ARRGHGHGHGHGHHHH!!!!

MY CHECK ENGINE LIGHT IS ON AGAIN!!!!

No. Wait. It's OFF...

Oh - wait a minute - MY CHECK ENGINE LIGHT IS ON AGAIN!!!!

ARRGAHAGAHGAHAHGAHGHAHGAHGAHGAHGAHGAH

Carry on.

In Between...

Bookends of peaceful mystery
Offer strong and silent support
As twilight greets the stars into
The space between darkness and dawn

Site of DEATH CLUTCH failure... Photo courtesy of Paul Gibson. 

Ahhh, Snow Beach. Photo courtesy of Paul Gibson. 

My Not So Perfect Contribution to Camping...

So yeah - Back to the perfect camping trip... (See the posts below for the beginning of the story.)

We rolled back into camp sometime that afternoon (with my newly developing sun burn) and promptly set up residence on the conveniently located snow beach. It was so warm and sunny out that the snowfield next to our campsite basically looked like a white-sand beach. We threw out a tarp, put our Thermarests on top and voila! - A day at the beach! Add in the trusty iPod and some much needed SPF 30 and another perfect campsite memory was created. (However, since I’d already gotten a head start on my burn, there really wasn’t much stopping it…Sucky... ) I'd have to say that it felt pretty crazy to be lying on a 'beach' on Memorial Day weekend in the mountains, but that's exactly what we did.

We hung out for a while, listened to some tunes, checked out some more faces on the mountains - basically nothing terribly involved... It was a fine way to spend the day. Paul also used some of his quality beach time to attempt a bit of snow angel action. It was a pretty bold move - he actually lay down in the snow, sans shirt and gave it a go. He handed me his camera, so I snapped a few pictures to commemorate the event. However - OH NO - I just wasn't getting the shot I wanted! Damn! I mean, it was important that the moment be properly represented, so I really wanted to do the extra work to get that 'perfect' shot. Okay, so maybe it took a few minutes to accomplish and this meant that Paul was lying the snow the whole time, but it was all for the art! Seriously… For the art… I mean, it’s not like I did it on purpose or anything… >;-)

Alrighty – let’s move onto the inevitable. The part where I ‘fess up to being a LOSER campsite chef…

So, that night it was my turn to make dinner. Don’t get me wrong – I was prepared. I had everything I needed… I had the smoked salmon, the sun-dried tomatoes, the pesto sauce, the oil… And the pasta. (“I curse you, oh gods of Pasta!” she screams, fist raised towards the heavens.)

Enter: The MSR stove.

Paul hooked me up with some stove action and we got the water going for the pasta. Everything was going allll hunky-dory as I started to get the ingredients together for the sauce. I marinated the tomatoes in a little oil… I reveled in the fact that I was sitting in Pimp Master D’s swank chair… I threw caution to the wind and watched the water come to a boil in the pot. (Thereby dispelling the age-old myth…) I was doing FINE. And then I added the pasta to the boiling water… It was at this time that I officially started to mess with the perfection of our adventure.

I was sitting there, occasionally stirring the pasta so that it didn't clump together. What I wasn’t doing, however, was using the detachable pot handle to hold onto the pot while stirring it. Sigh… And since the stove wasn’t on completely level ground, it would have been a good idea to USE said pot handle… ANYhoo – the next thing I know, the pot goes sliding off the burner and deposits spaghetti and boiling water straight into the dirt. YES! And all the party people said, “WOO WOOO!!”

After Pauly D graciously helped to clean up my mess, I continued to cook the pasta that was left in the pot. (With a little less dignity, I might add…) I secured the pot handle to the side of the pot with a DEATH CLUTCH and moved on with my dinner preparations.

I had brought along my handy camp strainer and was very excited to use it. It’s all compact and cool and breaks down to easily stuff in one’s pack. Yeah, whatever – Paul had his ‘tiny cheese grater’, but I felt like I was definitely representin’ with my collapsible strainer. Hmmm… And it’s interesting that I should use the word, ‘collapsible.’

Anyway – It was time to drain the stupid pasta. I grabbed the strainer, ensured the pot handle DEATH CLUTCH was in place and I stepped off into the brush to drain the pasta… I was ALMOST done draining the pasta when a lovely pocket of pasta and REALLY hot water came unexpectedly careening out of the side of the pot, directly onto my DEATH CLUTCH hand. Suffice it to say the DEATH CLUTCH idea was quickly abandoned as hot water and pasta drained down my arm. And because my DEATH CLUTCH idea had been thrown out, with it went the pasta… Straight into the dirt… Almost all of it… (Insert pasta curse *here*)

Luckily, since I had stepped a bit away from the campsite to drain the pasta, Paul didn’t see the debacle take place. This was good as it also meant that he didn’t see my little pasta temper tantrum after the fact. Yeah, not only had I spilled the pasta, which was our very necessary dinner, but I had spilled it TWICE. And I really didn’t want to have to explain what I had done, but there was pretty much no way around it… So, back to the campsite I skulked… Nearly empty pasta pot in hand… DEATH CLUTCH abandoned…

“Uhhh, I spilled the pasta… Again…”

To Paul’s credit, he didn’t pour the remaining pasta over my head. (But then, I guess that’s maybe because he was hungry and wanted to EAT the rest of the pasta…. EAT pasta?!?! That’s crazy talk! Pasta is meant to be tossed on the GROUND and served with dirt sauce. Yum!) Instead, he very generously helped me get the sauce going, helped me cook the rest of the pasta and even let me stay sitting in his chair. Oh yeah… And when it came time to drain the next batch of pasta, he GRACIOUSLY helped with that task as well. I think I’ve permanently been removed from pasta duty…

The sauce, however, actually turned out quite well. I had a couple packages of smoked salmon that I combined with a pesto mix, olive oil, water, parmesan cheese and sun-dried tomatoes. It turned into a kind of hearty, meat-sauce mixture. Pretty tasty, in my opinion… With the rest of the pasta cooked, we finished dinner and I tried to put the pasta spilling incident behind me. Ahhhh… Movin’ on towards sunset…

After dinner was cleaned up, we decided to take an evening stroll through the snowfields and enjoy the sunset. I must say, there is nothing like the pinkish-purple of a mountain sunset. The color of it never ceases to amaze me. Especially when the day has been hot and sunny and you’re surrounded by snow – Just a bit other-worldly…

We traipsed through the snow for a bit, careful of the areas where water seemed to be running underneath and enjoyed the most amazingly fresh air. I love the way the air feels at that time of the year, when you’re in a snowy area. It’s not really cold, but because you’re still surrounded by snow and the sun is going down, it’s like you’re constantly taking in a breath mint or something. I don’t know how to better explain it… It’s just very clean and pure…

As usual, Paul took some great shots of the surroundings. We hiked around a bit more, checked out a grouse that was hanging out in a wooded area… Again, nothing terribly involved… But perfect. On our way back towards the campsite, we came across a couple of hikers and their dog. They were looking for a campsite in the area and were kind of making their way up towards our site. I totally appreciated the fact it was getting late and they needed to find a site, but I’ll totally admit that I was bummed that they might be encroaching upon our perfect site. Plus, I wanted to bust out with Club Perfect again and I couldn’t imagine that our neighbors would be as excited about the idea. Oh well – it’s all good – share the wealth, I guess. They ended up camping fairly close, but they were cool and all was well. And they didn’t make mention of any late-night clubbing, so I guess that we didn't bump the bass that loudly... >:-)

Speaking of late-night clubbing… I had brought along a flask of Maker’s Mark on the trip. In addition, I had put more Makers’ Mark into a boda bag that I brought. FOR THE RECORD, I had never put anything weird in the boda bag. EVER. Nor had I ever cleaned it out with soap… That being said, it is at this time that I would like to divulge my second, non-perfect camping contribution.

Oh, BUT WAIT! I have to take a break… I’ll write more later… Or, maybe it’s that I just don’t feel like revealing any more of my campsite dorkiness… The world may never know… Be back soon!!

The Good ol' Tri-Cities...

Alrighty... I'm back...

Driving through Eastern Washington is a vastly different experience that that of Western Washington. The air is dry, the sky is big and there are rolling, brown hills as far as the eye can see. (However, during the months of March and April, the hills are actually green. It's a very brief sojourn into color, but beautiful if you happen to catch it... Nothing like a rolling stretch of spring sage... Especially after it's rained...) Anyway - The traffic thins out, minus the never-ending cavalcade of semis and the distance in between towns is stretched. Mix this together with a KIA Rio Cinco and a glowing 'check engine' light and you've got yerself one, fine adventure.

The drive was beautiful from Maryhill to the Tri-Cities. There was hardly anyone on the road and the sun was bright. The light gave the concrete and the brown hills a 'baked' sort of look. It wasn't hot enough to give off the heat ripple effect, but was at a point where I felt like I was driving through a dream sequence in an old western movie. I remember once as a child being on an afternoon drive with my family. We had gone up into the Ringold area on the Columbia River. There are some great bluffs up there and I remember my dad making a comment about imagining Indians lined up on their horses and sitting atop the ridge. For some reason, it stuck with me and that's what I was imagining as I was driving through this particular part of the drive ... That and the wild horses that used to live in the area when I was growing up... I miss them.

I finally arrived in the Tri-Cities later in the afternoon. My car was still alive and I was VERY happy to roll up into the driveway at my parent's house. It's always a bit odd coming into town and driving through the streets to my old home. Things don't really change that quickly in the Tri-Cities, but there's always a little bit of something new and it kind of throws me for a loop... ANYhoo... I unloaded my car and hung out with my mom for a bit before my brother's show... My dad was still busy taking in some music at the Bluegrass festival he was attending, so it was just me and my mom.

That night, we took off for good ol' Richland to see Josh play in his band, 'Retread.' They had a big stage set up in the parking lot of the Uptown Plaza. (An old-school type of shopping parkade in uptown Richland...Groovy 50's vibe in places... ) There were two bands performing that night and we were prepared to do whatever it took to bring Retread to victory. (Which included me dancing like an idiot...) I have to admit that it was odd to go check out a band in the parking lot of the Uptown Plaza, but whatever - it all worked out. They had a beer 'garden' and we ordered some food and hung out. *Note: Ummm, the 'garden' was a little sad. The only thing growing in this particular garden was Coors Light... ACK! They also had a small selection of mixed drinks to offer. Suffice it to say, I stuck with whiskey... Whiskey that contributed to me dancing like an idiot later in the evening...

My brother's band was great! They played a mix of 70's and 80's classic rock tunes and the crowd really liked them. It was nice to see Josh play - hadn't heard him in a while and he sounded great. When he lived in the Seattle area a while back, we played around with a rockabilly group with my friend, Chris. 'Naughty Dottie and the Hotties'... Ahhh, the good ol' days... Anyway - I miss jamming with him and it was great to hear him again.

It always makes me proud to see my family performing. Or doing whatever, for that matter... My other brother, Ryan is a great bass player. He hasn't been playing lately, but he's really good - wish he'd play more often. My dad is also a great bass player (even though he uses his THUMB) and is currently playing in a country/bluegrassy sorta band. My mom wouldn't claim to be a musician, but she has a great voice - Even though she'd probably never let you hear it. But I've heard her sing and she can definitely carry a tune... However, her forte seems to be keeping all of our artistic flights of fancy in the black. We should probably start giving her 20%. I think she could give any big-time manager a run for their money...

Anyway - the band was really fun and we all had a great time dancing and screaming like fools. A lot of my extended family was there, so not only was I dancing like an idiot, but I was dancing like an idiot in front of family and friends that I hadn't seen in a while. Way to represent! WOO!! The only saving grace, however, is that we'd all pretty much had a few drinks by that time. Because of this, maybe they didn't notice my dorky dance display as much... (Author's Note: Just noticed that it's 11:11...) Well, that's what I'm going to choose to believe, anyway...

I will have to say, however, that the other band wasn't quite as good. They weren't bad per se, but something about the presentation was just lacking... Kind of just stood there on the stage... They also did some disturbing cover versions of various tunes... I remember a particularly odd version of the Bob Marley tune, 'Redemption Song.' They did it in an early, Beatlesque sort of bubblegummy vibe... Not likin' it... Nor did my mom who looked at me and said, "They're not a Bob Marley band..." That made me laugh...

At the end of it all, OF COURSE my brother's band won - DUH! :) We were all very proud and they went home as conquering rockstars. I don't think they trashed any hotel rooms, but the night was indeed a success. They will compete again within the next couple of weeks to hopefully advance further in the competition. I have faith that they will again be victorious. Hey, and they've even got merch! Josh actually designed some pretty cool t-shirts for the band and he gave me a couple to take home with me.

The next day, I met up with Josh, his family and my parents for breakfast. I hadn't gotten to see my nieces the night before and I was very excited to hang out with them for a bit. I don't get to see them very often and I absolutely ADORE them. Yeah, I'm a proud and dorky aunt - what's the problem?! Josh has two girls, Ezabelle and Emily and my brother Ryan has a little boy named Elijah. Suffice it to say that we've got the E's covered. My nieces and nephew are awesome and I love hanging out with them. They are all pretty much comedians and are going to contribute nicely to the Smith family comedy tradition. Well, what we like to think is comedy, anyway. We're amused by ourselves, so that's all that counts... :)P We have a great time making each other laugh and this weekend was no exception. In addition, I am the oldest in my family, so I feel like I should be given carte blanche with encouraging mayhem amongst my nieces and nephew. More candy? You bet! Wanna stay up late? I say, YES! Heh heh heh... It is my job to be the cool Aunt. It would be wise to not get in my way. I'm just sayin'...

After exhausting myself playing in the backyard with Belle and Emily, it was time to head for home. I made my goodbyes and off I headed, back to the land of rainy greenness... (That's a word, you know - "greenness.") I normally take the quicker route home, via Vantage, but since my 'check engine' light was still on, I opted for the road more traveled. It actually ended up being kind of nice going back that way. All the hop fields were in bloom and everything was sunny and nice... Washington truly is a beautiful state... And Eastern Washington is even MORE beautiful when you don't have to live there. Heh heh... Sorry, Eastern WA - You know I love ya...

It was all comfy-cozy until I got just past Ellensburg. (Where I OF COURSE stopped for a few moments... Because when traveling over the Pass, you HAVE to stop in Ellensburg. You have no choice. I think they've secretly rigged up some sort of giant magnet that just pulls you into town. And it doesn't matter if you have to pee OR NOT - You WILL stop in Ellensburg. Need gas? Who cares!? It doesn't matter - ALL ROADS LEAD TO ELLENSBURG. Ask anyway who regularly travels back and forth between Eastern and Western Washington. It's a fact that you can't debate. I'm sure there's some sort of complicated math involved...) When I got closer towards the Pass, the most ANNOYING collection of drivers seemed to just come out of nowhere. All of the sudden, traffic got really tight and people just started making really stupid and impatient decisions. It was this way for the rest of the drive home. ARGH. Oh well - I made it home alright and in SPITE of the freakin' engine light. Take THAT, KIA!!!

That night, as I actually left Eastern WA when I SAID I was going to leave, I got home before it was dark. I usually get home from any particular trip fairly late at night. This fact always makes for a painful morning if I have to be at work the next day. Because I got home at a decent hour, I was actually able to hang out, get some laundry done, watch some aimless TV, write some aimless journal stuff and just plain hang out. Ahhhh.... I sat and pondered the fact that I'd taken quite an extensive tour of Washington and Oregon over the last 48 hours. I reminisced over my escape from Portland… I daydreamed about having a new car that actually ACTED like a new car... I contemplated marching upstairs and investigating just what in the HELL my neighbors were stomping around doing... I basically just sat on my ass and fell asleep in the chair. It was a fine way to end the weekend.

So there.

p.s. The stupid 'check engine' light mysteriously went off a few days later... FAAAbulous! I can't wait until it goes on again! The amber glow of the engine light always makes for great company while I'm on the road...

Next up: I finish the camping story! (Insert crowd noise and fanfare *here*)

Escape From Portland

A very entertaining weekend, it was...

So, I had a gig in Portland on Friday night with Carrie and the boys. We played at a place called 'Imbibe.' Pretty cool place - good atmosphere and pretty decent food and drink. We had a great crowd and the show went fairly well. Groovy...

We stayed downtown that night and had a great time hanging out. (Courtesy of our quick stop at 7-11 for beer on the way to the hotel...) ANYhoo… Had a great time hangin’ out with Carrie, Damon, Larry and Greg.

As per the usual, I stayed up WAY too late and woke up later than I’d planned the next morning. Not TOO late, however, and I got ready pretty quickly. Well, for ME anyway…

One thing we hadn’t factored in regarding our Portland exit strategy was the addition of a big-ass parade through ALL of downtown Portland that morning. Yay. We were told by one source that we wouldn’t be able to get out of the parking garage until 2ish, but the hotel concierge told us otherwise. She said to go the wrong way down a one-way street and then turn into the special bus lane to get out of downtown… Fabulous plan – let’s try it!

So, I attempt to exit the hotel garage. After receiving a lecture from the parking attendant and the warning that I was either going to get a ticket or get arrested for what I was about to attempt, he begrudgingly moved the cones blocking the garage entrance. I turn the wrong way onto the one way street – kick ass!! Step one – outta the way! I turn into the bus lane next… It is at this time I notice that there are NO other cars on the streets – only a couple of buses. The concierge made it sound like OTHER PEOPLE would be doing this as well... Anyway - What I DO see, however, are MANY police officers. They’re on foot, in cars, on bikes, flying through the air on trapeze’… CRAP! It was at this precise moment that I whipped out my secret weapon – the ‘I have Washington State Plates’ card. I blended that with a sprinkling of ‘dumb blonde’ and hoped for the best. (Author’s Note: While although I do indeed have blonde hair, I do not normally support or endorse the propagation of the ‘dumb blonde’ shtick. HOWEVER – I ain’t goin’ to jail… In OREGON…)

With that said and done – away I went. As I drove down the deserted bus lane, numerous law enforcement officers were giving me the stink eye. I continued on with my confused/scared look and kept on driving down the road. I finally got through the center of town and was able to back-alley it through to MIRACULOUSLY the correct area! For the record, downtown Portland confuses me. To think that I drove the wrong way on a one way, down a bus only lane and under the evil eye of the Law and STILL made it where I was supposed to go – RIGHT ON! Oh, but then I got nailed by another unexpected detour on the other side of the bridge and had another traffic adventure… However, no police were involved this time and I STILL got where I needed to go… Yeah – Back to Washington State I headed!

Later that morning…

That evening, my little brother Josh was participating in a ‘battle of the bands.’ In fact, it was actually a ‘Smith Family Musical Weekend.’ My dad had a gig on Friday night as well! My brother, Ryan is a musician too, but he’s currently sailing towards the Panama Canal, so I doubt he was gigging that night… ANYways… The show was in the Tri-Cities, so I set off to drive from Portland to Eastern Washington. As I had already driven 5 ½ hours the day before to get to Portland (it should only take 3 hrs – traffic SUCKED) I wasn’t exactly excited to be in the car again. However, as it was for my little brother, all was well. Plus, I decided to take the Washington side rather than the Oregon side and it rocked! I took WA-14 and I highly recommend it! I hadn’t been that way in years and I’m so glad that I went! Beautiful mountains, meadows, rivers, quaint little towns, etc. The Oregon side is nice as well, but it’s a little more mainstream – with ‘lots of semis…

On the way, I decided to stop at Maryhill Museum and check things out. I hadn’t been there since I was a kid and I remember really enjoying it. Yes, for the record, I am a museum freak. There, now you know. Anyway, I arrived at Maryhill and hung out for a bit. Since I was running late due to my escape from Portland, I decided not to actually visit the museum proper. I checked out the grounds for a while, walked around a bit, etc. There was a cool family of peacocks that live on the grounds and that was nice. I’ll have to go back at a later date and visit the museum again. The Museum itself was commissioned by Sam Hill in the early 1900’s. He was a wealthy newspaper man in the area – interesting character and a very interesting mansion to be located where it is. I think he originally had it built for his love interest who never ended up joining him in the States… Don’t quote me, but I think that’s the deal… Hey – get off my back! I’ll fact check it and get back to you…

There are also AMAZING views of the Columbia River and Gorge. That area is sooo beautiful. However, if you can’t handle the wind – DON’T GO. DAMN! The Gorge has GOT to give Chicago a run for its wind money… One of these days I’d actually like to go wind-surfing… I’ve been thinking about this for YEARS now…

Anyways, I decide that I’ve had enough of the wind and away I go… But NOT before I notice that my lame-ass ‘check engine’ light is on AGAIN in my car. I’m serious – DO NOT buy a KIA Rio Cinco. For the love of Jimmy – don’t do it!! I am on my THIRD fuel pump in less than 10,000 miles and there have been a slew of other misc. items that I’ve had to deal with… It’s probably not cool, but at this point in time, I’m starting to ignore the light when it goes on… In addition to alerting me to some dumb-ass problem with the engine, it also goes off if I haven’t spent AT LEAST five minutes screwing on the gas cap… ARGH!

So now I’m driving down the road, in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, ignoring my ‘check engine’ light and realizing the fact that my AAA coverage has JUST expired… Good times…

Alrighty – CLIFF HANGER! Gotta go! I know you’re dying – and I haven’t even finished the camping story yet!!! What are you gonna do?!?!? Suck it up, cowboy! (or cowgirl :)

Ciao!

I love this movie. Chad sent this to me earlier today...  

Davel - The Update

Dave is insistant that he was *not* lecturing me. He was merely "riffing." FYI.

Carry on.

Davel, Davel, Davel...

So, you've already been introduced to my fabulous friend, fellow musician and office mate, Dave Car-tere'... I'm just sitting here, INNOCENTLY working when Dave's fancy, new phone makes a bit of noise. Dave and I have similar phones and this particular noise REALLY annoys the crap out of me. (It goes off at the most inappropriate times and there's nothing you can do to stop it! It's this 'courtesy' sound on the phone... ANYway...)

So, I impart this information to Dave, thinking he will be gracious enough to STOP with the madness. Umm, no - that's not what happened. First, he gives me a lecture about not being 'bitter' and 'hateful' and then proceeds to continually make the noise on the phone - ARGH! We then have a conversation about the fact that I'm 'old school bitter' and that it goes much deeper than simply requesting I not be bitter and that he should REALLY stop with the racket...

He then asks me what I'm working on... (On a good day, I'd admit that Dave is basically my boss... We seem to trade off on this title from job to job... ) I tell him what I'm doing and he comments that "I've been working on it a mighty long time..."

"Yeah - so what's your point, Davel?! What are YOU working on?"

"I'm working on pissing you off," he says with an evil grin.

I'm going to give Dave another star on our whiteboard riiiiight now. Because I know it makes him mad... :)

The end.

p.s. Dave just asked me 'what I was smiling about' as I got ready to post this.... "Stop smiling or else I'll GIVE you something to smile about!" he says... Ahhh - there's a lotta love in this room... Or maybe that's just the smell of beans we ate at lunch....

Say hello to my little friend, DAY 2!

After not having slept the night before, I think I could've slept upside down on a rock... However, as I've already explained, we had a pretty stylin' tent setup, so I was living large. I had some pretty crazy dreams that night - very visual. I'm sure they were spawned by the addition of the iPod while I slept... I kept creating little personal videos for myself as I tried to fall asleep... That's actually why I don't usually listen to music as I fall asleep - I get way too into listening to every nuance and then I'm awake again! But whatever - it was great to listen to tunes as I fell asleep under the stars... It doesn't get much better than that. Blah, blah, blah - ANYway...

The next morning was as to be expected: Perfect. It was absolutely beautiful with not a cloud in the sky and it was already starting to get warm. I can't remember the last time that I went camping in Western Washington in MAY when I didn't get cold at night. It was awesome! Anyway - I drifted in and out of sleep once the sun started to rise, but I think I finally rolled outta the bag at 8:30 or so.

As I mentioned, Paul packed up some eggs - woo! Mix that with the leftover fajita veggies, cheese, (Grated with the TINY CHEESE GRATER) green chile and tortillas and KICK ASS - We had a mighty fine breakfast goin'! And don't forget the french press coffee... Okay - I'm gettin' hungry - I need a snack... :) We hung out, Paul on his pimped out chair and me on my FLAT thermarest and enjoyed the morning from there. Listened to some tunes, drank some more coffee, cleaned up from breakfast, visited the hammock... Ahhhh... Good stuff....

Since we were planning on staying another night in the same spot, we didn't have to worry about packing nine million pounds on our backs that day. Therefore, we were free to roam about the area alllll day long, with a cute little pack to get us through. Can I get a "kick ass!"? KICK ASS! We saw a pretty cool peak further up the ridge, so up we headed.

It is at this time that I'd like to discuss the importance of sunscreen. Granted, I remembered to bring sunscreen on the trip, but I FORGOT to put it on before taking off that morning. Now, I have very fair skin and I definitely tend to burn - Most definitely. This, coupled with being completely surrounded by snow all afternoon long, really didn't make for the best of results. Basically, a recipe for sunburn disaster... Oh yeah - and let's not forget the fact I was wearing shorts AND gaiters! I am here to tell you that this particular combination makes for quite a laughable sunburn display. It produced a lovely, bright red swatch of skin on and around my knees, while the rest of my legs were their usual lily white. Soooo very attractive... Yeah, Paul remembered to put on sunscreen... Whatever - he thinks he's sooooo smart! :)P

But enough of my sunburn incident - It get's worse later on anyway...

When we reached the top of the ridge, we were greeted with QUITE an amazing view, indeed. We had the most amazing, unobstructed, 360 degree panoramic view of Mt. Baker, its surrounding peaks and Canada. WOW! And with not a cloud in the sky, we could see forever! There were the most amazing cornices as well. In fact, we're planning on turning the art of cornice walking into the next extreme sports craze. Seriously - Look for CorniceWalkers.com soon! Would I lie to you? While on top of the peak, Paul took a very cool panoramic photo series of the surrounding areas. Perhaps we will feature some of his pics in the upcoming Cornice Walkers 2006 Calendar. We'll be holding auditions for potential cornice walking models coming up in the near future. Do you have what it takes to be a cornice walker? Think about it - let me know!

Okay - so I'm gettin' tired... Time to watch some tv and attempt to pass out before work... More later! Ciao!

Davel Knievel

I'd like to introduce you to my good friend, Dave. Also known as Davel Knievel, Cave Darter, Dave Carter Super Farter, etc. Dave and I have been friends since I think, the dawn of time. We've had many awesome adventures together and have even shared some perfect spots. Dave and I currently share an office together in one of the many jobs that we've shared. I'd like to think that I entertain Davel with my daily hijinks, but I'm sure he just humors me a lot of the time... I'll be sharing some of my good times with Dave in future posts. Carry on!!

Dude, NO WAY! 

Hello, sunburn!

DSCF1584
Originally uploaded by p_d_gibson.

Yeah, I forgot to put the sunscreen on that day... ACK! But it was worth it... Photo courtesy of Paul Gibson

Mt. Baker

DSCF1616
Originally uploaded by p_d_gibson.

Mt. Baker at sunset as viewed from a very perfect spot... Photo courtesy of Paul Gibson

Part Deux - The perfect weekend continues...

So yeah, to continue…

After we set up our camp, it was time for dinner. And in keeping with the ‘perfect’ theme, dinner was no exception… Oh yeah – and I mustn’t forget the BEER. (Side note: When packing beer up the trail, pay close attention to where the beer is located in your pack when taking said pack OFF – and flinging it on the ground… Yeah, we each had two 16oz beer cans that we were packing up the trail, but I unfortunately only ended up with ONE upon arriving in camp… One of them developed a rather large, gaping hole in the side of it on the way up the trail. Sigh…) So anyway, about that dinner…

Paul and I had decided to trade off with making dinner and the first night was up to him. One thing that’s awesome about camping in late Spring is the ample supply of snow. AKA: The Refrigerator. Because of this fact, we were able to keep all of our fresh food items cool in the snowfield located conveniently next to our campsite. And fresh food items, we definitely had. Okay, I thought I was doing good because I brought a couple of oranges along, but Paul pretty much trumped my meager offerings. Not only did he have fresh veggies for the fajitas that he made, but also had eggs, cheese, tofu, etc. Damn! How do you compete with that?!

So, I mentioned the fajitas. Yeah, umm, suffice it to say that they kicked major fajita ASS. I mean, they’d kick major fajita ass if we had them in town, but to have them in our very exclusive, mountain-top restaurant was awesome! We had fresh veggies, cheese, AVOCADO, etc. – All grilled together atop our trusty campsite friend, the MSR stove. (More adventures with the MSR stove to come…) I can’t tell you how good they tasted after our day of hiking adventures. And to sit in the perfect spot, watching the perfect sunset over the perfect mountains, with the perfect iPod DJ mix was PERFECT. Yeah, I think we were pretty pleased with the situation…

After dinner, we tidied up the campsite. Well, okay – Paul pretty much cleaned things up – I was slacking a bit… BUT – in my defense, my night of cooking and clean-up was still to come… (Insert sense of foreboding *here*) ANYway – the campsite got cleaned up – however you wanna slice it… And with everything set-up, cleaned-up, etc. we set upon doing absolutely NOTHING. And yes, it’s everything it’s cracked up to be! To kick back at the perfect campsite, with tunes, the lingering sunset, a little Maker’s Mark and some great company – yeah, that’s just good stuff.

While the sun was carrying out its VERY long descent into darkness, the stars slowly came out to shine. And shine, they did - WOW! After living in the mountains for a time, you get used to seeing an amazing display of stars. There’s no city light to intrude upon the natural glow and the stars just seem to sit on top of each – layer upon layer! However, I haven’t been living in the mountains of late and I’d forgotten a bit about how amazing of a display they are… I must say I was VERY grateful for this re-education. In addition, I have to say this particular display of stars was well, STELLAR. I’d look away from the sky for a few minutes and when I looked back up, it was like a whole new universe of stars had displayed itself. Crazy! We also saw a couple of great meteorites. I was a bit sad, however, as I didn’t get to see the one Paul saw. He said it had a sparkly trail behind it and everything – one of the coolest ones he’s seen! Damn – I missed it! The one that I saw was great, don’t get me wrong, but it didn’t have a sparkly trail behind it. Bah… :)P

I don’t really know how long we hung out that night – time wasn’t really of any importance… Plus, the weather was amazing and even though we were at 5600’, it never seemed to get cold! We watched the stars, tracked some satellites and observed the frightening amount of “faces” displayed on the surrounding peaks. (I’m serious – it was crazy! We kept seeing faces, profiles of faces, etc. displayed in a sort of relief on the surrounding peaks. There were a couple that were particularly amazing! I kid you not – Abe Lincoln lives on the top of one those peaks – I ain’t lyin’!) Okay, I mentioned the beer and Maker’s Mark, but that’s not the point - There were FACES in them thar hills!

Okay, I feel I must also mention at this time, Paul and his pimped out seating arrangement. I mean, the hammock was bad ass enough, but he also had a special Thermarest chair with him. Yes, I was very jealous of that chair and I admit it – I coveted it allll weekend long. Basically, it’s a cover that goes over your Thermarest and converts it into a chair-like setup. Not only are you sitting on a padded surface, but it has a BACK on it! (Which, after hiking all day, is a glorious thing…) Damn Pauly D and his pimped out ride!

So yeah, we’re hanging out, diggin’ the perfect spot - Club Perfect, we decided to call it. It was pretty much a club setting, after all. We had drinks and party favors, we had very groovy lighting, we had an awesome DJ, we had a VIP room – it was pretty much a full-on hot spot! However, we have both agreed that we will be adding a disco ball to our next Club Perfect event. Anyone know where I can pick up a packable disco ball!? Let me know…

Anyhoo – after hours of entertaining ourselves at Club Perfect, it was time to kick the drunks out and head for home. (I.e. Blow out the candles, hang our food in the tree and stumble over to the tent…)

The tent was pretty stylin’, I might add. We brought in the camp candle and hung it from the tent eaves and Paul set up the iPod and speakers at the entrance of the tent. Since it was so warm and there was, at that time, an unusual lack of bugs, we didn’t even have to close the tent flap! It was awesome! From where I was lying, if I looked out of the tent and up a little bit, the Big Dipper was right there! Perfect! When I was little and on road trips with my family, I’d entertain myself by looking out the back window at the stars, with the Big Dipper as my guide. It was pretty nice to look out my tent window and see an old friend… AND Abe Lincoln… (Dude – I'm serious – ABE LINCOLN!)

The first day of this very perfect weekend ended quite perfectly – Watching the stars, listening to tunes and being content in the knowledge that there was NOTHING that we had to do the next day… Right on.

COMING NEXT: Green chili breakfast burritos, French press coffee, Dayna forgets the sunscreen, snow beaches, Dayna drops the spaghetti… TWICE… And more!! Stay tuned!

The Perfect Spot

Greetings!

Alrighty - to all of those nay sayers out there who thought I'd never actually do it - READ MY BLOG! :)P Come on - all the cool kids are doin' it...

Basically, I'd like to use this space to tell you about my crazy adventures and good times along the way. I've got amazing friends and we've seen some amazing places together - I'd like to spend some time sharing a bit of those good times. This is a work in progress and I'll be changing stuff around and updating - please check back often!

So, on that note...

This last weekend, I camped out in the 'perfect' spot with my partner in perfect camping crime, Pauly D. We had a PERFECT time! The weather was amazing - not a cloud in the sky the entire time we were there. Wow. Unbelievable...

We hiked/climbed/bushwhacked our way up to around 5600 ft. onto a ridge just above Gold Bar Pass in the Mt. Baker National Forest. Our original plan was to camp out at Tomyhoi Lake, but the trail was inaccessible due to snow, etc. We were a bit bummed after hiking all day and realizing this fact, but never fear - Pauly D was there! Stupidly, I hadn't slept the night before we left, so I totally admit to being wussed out by the time we made it to Gold Bar Pass. As Paul was a bit smarter than I and had actually SLEPT the night before and is probably generally in better shape, he took the initiative and climbed further up the ridge to see if he could find somewhere for us to camp. A little while later he returned, claiming to have found the 'perfect' spot.

Now, not that I didn't trust Pauly D, but I will again totally admit to being wussed out at that point. I wasn't terribly fond of the idea of any further bushwhacking, (with a 50lb pack on my back...) but I also wasn't terribly into the idea of camping where we had initially arrived on the ridge. SO - further up the ridge we went.

At this point in the season there's still a lot of snow, but the Spring melt is in full swing, so the ground, etc. is very slippery and dodgy in places. Suffice it to say, I stepped in many holes on the way up the trail. (Note: Gaiters are a GOOD thing...) Basically, what I'm saying is there was a bit of blood involved on the last part of the trail. Bushwhacking through snow and brush with no gaiters or sleep is pretty much a recipe for disaster. Well, some groovy cuts and scratches, at least... ANYway - it wasn't my most glorious show of hiking prowess.

Regardless, we eventually made it up the ridge and much to my surprise, it opened up into the most beautiful and perfect, snowfield-covered area. I was expecting to end up in a smaller spot on the side of the ridge, but was amazed at how everything totally opened up. We ended up smack in the middle of pristine snowfields, but Paul was able to find the perfect piece of snow-free, FLAT ground for us to set up camp. It was perfect! (Have I mentioned the area was perfect?) It was flanked on one side by trees and on the other by a lovely swatch of brush. We set up our tent next to a little family of trees and were good to go!

In addition to the natural perfection of our spot, Paul brought along a few other items to add to the scene.... He brought his well-stocked iPod, complete with mini-speakers purchased on the way as well as a hammock! I really can't describe just how awesome it was to hang out in a hammock that's been suspended VERY close to the edge of a death-inducing drop off. Wow.

Alrighty - More to come! Have to get back to work... :)