the shop. Needless to say I got a couple intriguing looks, but that’s nothing new for me (with my big muscles and all) so I wasn’t bothered too much. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get me in until later and I wanted to get it over with. So I went to the salon right next door to that one. Again, no availability. So I ended up going to the place next to Safeway, and when I walked in it was two Asian people and they got me right in. Unfortunately, the lady didn’t speak too good of English, so wasn’t really a way of explaining what I wanted to her…mistake. She did, however, cut of a curl and asked me if that was how much I wanted taken off (about an inch) and I said yes. I guess yes is not in her English vocabulary, because I am sitting here right now typing this with next to no hair. Every time Sonya cuts my hair she washes and conditions it to she can get a comb through my hair to cut it. This lady did nothing of the sort. She spritzed one spritz of water on my hair and went at it. Let’s just say I should have called the cops because I felt like my head was getting murdered!!! (forgive the corny joke, it’s very late right now and my sense of humor has been a little off for the past 22 years or so). That pain is something I prefer to forget as soon as possible, so I will stop talking about it. Anyways, she just kept cutting and clipping and buzzing and clipping and cutting, and before I knew it my head looked almost as big as, well, my head. My hair looked small which made my head look huge!! The lady then asked if I wanted my eyebrows cut too, which I thought was kinda weird. So I said “WTFuck!! Are you saying there’s something wrong with my eyebrows?” and she said “ya scrub, you needs to get them bitches trimmed before they take yo face over!”. That one hurt a little so I started crying a bit and then she apologized and we made up. Gosh I must be tired if I just wrote that. But she really did ask me if I wanted my eyebrows cut too, which I thought was weird. And then, at the end, she said that I looked much younger, like I’m supposed to take that as a compliment or something. But I just put my best smile on and put the dimples on full display and her heart melted and she didn’t know the difference. Anyways, enough on the haircut. Bottom line is it’s very short, so I look like Brad Pitt now instead of Orlando Bloom. After that we headed back, and on the radio on the way back was none other than Hit Me Baby One More Time!! I know San Francisco isn’t the best place for two straight guys to be rockin out to Britney Spears in the car with the windows down, but I didn’t care. I was in the zone!! That was my first cd after all. So Vaughn and I rocked out. When we got back we watched some movies and kicked the soccer ball and through the football on the beach (which I forgot to mention is about 50 yards from David and Scott’s house). We knew we were having portabella mushrooms and potatoes for dinner, but we didn’t know what the main course was. But when David came home, he brought a HUGE fresh (caught the day of) salmon fillet. He also brought home some freshly smoked fish (salmon and Chilean sea bass) which was the best smoked fish I’ve ever had, hands down. If I had a bagel and cream cheese to go with it, I might have had a new Heaven. But I still couldn’t stop eating it so I made David put it away before I finished it all. So we grilled the salmon and the mushrooms and potatoes for dinner, which was delicious as always. After that we relaxed and went to bed, but I didn’t go to sleep. I started catching up on GLEE finally!!! And boy was that ever an episode to start catching up on!!! All I have to say is Adelle, Artie singing Stevie Wonder, Rebecca Black and Jar of Hearts all in one episode. Holy freaking crap.
In honor of Glee, a couple quotes from my dream girl, Brittany:
''Did you know that dolphins are just gay sharks?... Yeah.''
''People thought I went on vacation but actually, I spent the summer lost in the sewers.''
''Can you please not pull all my teeth? When I smile, I’ll look like an adult baby, but with boobs."
In honor of Glee, a couple quotes from my dream girl, Brittany:
''Did you know that dolphins are just gay sharks?... Yeah.''
''People thought I went on vacation but actually, I spent the summer lost in the sewers.''
''Can you please not pull all my teeth? When I smile, I’ll look like an adult baby, but with boobs."
Friday, August 19, 2011
Creamsicle and the Beardless Woodsman: Day 13
This was a nice relaxation day. We slept in (for some reason I woke up at 8:30, I must be getting old) and relaxed most of the day. Vaughn and I went shopping (on Vaughn’s grandpa’s money; just another person I have to thank) with the list that the rest of the family made for dinner stuff that we were gonna grill out. What a f#@$%&* list!! We got lettuce, eggplant, portabella mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, zucchini, red peppers, corn, ribeyes, filet mignons, potatoes, wine, and of course fuzzy navels (the same ones as I had on July 4th, but obviously the ones on July 4th were for the girls and so were these…DEFINITELY not for me). After the massive shopping trip, we came back and relaxed for a bit more and then began the feast for the ages. Even though we did have 8 people to cook for (including the human vacuums that are myself and Vaughnypoo), that list ended up being way too much food. So we didn’t cook the mushrooms or the potatoes, and we didn’t end up doing the salad. But Vaughn did most of the grilling (I would have helped, but messing with Vaughn while he is grilling is like messing with a woman’s radio while she is driving…and I prefer keep all my fingers) and I made a vegetable medley with red peppers, zucchini, onions, tomatoes, feta cheese, garlic, salt and pepper and olive oil. I put them all together in tin foil and put it on the grill for about 10 minutes. The rest of the food was all grilled. As we were cooking, we did the manly thing and Vaughn drank a beer and I had some sort of drink that, for the life of me, I can’t remember what it was, but I know it was really really manly, and it most certainly wasn’t a mixture of peach schnopps and orange juice in a glass bottle with a twist off cap. So we cooked everything in rounds, with the vegetables first and meat last. The meal was absolutely scrumptious, and my fat ass ate way too much (and yet somehow not enough at the same time). We were all tired and lazy after the meal, and nothing much else happened before we went to bed other than ice cream.
"The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook."
-Julia Child
It baffles me why I'm so much more attracted to a girl that can eat and not worry about it. But I am, and it ain't gonna change.
"The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook."
-Julia Child
It baffles me why I'm so much more attracted to a girl that can eat and not worry about it. But I am, and it ain't gonna change.
Creamsicle and the Beardless Woodsman: Day 12
Not much happened today except for a nice dinner. We all woke up and packed up and got in the cars to head back to San Francisco. Vaughn, John, Michelle and I drove in Seymour and we stopped by a good Mexican restaurant on the way back. For dessert we got a flan that had some sort of orange syrup on it, which was delicious. Something about the word “flan” makes me feel really rich and high class, and it’s probably the only thing in my whole life that will ever make me feel rich and high class. But hey, as long as I’m happy than I don’t need to be rich…my wife will be . When we all got home we just relaxed and played some cards until dinner, when we went to a restaurant called Flavor. It was delicious!! We all got the fixed menu meal that came with an appetizer, and entrée and a dessert. Vaughn and I split the appetizers (one was bruschetta and the other was short rib meat on top of guacamole on top of French bread slices…mmm). For my entrée I got lamb shanks with a cheesy broccoli risotto which was nothing short of amazing as well. I feel bad for the lamb, but if it ever knew how happy it made me, I’m sure it would think it was worth it. I then got chocolate chocolate cheesecake for dessert. I allow myself to eat fatty foods from time to time. After that we went back to the house and we all said by to Peter, Ms. Creamer and Maggie because they were flying back the next morning. Then we all went to bed.
"For I don't care too much for money, for money can't buy me love." - The Beatles
"For I don't care too much for money, for money can't buy me love." - The Beatles
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Creamsicle and the Beardless Woodsman: Day 11
Last day of Yosemite Hike!!
17 miles total including 2 miles up Half Dome and two miles back down
Today was the day we had been dreading and looking forward to the whole trip. We were gonna do about 7 miles to the trail split for Half Dome, climb about 2000 ft., the last 400 straight up while holding onto cables, come back down and then go another 6 or so down to the valley. The only good thing was that we thought we were gonna be going downhill the whole time other than the Half Dome part because we were losing about 4000 ft. total in elevation during the day. Of course, that wasn’t totally true. But anyways, we did start the morning off right. Scott, John and Michelle left before breakfast because they planned on doing Half Dome and needed the extra time. Maggie, Vaughn, and myself decided to eat breakfast because we were a little faster and figured we had the time to do so, along with doing Half Dome. Peter, Nancy and David were not doing Half Dome so they had the time to eat breakfast and relax on their whole hike down to the valley. So right at the end of breakfast we all saw Danger Rave walk in. David said we should get a picture with him so I asked him if we could do that. Of course he said yes because he is a gentleman in all meanings of the word. We all went outside and took the first picture, which we wanted to do poses to scare bears away (he talked about and demonstrated his at the fire talk the night before). After that, Danger said that we should take another one like old college buddies. That is where my breath cut short, my heart started beating real fast and, if it weren’t for Maggie, I would have fallen from my knees buckling. To be considered an old college buddy of Danger Raves could have been the most super exciting and flattering compliment I have ever gotten. So we took the picture, I caught my breath, and when my legs regained feeling we went to get our packs and began the hike. Like I said before, we were expecting downhill the whole way. So not true. Basically the whole trail to the Half Dome split was uphill, besides the last mile or so. But we were determined people on a mission, and nothing was gonna stop us from reaching our goals. So to get our minds of it, we sang. The songs we sang will remain unmentioned for the sake of my manly reputation. When we got to the split we met up with Scott, John and Michelle and hid our packs in the woods. We then headed up to Half Dome. The ranger that checked our permits did not warn us about steepness or loose rocks or falling off or edges or anything like that, all he said was “be careful of the squirrels and marmots”. That put my mind at ease about the steepness and cliffs and stuff, but all I could think of then was squirrels flying at my face and chewing at my ankles while going up the cables. Very reassuring. The first part was basically a straight up steep trail for about 20 minutes or so, which only got us to the top of the first hump. The view was spectacular from there, but we knew it was gonna be better from the real top. As we looked at the cables from the hump, they looked mighty daunting. I wasn’t too nervous about it because I knew it would be fun, but they did look very steep. But as we walked up to them, they looked a lot less steep and scary at the base of them. As we started heading up, the traffic was like Grand Central Station. It took us about 30-40 minutes to get up because people are people; that’s the only explanation I can think of that covers all the bases. But if there was no one on it, it would have taken Vaughn and I about 10 minutes to get up. When we made it to the top, we walked around and enjoyed the views. I’ll give props to Scott, who made it up while being very sick. He was breathing pretty hard on the way up, which worried me, but he made it and is still alive at the moment. Maggie and I did a victory “wop” (I guess it’s a new dance the kids are doing nowadays like the soldier boy) at the top, and Vaughn and I did some sort of attempt at a dance as well. As my age increases, the quality of my dance moves goes down…dramatically. Thank God I can sing. I also saw this girl getting video taped Dougying, and I started dancing next to her and then asked her to teach me how to Dougy. She said yes, but then we both got distracted and I never learned how to Dougy. I feel like I’m missing out on a whole important part of life now. The coolest part up there was that people left designs with rocks all over the place, and we found a design that was an NCSU symbol!! Woop Woop (gotta throw that in there for Woop)!!! The way down was so much fun, too. Maggie and I both slid down on our heels while holding onto the cables most of the way. As we got back down to our packs, we were in good spirit knowing that we were on the last leg of our trip and it had to go downhill from here. And it did. We went down the Mist Trail, which took us by Nevada Falls and Vernal Falls (the falls where 2 people had fallen off and died a couple weeks earlier), both quite spectacular. Vernal had a magnificent rainbow next to it, which Vaughn took about 59 pictures of (can’t say I took much less). On the way down the steps past Vernal, Maggie and I got caught behind this Spanish girl who took each step carefully and sideways, two feet on each step on the way down. That went on for about 150 steps or so, which was a little frustrating, and she kept teasing us like she was gonna pull off and let us pass, but then never did. Now I know how a cat feels when you dangle a ball of yarn over it. When we found our opening, we took it, and like Raji off the blocks during a race, we bolted past her with pure speed and ferocity. It was not far from Vernal to the road, where we caught the bus back to Curry Village and to the end of our hiking!! Bittersweet. When we got back, the first thing the three of us did was shower. We then went to the restaurant, where Ms. Creamer bought us pizza, and Peter treated Vaughn to a beer and me to a strawberry daiquiri. When people walked by, I tried to play it off like the strawberry daiquiri was for my girlfriend, but I don’t think it worked. Oh well, it was DELICIOUS!! And so was the pizza. And then right when I finished my first daiquiri, it thought to myself how good a second one would be. And what do ya know: out of nowhere, with impeccable timing yet again, my sunshine on a cloudy day, Peter, showed up with a second daiquiri. Wow. That’s all I have to say. After dinner we were all tired and hurting (I don’t think I had knees at that point) so we all went to bed, with a feeling of accomplishment in our minds and delicious pizza and manly drinks in our bellies. That was the end of an absolutely amazing trip, and Scott and David did a perfect job planning it all out and setting it all up. I don’t know how I could ever thank them for that. Maybe more naked man playing cards? Who knows. But it’s not just the scenery that makes a trip, but the people you can share it with. And I couldn’t think of anybody better to share it with than the 8 people I did.
"The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn't work, don't buy it." – from Tuesdays with Morrie
17 miles total including 2 miles up Half Dome and two miles back down
Today was the day we had been dreading and looking forward to the whole trip. We were gonna do about 7 miles to the trail split for Half Dome, climb about 2000 ft., the last 400 straight up while holding onto cables, come back down and then go another 6 or so down to the valley. The only good thing was that we thought we were gonna be going downhill the whole time other than the Half Dome part because we were losing about 4000 ft. total in elevation during the day. Of course, that wasn’t totally true. But anyways, we did start the morning off right. Scott, John and Michelle left before breakfast because they planned on doing Half Dome and needed the extra time. Maggie, Vaughn, and myself decided to eat breakfast because we were a little faster and figured we had the time to do so, along with doing Half Dome. Peter, Nancy and David were not doing Half Dome so they had the time to eat breakfast and relax on their whole hike down to the valley. So right at the end of breakfast we all saw Danger Rave walk in. David said we should get a picture with him so I asked him if we could do that. Of course he said yes because he is a gentleman in all meanings of the word. We all went outside and took the first picture, which we wanted to do poses to scare bears away (he talked about and demonstrated his at the fire talk the night before). After that, Danger said that we should take another one like old college buddies. That is where my breath cut short, my heart started beating real fast and, if it weren’t for Maggie, I would have fallen from my knees buckling. To be considered an old college buddy of Danger Raves could have been the most super exciting and flattering compliment I have ever gotten. So we took the picture, I caught my breath, and when my legs regained feeling we went to get our packs and began the hike. Like I said before, we were expecting downhill the whole way. So not true. Basically the whole trail to the Half Dome split was uphill, besides the last mile or so. But we were determined people on a mission, and nothing was gonna stop us from reaching our goals. So to get our minds of it, we sang. The songs we sang will remain unmentioned for the sake of my manly reputation. When we got to the split we met up with Scott, John and Michelle and hid our packs in the woods. We then headed up to Half Dome. The ranger that checked our permits did not warn us about steepness or loose rocks or falling off or edges or anything like that, all he said was “be careful of the squirrels and marmots”. That put my mind at ease about the steepness and cliffs and stuff, but all I could think of then was squirrels flying at my face and chewing at my ankles while going up the cables. Very reassuring. The first part was basically a straight up steep trail for about 20 minutes or so, which only got us to the top of the first hump. The view was spectacular from there, but we knew it was gonna be better from the real top. As we looked at the cables from the hump, they looked mighty daunting. I wasn’t too nervous about it because I knew it would be fun, but they did look very steep. But as we walked up to them, they looked a lot less steep and scary at the base of them. As we started heading up, the traffic was like Grand Central Station. It took us about 30-40 minutes to get up because people are people; that’s the only explanation I can think of that covers all the bases. But if there was no one on it, it would have taken Vaughn and I about 10 minutes to get up. When we made it to the top, we walked around and enjoyed the views. I’ll give props to Scott, who made it up while being very sick. He was breathing pretty hard on the way up, which worried me, but he made it and is still alive at the moment. Maggie and I did a victory “wop” (I guess it’s a new dance the kids are doing nowadays like the soldier boy) at the top, and Vaughn and I did some sort of attempt at a dance as well. As my age increases, the quality of my dance moves goes down…dramatically. Thank God I can sing. I also saw this girl getting video taped Dougying, and I started dancing next to her and then asked her to teach me how to Dougy. She said yes, but then we both got distracted and I never learned how to Dougy. I feel like I’m missing out on a whole important part of life now. The coolest part up there was that people left designs with rocks all over the place, and we found a design that was an NCSU symbol!! Woop Woop (gotta throw that in there for Woop)!!! The way down was so much fun, too. Maggie and I both slid down on our heels while holding onto the cables most of the way. As we got back down to our packs, we were in good spirit knowing that we were on the last leg of our trip and it had to go downhill from here. And it did. We went down the Mist Trail, which took us by Nevada Falls and Vernal Falls (the falls where 2 people had fallen off and died a couple weeks earlier), both quite spectacular. Vernal had a magnificent rainbow next to it, which Vaughn took about 59 pictures of (can’t say I took much less). On the way down the steps past Vernal, Maggie and I got caught behind this Spanish girl who took each step carefully and sideways, two feet on each step on the way down. That went on for about 150 steps or so, which was a little frustrating, and she kept teasing us like she was gonna pull off and let us pass, but then never did. Now I know how a cat feels when you dangle a ball of yarn over it. When we found our opening, we took it, and like Raji off the blocks during a race, we bolted past her with pure speed and ferocity. It was not far from Vernal to the road, where we caught the bus back to Curry Village and to the end of our hiking!! Bittersweet. When we got back, the first thing the three of us did was shower. We then went to the restaurant, where Ms. Creamer bought us pizza, and Peter treated Vaughn to a beer and me to a strawberry daiquiri. When people walked by, I tried to play it off like the strawberry daiquiri was for my girlfriend, but I don’t think it worked. Oh well, it was DELICIOUS!! And so was the pizza. And then right when I finished my first daiquiri, it thought to myself how good a second one would be. And what do ya know: out of nowhere, with impeccable timing yet again, my sunshine on a cloudy day, Peter, showed up with a second daiquiri. Wow. That’s all I have to say. After dinner we were all tired and hurting (I don’t think I had knees at that point) so we all went to bed, with a feeling of accomplishment in our minds and delicious pizza and manly drinks in our bellies. That was the end of an absolutely amazing trip, and Scott and David did a perfect job planning it all out and setting it all up. I don’t know how I could ever thank them for that. Maybe more naked man playing cards? Who knows. But it’s not just the scenery that makes a trip, but the people you can share it with. And I couldn’t think of anybody better to share it with than the 8 people I did.
"The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn't work, don't buy it." – from Tuesdays with Morrie
Creamsicle and the Beardless Woodsman: Day 10
8 miles from Vogelsang to Merced Lake with a detour to Emeric Lake
It was another stunning walk today, and we took a side trip to Emeric Lake. Instead of going all the way to the lake, we climbed up onto a cliff with a great view of the lake. We have gone to enough lakesides this trip that it’s better now (mosquito wise and view wise) to find a new angle on them. That’s what the cliff gave us. We got to Merced Lake camp in good time, and it had a blue-green pool at the bottom of some cascades right next to camp. So Vaughn, Maggie and I sat down and ate lunch there. Because I had the rest of my meals taken care of, I had food that I needed to get rid of. So I had a lunch that would make even the Snow Lodge EDR look crappy (except the country-fried steak)!! I made Ramen (which Maggie had never had before so she tasted it and loved it…some kids are just so uncultured nowadays) and Rice Roni (the San Fransisco treat taste just the same whether you get it in NC or San Fran, which I found to be a little disappointing). And although the view wasn’t quite as good as in the EDR, the food was better. After lunch, we all swam in the water, which was ice cold buy oh so refreshing. The whole group actually swam, all 9 of us…yes, even the two old queens!! We then decided that today was gonna be a relaxing day, because tomorrow was gonna be a female dog to say the least. So I worked on my bronze a little for the ladies, and we played UNO for a while. We then got the camp’s bocce ball set and played the most interesting game of bocce ball I’ve ever had the pleasure of being a part of. We played all over rocks, logs, sand hills and the biggest pine cones I’ve ever seen. We then played horseshoes for a while until dinner. That helped me find out that, other than singing Beyonce songs, Adelle songs and that one song from RENT, I do have another talent: horseshoes. Look out Florida retirement homes!!! I played two games as Vaughn’s partner and two as Maggie’s partner, and I won all 4…think of the common factor. I must admit though that Peter had a smooth stroke on the horseshoe court…kinda like a pendulum, but with a mustache. At dinner, they only had tables for 6 people, so Vaughn, Maggie and I had to sit at another table with some old fellas. Vaughn got caught talking to one guy the whole time, and luckily Maggie and I stuck together. We did talk to two of the guys for a while, but I obviously wasn’t too interested in their conversation because I don’t really remember anything they were talking about. But then came Danger Rave (Ranger Dave, but Danger Rave most definitely suits him better). He is a 60ish year old naturalist ranger guide in Yosemite that has a mane (no exaggeration) of blonde curly hair, glasses, and always has his top two buttons on his shirt unbuttoned to reveal an endless sea nuzzle-worthy chest hair. We also think he is gay, not that there is anything wrong with that. He gave a speech at the end of dinner, and at the end of the speech he took a small flashlight, while some other guy was speaking, and started dancing and waiving the flashlight and yelling “it’s a rave, it’s a rave”. Oh Danger Rave. We then went after dinner to Danger’s ranger talk around the fire pit. The talk was packed!! There was probably about 30-40 people around the fire pit to listen to his talk. Danger made the fire and kept it going as he talked. I swear his hand went in the fire about 20 times and he was phased about as much as I get on a soccer field (I phase people, I don’t get phased ). What a man. Then, in one of his stories, he took his hat off and started whipping his hair back and forth like Willow, and then after it was all shook out he asked us who we thought he was. Somebody said Einstein, somebody said Buffalo Bill, somebody said Karl Marx, and I said Brad Pitt. That will give you an idea of what he looked like. But it turned out he was talking about Grizzly Adams. Who the F#$@ is Grizzly Adams anyways?! He told us a bunch of personal bear stories which were hilarious (half laughing with him and half laughing at him). He had a thing for speaking in bear voices. One of his stories was about a bear who smelled a Snickers from over a mile away, and when he got to the tent cabin with the Snickers and started tearing into the cabin, the kid ran and the bear said “SNICKERS!!” in a low growly voice. Another story had two cubs running back and forth on a log and apparently they were saying “Mommy is bringing hot dogs! Mommy is bringing hot dogs!”. Either this guy is Dr. Dolittle or he is a little on the nutso side. But we thoroughly enjoyed him, so I will not complain. Maggie and I have jokes for the next 20 years now thanks to the one and only Danger Rave. After the talk, we played another game of UNO or two and went to bed.
My feelings towards Danger Rave, because I just can’t put them into words yet:
“Mmmbop, ba duba dop
Ba du bop, ba duba dop
Ba du bop, ba duba dop
Ba du
Yeah
Mmmbop, ba duba dop
Ba du bop, Ba du dop
Ba du bop, Ba du dop
Ba du
Yeah” - Hanson
It was another stunning walk today, and we took a side trip to Emeric Lake. Instead of going all the way to the lake, we climbed up onto a cliff with a great view of the lake. We have gone to enough lakesides this trip that it’s better now (mosquito wise and view wise) to find a new angle on them. That’s what the cliff gave us. We got to Merced Lake camp in good time, and it had a blue-green pool at the bottom of some cascades right next to camp. So Vaughn, Maggie and I sat down and ate lunch there. Because I had the rest of my meals taken care of, I had food that I needed to get rid of. So I had a lunch that would make even the Snow Lodge EDR look crappy (except the country-fried steak)!! I made Ramen (which Maggie had never had before so she tasted it and loved it…some kids are just so uncultured nowadays) and Rice Roni (the San Fransisco treat taste just the same whether you get it in NC or San Fran, which I found to be a little disappointing). And although the view wasn’t quite as good as in the EDR, the food was better. After lunch, we all swam in the water, which was ice cold buy oh so refreshing. The whole group actually swam, all 9 of us…yes, even the two old queens!! We then decided that today was gonna be a relaxing day, because tomorrow was gonna be a female dog to say the least. So I worked on my bronze a little for the ladies, and we played UNO for a while. We then got the camp’s bocce ball set and played the most interesting game of bocce ball I’ve ever had the pleasure of being a part of. We played all over rocks, logs, sand hills and the biggest pine cones I’ve ever seen. We then played horseshoes for a while until dinner. That helped me find out that, other than singing Beyonce songs, Adelle songs and that one song from RENT, I do have another talent: horseshoes. Look out Florida retirement homes!!! I played two games as Vaughn’s partner and two as Maggie’s partner, and I won all 4…think of the common factor. I must admit though that Peter had a smooth stroke on the horseshoe court…kinda like a pendulum, but with a mustache. At dinner, they only had tables for 6 people, so Vaughn, Maggie and I had to sit at another table with some old fellas. Vaughn got caught talking to one guy the whole time, and luckily Maggie and I stuck together. We did talk to two of the guys for a while, but I obviously wasn’t too interested in their conversation because I don’t really remember anything they were talking about. But then came Danger Rave (Ranger Dave, but Danger Rave most definitely suits him better). He is a 60ish year old naturalist ranger guide in Yosemite that has a mane (no exaggeration) of blonde curly hair, glasses, and always has his top two buttons on his shirt unbuttoned to reveal an endless sea nuzzle-worthy chest hair. We also think he is gay, not that there is anything wrong with that. He gave a speech at the end of dinner, and at the end of the speech he took a small flashlight, while some other guy was speaking, and started dancing and waiving the flashlight and yelling “it’s a rave, it’s a rave”. Oh Danger Rave. We then went after dinner to Danger’s ranger talk around the fire pit. The talk was packed!! There was probably about 30-40 people around the fire pit to listen to his talk. Danger made the fire and kept it going as he talked. I swear his hand went in the fire about 20 times and he was phased about as much as I get on a soccer field (I phase people, I don’t get phased ). What a man. Then, in one of his stories, he took his hat off and started whipping his hair back and forth like Willow, and then after it was all shook out he asked us who we thought he was. Somebody said Einstein, somebody said Buffalo Bill, somebody said Karl Marx, and I said Brad Pitt. That will give you an idea of what he looked like. But it turned out he was talking about Grizzly Adams. Who the F#$@ is Grizzly Adams anyways?! He told us a bunch of personal bear stories which were hilarious (half laughing with him and half laughing at him). He had a thing for speaking in bear voices. One of his stories was about a bear who smelled a Snickers from over a mile away, and when he got to the tent cabin with the Snickers and started tearing into the cabin, the kid ran and the bear said “SNICKERS!!” in a low growly voice. Another story had two cubs running back and forth on a log and apparently they were saying “Mommy is bringing hot dogs! Mommy is bringing hot dogs!”. Either this guy is Dr. Dolittle or he is a little on the nutso side. But we thoroughly enjoyed him, so I will not complain. Maggie and I have jokes for the next 20 years now thanks to the one and only Danger Rave. After the talk, we played another game of UNO or two and went to bed.
My feelings towards Danger Rave, because I just can’t put them into words yet:
“Mmmbop, ba duba dop
Ba du bop, ba duba dop
Ba du bop, ba duba dop
Ba du
Yeah
Mmmbop, ba duba dop
Ba du bop, Ba du dop
Ba du bop, Ba du dop
Ba du
Yeah” - Hanson
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Creamsicle and the Beardless Woodsman: Day 9
7.2 miles round-trip to Bernese Lake; 2 miles round-trip to Booth Lake
Today was our second day at Vogelsang. We had veggie eggs and sweet potato hashbrowns and pancakes and cream of wheat (cream of wheat with a little bit of butter…mmmmmmmmmm) for breakfast. It was nice because we did not have to use any packs today, which was a huge help to easing the red-hot burning in my loins from all the hiking we’ve done. So of course we hiked uphill than a very steep downhill for a while that we had to go back up on the way back. Why do we do this to ourselves? Because we can. The hike was passed Vogelsang Lake, over Vogelsang Pass, down into the valley and back up again to Bernese Lake. So worth it. The view from the pass was amazing in both directions: one direction was back over Vogelsang Lake and the other was over the whole valley where we could also see Bernece lake and another lake near it. Breathtaking views are the norm now, and I soak in every bit of every one. On the way back up from Bernece we saw Peter, Nancey, John and Michelle at the top of the pass and we sat and relaxed with them for a little while. Any place outside where we can sit and relax with no mosquitoes trying murder us must be taken advantage of, which is what the top of the pass was. So we arrived back at camp, at lunch and played UNO for a bit, and then headed back out to hike to Booth Lake. It was a very nice lake with great granite cliffs on the backside, but the mosquitoes were just too bad for us to stay there. When we got back, I tended to my burnt schnoz and we ate dinner and played more UNO until bed. By the way, UNO is the game of champions.
“Look for the bare necessities
The simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife
I mean the bare necessities
Old Mother Nature's recipes
That brings the bare necessities of life” - Baloo
Today was our second day at Vogelsang. We had veggie eggs and sweet potato hashbrowns and pancakes and cream of wheat (cream of wheat with a little bit of butter…mmmmmmmmmm) for breakfast. It was nice because we did not have to use any packs today, which was a huge help to easing the red-hot burning in my loins from all the hiking we’ve done. So of course we hiked uphill than a very steep downhill for a while that we had to go back up on the way back. Why do we do this to ourselves? Because we can. The hike was passed Vogelsang Lake, over Vogelsang Pass, down into the valley and back up again to Bernese Lake. So worth it. The view from the pass was amazing in both directions: one direction was back over Vogelsang Lake and the other was over the whole valley where we could also see Bernece lake and another lake near it. Breathtaking views are the norm now, and I soak in every bit of every one. On the way back up from Bernece we saw Peter, Nancey, John and Michelle at the top of the pass and we sat and relaxed with them for a little while. Any place outside where we can sit and relax with no mosquitoes trying murder us must be taken advantage of, which is what the top of the pass was. So we arrived back at camp, at lunch and played UNO for a bit, and then headed back out to hike to Booth Lake. It was a very nice lake with great granite cliffs on the backside, but the mosquitoes were just too bad for us to stay there. When we got back, I tended to my burnt schnoz and we ate dinner and played more UNO until bed. By the way, UNO is the game of champions.
“Look for the bare necessities
The simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife
I mean the bare necessities
Old Mother Nature's recipes
That brings the bare necessities of life” - Baloo
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