In Memory of Nancy

Just received some bad news… There’s been a loss in my extended family and I just wanted to send out some good vibes and share a few sentiments.

Larry’s Mom, Nancy Bichler passed away on Friday. She was a good person with a good heart – she will be missed by her friends and family. She had been in a bad state for quite some time and it has been painful for both her and her family. And while although this is a sad time, hopefully she has found her peace...

She was always a very kind person and I can honestly say that I never heard her utter a cruel word. She cared very much about her family and friends and was always concerned about everyone’s well-being. She loved her husband, Lawrence Sr. and her sons Richard and Larry very much. And while although she was often in poor health over the last several years, she remained ultimately concerned about all of their well-being.

Please take a few moments to send out a bit of love to Larry and his family. I know that they will appreciate your good vibes.

Take Care All–

Dayna

Yeah, whatever...

Blah, blah, blah… Chat, chat, shat… There’s a lot of useless babbling and pontificating going on these days. Lovely… Sometimes it’s a good thing to just spit out exactly what the fuck it is you really mean… But then, sometimes it’s just plain hard to gain the freakin’ wherewithal to do so…

It’s funny. As a performer, I can stand up in front of a large crowd of people and not bat an eye. I can joke and laugh and play a tune and try and entertain the masses. Key word: Try. (Bahahahaaaa – that makes it sound like I’m a clown – funny on the outside, but sad and serious within. Hey - That could be, like a kick ass philosophical candy bar! I’ll call it, ‘Single Tear.’ SHIP IT!) But stand me up in front of a single person or situation that I need to address and stage fright doesn’t even BEGIN to cover it.

ANYhoo - Whatever the case, it’s all just really hard. So there. And with that, I feel that I have contributed quite finely to the useless babble of which I so despise. Carry the fuck on… Ahhh, glass half empty – nothin’ like it.

Okaaaaaay, so I think it’s always a good idea to start out a post with the most positive of statements. WOO! And now that I’ve gotten THAT out of the way…

SO… Since this is supposed to be about my perfect spots, I guess I shouldn’t disappoint. And while although I am feeling wildly cynical at this point in time, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt the grande scheme of my mood if I let loose a little merriment… Hell – I’ve got PLENTY of cynicism to spare. I won’t let a little merriment stand in my way! HELL no!

ANYway - There’s one thing that I can always rely on – music. Period. And last night, I saw an awesome display of the art form. I went to the sold out Damian Marley concert at the Showbox and it completely kicked ass. The musicianship was fantastic and the energy that went into its presentation was outstanding. It was so full of expression and spontaneity, but at the same time, completely orchestrated and well executed.

It’s just so great to see a show put on by artists who have both a great respect for their art form as WELL as the people who enjoy their art. They’ve obviously put SO much time into honing their artistic skills, but they care enough about the enjoyment factor that they never let it get too lofty and self-evolved. Sure – it’s OBVIOUS that they personally love what they’re doing and by no means is the music simple and uninvolved, but they seem to have found a happy medium between feeling the music themselves and still allowing the audience to be a part of the experience. Bottom line – It was an awesome show and I’m so glad that I got a chance to see it.

So yeah – there ya go. A non-cynical, art loving statement for the day. Do with it what you will. But don’t let me catch you thinking that I’ve gone all soft or something… That would be an utter TRAGEDY. Don't be silly... I'm still the queen of useless, sarcastic babbling and I don't plan on relenquishing my throne anytime soon.

I hope ya’ll are having a fan-freakin-tastic evening. (Really and TRULY, I do...Suckas....) I’m off to further map out my brother’s garlic mashed potato recipe that he gave me earlier tonight… We’ll just see if I can duplicate its beauty and perfection… Maybe I’ll enjoy a tasty ‘Single Tear’ bar in the meantime… Mmmm.... Sounds good.

Carry on. (My wayward son…)

-- TRJ ™ © ®

Plight of the Cheeseball

I was sitting around today, lamenting the fact that I haven’t had any ‘adventures’ of late. That I didn’t have any ‘Perfect Spots’ to write about… Sure, there are a lot of past adventures and perfect spots I have yet to write about, but I wanted to slap down somethin’ new… Something to keep me going… Something to break up life's daily smack-talk...

Then, earlier today, I was walking down the hall of my office building to leave for some errands. On the way out of the office, I looked out of the window and saw the most amazing view of Mt. Rainier. I could only see the top part of it, but it was all covered with fresh snow and it looked amazing against the backdrop of clouds and sun. That mountain is truly one of my VERY favorite spots in the entire world. And no matter where I am when I see it or how far away I am – it always makes me feel better.

It kind of dawned on me at that point, amidst all of the ‘Ohh, whoa is me’ crap – There are perfect spots everywhere you look. And, at the risk of being labeled a complete cheeseball, I decided to take stock of all of the perfect spots that had already occurred these past few days…

- I talked to my Mom this morning. She’s definitely one of my perfect spots…
- I got a mind-altering massage today. One of the few perks of my recent car accident…
- I saw a KICK ASS concert this weekend – Anthony B… The bassist was awesome… As was the rest of the band… And Anthony B – duh. Crazy energy!!
- Learned some amusing stuff about BB guns… (Because nothing says comedy like GUNS!)
- Enjoyed some very tasty smoked salmon benedict...
- Drank a lot of great beer with my friends at the Pub Crawl on Friday night… Then went BOWLING! Always entertaining…
- Dave made me cry… But then made me laugh… (All in good ways…)
- I had a great time hanging out with Sue and Carrie last night… Had a great time putting together Christmas music…
- Witnessed a beautiful sunset last night from my office…
- Saw a spectacular display of the Moon and Mars…
- Hung out and watched movies with Leslie and laughed... A LOT...
- I get to listen to music all day as a legitimate part of my job…

Okay – those are some good things – some perfect spots… Maybe they’re not a full-on adventure, but they’re all great and they definitely add up… Yeah, yeah – I’m a cheeseball – so what? It’s MY freakin’ blog and I can spread cheese alllll over it if I want. And maybe I’ll use the Tiny Cheese Grater ™ to do it! HA! :)P

The Schweet Spot Climax!

Greetings!

And now, to wrap up our adventures with the Schweet Spot…

So, it was all well and good that I didn’t have to sleep on a slant that night. However, that really didn’t factor much into the long-term relationship I’ve got going with Insomnia. Yeah, we’re really tight… Got a lot of history together… I’ve tried to leave a bunch of times before, but I just keep getting pulled back into our dysfunctional little relationship. WOO!

ANYhoo – I couldn’t go to sleep. I wrestled with it for a while, but the sleep thang just wasn’t happenin.’ (Even though I supposedly snored a bit that night… >:-) Oops! But anyway, sometime in the early morning, I decided to get up and move my slumber party out to the hammock.

For the record, kickin’ back in a hammock and watching the sun rise through the trees and over the lake RULES. Yeah, I highly recommend it. The only caveat, however, was that because it was so beautiful, I couldn’t go to sleep! HA! Oh well, it was worth losing a few hours of sleep to see that sunrise.

I also took a bit of time to go down to the lake and watch the sunrise from the shore. Wow. That was truly beautiful. The skies were completely clear and the sun was starting to rise, but it was still pretty cold. The sand was basically frozen on the beach and there was ice extending out a couple of feet into the water. Since the water was warmer than the air, there was steam coming off the lake. Between the purpley-pink hues of the sky and the dark, grey-blue of the water, it was pretty amazing to see. It makes packing in a big-ass pack and sleeping on a slant for a few hours allllll worthwhile.

After I checked out the lake and spent some more time in the hammock, Pauly got up and joined me outside. We made some coffee and contemplated what we were going to do with the day. We were taking off that afternoon, so packing everything up was unfortunately looming in the distance. Sigh…

After we kicked back for a while, we decided to eat a little breakfast. Since we STILL had some dinner leftover after my little spill debacle, we decided to heat things up and enjoy the morning. I gotta say, it was good the night before and it was just as good warmed up the morning after. I’d definitely make that again… However, if there are ANY leftovers, I’m not touching them. In fact, I think I should pretty much be put on restriction from ever moving or making ANY sort of contact with open food containers. Hey – you gotta know your limitations…

After we got breakfast cleaned up, we decided to play a little more Frisbee. Since it was a beautiful Sunday morning in a fairly popular hiking area, there were a few more people in the area than the day before. While I was again amazing Paul with my Frisbee prowess, quite a few hikers were traipsing around the area. Ohh, it’s all well and good – I’m totally down with people checking out the trails and respecting the outdoors, but *not* while I’m floundering at Frisbee. It’s cool that people are out and about, but since it was so quiet and secluded the day before, it was just a bit of a bummer to see so many people. But it coulda been muuuch worse, so I guess I shouldn’t complain. Okay – maybe I just don’t want a bunch of people seeing my sucky Frisbee skillz…

Since we had gone down by the beach to play Frisbee, we decided to hang out for a while after I’d exhausted all of my mad Frisbee moves. While we were sitting on the beach, we noticed that there were an awful lot of hoof prints in the sand. Like a herd of elk had been hangin’ out by the shore… Yeah, and they were probably bugling… And then we noticed that there was a rather large and assorted display of elk droppings in the water around the shore. Hmmm…

It was at this moment that something dawned on us. We were basically sitting in an elk toilet! WOO! We were totally sitting right, smack dab in the middle of a giant, elk crap fest!! But come on – how were we supposed to know? I mean, it’s not like there were any elk magazines strewn about or any elk air fresheners lying around… All we saw was a lovely, sandy beach! Yeah, I bet the damn Duck Posse LOVES that gag… Little bastards… (Don’t tell them I said that.)

After relocating ourselves out of the elk crapper, we found a nice spot just a little bit further over on the beach. While we were hangin’ out, just minding our own business, these two dogs just came running out of nowhere! They were hilarious! There was one dog, a golden retriever that would run up to us, check us out for a couple of seconds and then race into the water. Then, he’d flop down into the muddy water (make that, crappy water…) and just sit there, staring at us. Then, he’d jump up and run off like he had somewhere REALLY important to be. He did that a few more times before his owner finally came onto the scene. It was at that time that he was tasked with finding some sort of stick he’d accidentally buried too deep in the mud. It was a total doggy comedy of errors…

When we grew tired of our lakeside view, (our lives are rough) we decided to go revisit the tiny lake. Since we had seen some cool boulders over by the lake the day before and because I had actually REMEMBERED my climbing shoes, I decided to bring them along. We also put together some goods for lunch and decided to go have a nice picnic on this cool boulder that we’d seen. A little over halfway over to the lake, I realized that one of my climbing shoes was missing from the outside of my pack. (Where I thought I’d securely tied them on…) Sigh… What a DORK! Crap.

Okay, so one of my shoes was now missing. Yes, I’d remembered to actually bring them this time and there were some actual cool rocks to explore, but now I’d LOST one of them! ARGH! Yeah, so around we turned to go back and find my stupid shoe. I felt dumb that I’d actually lost my shoe and was totally cool with heading out on my own, personal search party, but Pauly was nice enough to offer his assistance. When we’d basically almost returned back to the other lake, we finally saw the shoe… Yeah, I held them in my HANDS as we turned back around towards the tiny lake. What a loser… Literally.

When we got to the tiny lake, we located the cool boulder and set up shop for a lovely, afternoon picnic. The water in the tiny lake was SO clear! It was this beautiful shade of greenish blue and you could tell that it was actually a lot deeper than it looked. It would’ve been a great lake in which to go swimming… NEXT year! Also, the brush and shrubbery around the lake was absolutely gorgeous. All shades of orange, yellow and red – beautiful! Paul got some great pictures of the area and was even lucky enough to get shots of some grouse. Cool…

As it was actually starting to get kind of late, we decided to head back to camp and pack things up. I had wanted to check out the boulders, but there wasn’t really a good approach on the one that we’d been hanging out on and it was generally getting late… I almost lost my shoe for nothing! HA! Oh well, one of these days I’ll actually do some climbing while we’re camping. Oh wait, that is if I don’t get into another car accident in the freakin’ meantime. WOO!

Back at camp, we got everything packed up and sadly decided to head for home. It was a beautiful day, however, so even though we were leaving, it was still great to be out on the trail. Even if we DID have heavy-ass packs on… Hey, but I guess they were a lot lighter without all the food and water… Always a bonus about packing out of a site.

The hike back to the trailhead was very nice. The view into the valleys was awesome as we got to the top of the ridge. I just love that part of the state… I’ll never get tired of it.

When we got back to the truck, there were a coupla beers still waiting for us. However, as we wanted to check out the sunset, we decided to leave the area and try and find a spot further down the road from which to view the show. As we chased the sun, we just weren’t finding that perfect viewpoint. Crap! And because we weren’t finding the perfect viewpoint, it meant that we weren’t enjoying our traditional, post-hike beer! Not good! What to do?!

Well, since we’d be driving down highway 410 and that goes through Greenwater, which is home to the Naches Tavern, it became our ‘Plan B.’ The Naches Tavern is a great, old tavern, located in the heart of bustling Greenwater, WA. – right off the highway on the way back to Enumclaw. (The Claw.) During the first few years of my residence in the area, I was underage. Yeah, ummm, but that didn’t stop us from trying to infiltrate the innards of the Naches Tavern. (Don’t tell…) However, I will say that I also enjoyed some nice LEGAL outings to the Naches Tavern as well – after turning 21…

I love the Naches Tavern and I hadn’t been there for years. Sure, we both wanted to see the sunset and have a beer, but I will admit to being pretty happy to visit the ol’ Naches Tavern, as well. When we got there, however, I was a bit disappointed that everyone in the place didn’t turn around and blatantly stare as we walked in. It’s a tradition in this bar to do so and I guess I was a little disappointed that tradition was holding out that day. However, in all fairness, I guess there weren’t really a lot of people there at that time… Maybe NEXT time everyone will rudely stare at us! A girl can dream…

So, we hung out at the Naches for a bit and had some food and a couple of beers. Specifically, we had nachos. Nachos at the Naches… Good stuff.

The ride back was nice and traffic didn’t really seem to be an issue. We made pretty decent time getting back to Seattle and while although I always love to see the Seattle skyline, it always makes me a bit sad when I’m returning from a camping/hiking adventure. Oh well – at least we live pretty close to future adventures… And what will those adventures be named?! I’m gonna start thinkin’ about names riiiiigggghhhttt now.

But in the meantime, I’m off to a rehearsal! WOO! Hope ya’ll are having a good one! Until next time –

See ya!

TRJ ™

The Schweet! Spot - Day Two

Bonjour, mes amis! (Or Bonsoir, depending on when you’re reading…)

Alrighty – on to day two at the Dewey Lakes SCHWEET spot. But first, let me tell you about a few crazy events that lead up to what was eventually a beautiful morning…

When we pitched the tent, we didn’t realize that part of it (the part that I was sleeping on) was a bit uneven. It looked pretty good when we were setting things up. However, when I was attempting to get comfortable in my sleeping bag, that whole uneven thing just wasn’t working out. The next day, we would relocate the tent. In the meantime, however, it took me a while to get to sleep…

When I finally did get to sleep, I ended up having a very crazy and VERY realistic dream. In the dream, I was actually sleeping in the tent and ‘woke up’ to hearing noises outside of the tent. As it was pre-dawn, I could vaguely start to see shapes moving around the outside of our tent. As my eyes further adjusted to the light and I could hear more sound, I realized that there were a few WOLVES walking around the outside of the tent. And they were growling! CRAP!! I was totally freaked out in the dream and the last thing I remember before scaring myself awake was that I was getting ready to fight off some wolves. WOO!

Yeah, so it took me a while to get back to sleep after that one. Hey, but I guess the dream distracted me from the uneven ground for a while… That and the bugling elk that kept up throughout the night – that seemed to keep getting closer… And I was still choosing to stick with the bugling elk theory. There were NO aliens… Just elk…

The next time I woke up, this is what I heard – FOR REALSIES….

“Dayna – wake up! There’s a chipmunk on your head!” (Or something to that effect…It’s a bit foggy – I was asleep.)

As I woke up to this declaration, I felt something SCAMPER across my head.

NO WAY! There’s a chipmunk on my head!!! What the hell!??!

Paul was already in action as I tried to wrestle my way out of my sleeping bag. I could see the crafty little chip-punk over on Paul’s side of the tent. The little bastard looked just as freaked out as we were as we tried to maneuver him/her out of the tent. I’m sure this was the very same creature that had been terrorizing our campsite throughout the prior day. Casing the place – just waiting for the perfect moment to grab a stray bit of trail-mix…

Anyways, after a minute or so of all creatures inside the tent freaking out, our unexpected visitor finally took off. Next time, CALL before you come over! Geez – it’s just so rude…

So yeah, I was awake. No going back to sleep after that one… But it was all good – MORE than good – the morning was absolutely beautiful and a strong cup of coffee was calling our names… Ahhh….

After we enjoyed a cup of coffee and checked out the area by morning light, we decided to bust out some breakfast. And hey, if you’ve got a beautiful, sandy beach in the middle of a mountain paradise, why not pack up a few breakfast items and enjoy them by the lake?! Why the heck not!??! And that’s exactly what we did…

Wow. What an awesome way to start the day. As we walked down to the beach, (Very odd that there was a sandy beach by a mountain lake…But I’m not arguing…) we saw that there were icy spots in the still shady areas around the lake. It was so cool to see the juxtaposition of a brilliantly sunny and warm morning against the frostiness of the shaded areas - and a sandy beach! And there wasn’t a cloud in the sky… Very nice...

Yeah, and we didn’t just bring down some granola bars and dried fruit for our lakeside breakfast. Come on - This is a tricked out, high-class operation! Nope – we brought down the whole, mountain kitchen. We had tortillas, some leftover rice and beans from the night before, eggs, salsa, CHEESE, more coffee… It’s funny – if I was actually at home, it’s very feasible I’d be busting out the granola bar and dried fruit for breakfast in my car on the way to work… I actually eat better when I go camping. True story!

Anyway, we had a very awesome breakfast on the beach, enjoyed a little more coffee and marveled at the sun as it came up behind the ridge. Not too shabby…

While we were sitting by the lake, we noticed a few ducks leisurely cruising around. There were five of them. They weren’t really doing anything – just kinda casually floating around the lake. Probably just enjoyed a lakeside breakfast, themselves…

This wasn’t the last time that we’d see the ducks. In fact, we soon came to realize that this was no transitory group of ducks. Nor was this a group that fluctuated in size or position… Awwweee, yeah – this was the ever-feared, oft maligned, flock of migratory mayhem – This was the DUCK POSSE. (Come on - They can’t help what they are - That’s how they roll…)

Throughout the rest of the weekend, we noticed the duck posse cruising ALL over the lake. They pretty much had a slow sorta roll about their patrol. They weren’t in any hurry. They knew that no other ducks were gonna invade their turf. I mean, what duck would be so stupid as to attempt posse infiltration?! Yeah, these ducks had to get their bad reputation somehow. I’m sure that at one point, something pissed one of them off and they lost their temper… Maybe did something they’d later regret… Whatever happened, though, it gave them street cred. Well, make that lake cred. Yeah, no duck is gonna mess with the posse. You don’t wanna make the Duck Posse mad. No way…

After we finished up our lakeside breakfast and enjoyed hangin’ out for a bit, we decided to go check out the surrounding area. There was a nice trail that went around the entire lake and we decided it needed exploring. Additionally, there was a lovely TINY lake just next door. A bonus lake, if you will. It was kind of a weekend of ‘tiny’ stuff, actually. You’ve already met TINY CHEESE GRATER ™ and we also had the tiny disco ball, the tiny speakers and now, the tiny lake! I’m sure there are some other tiny camp goods that I’m forgetting… Sorry, other tiny camp goods!

It was also around this time that a legend was born…

As I’ve mentioned in prior posts, Paul has a bit of a thing for slingshots. He’s shared with me his love of the humble slingshot and he’s shared a few choice slingshot stories. We had again been talking about his need “to shoot stuff” when we hit upon the perfect identity for his alter ego. Yes, indeed – it was the birth of ‘Slingshot.’

I’ve actually heard a rumor that Slingshot now owns a slingshot. I don’t know if he’s shot any stuff with it yet, though… Maybe on the next camping trip… I hope he’s got some targets set up and stuff – so he can get good… There are some rocks and cans out there that have been just ASKING for it… I’m just sayin’…

ANYhoo, the hike around the lake was great. It wasn’t a super big lake, so we could see the entire lake as we walked around. The trail was really nice and when we got down to the opposite end, we had a GREAT view of Mt. Rainier. I never get tired of looking at that mountain… Never.

Just past the lake, we heard some running water and decided to go investigate. It got louder as we approached and it sounded like there was a serious waterfall somewhere in the near vicinity. Sure enough, we looked down through the trees and there was a beautiful and secluded water fall down below us. We were able to locate a ‘trail’ of sorts and we made our way down to the falls.

It was absolutely beautiful - just the perfect little, hidden area. The falls were about thirty or so feet high – not too high, but just enough to make the area beneath the falls very shady and mossy. There were great little pools around the base of the falls and really cool streams of water coming off of some of the rocks. With the perfect mist and the rays of light coming through the trees, all we needed was a wood sprite or fairy to make the scene completely fairytale-like. Okay, maybe I’m a cheeseball, but I’m a total sucker for waterfalls…

On the way back towards camp, we took some time to explore the various shorelines of the lake. There was one section that was QUITE muddy and I sunk in well past my boot. Gah! Looked like I stepped in a giant pile of crap or something… Nice. :) We also found an area with some really cool, dead trees. Paul got some great shots…

And speaking of trees, we attempted to find a spot close to shore that would accommodate the hammock that we had set up back at camp. When we were hanging out the night before, Paul made the suggestion that it would be even cooler if we were in the hammock. Alas, it was not to be, however. We just couldn’t find two trees that would work... Sigh… OH well – It was still a pretty SCHWEET spot…

We also took some time out to throw some rocks. Yeah, so? We threw rocks for a while. Big deal - That’s good entertainment! It’s not like we went up there to re-invent Calculus or work out Cold Fusion… We went up there to hang out, drink beer and chill with the Duck Posse. Throwing rocks into the lake just seemed to naturally fit in with those particular plans… So there. (tm) We also threw rocks the night before. Yeah, and we’d throw rocks again before we left. We were rock throwing MANIACS! You can’t stop us… Just try. All I gotta do is make ONE call to my duck posse… Just one call…

After we got back to the camp, we decided to add one more activity to our plan. I mean, yeah – rock throwing is cool and all, but variety is the spice of life. And our variety had a name… We called it ‘Frisbee.’ Again, there would be NO Calculus involved with this trip…

We took the Frisbee and headed over towards the area where we’d enjoyed our breakfast. There was a nice, open meadow and it looked like a fine spot to toss around a Frisbee. Okay, and I’ll just ‘fess up riiiiiight now – I’m not the world’s greatest Frisbee player. My accuracy improved as we played, but I will totally admit to making Pauly do a bit of Frisbee retrieval… Or maybe I AM a good player and was just being devious… Heh heh… The world may never know. >:-) (Okay, sigh… I really do suck… Crap.)

After I exhausted all my Frisbee magic, we headed back to the campsite to contemplate what we’d be having for dinner. And of course, with all that contemplating came the busting open of the WHISKEY… And the beers that we had saved for our dinner fixing enjoyment. Mmmm… Jameson’s Irish Whiskey is a good thing… (And we had pretty much run out of Tequila, so that wasn’t an option…)

Since Slingshot had made dinner the night before, it was my turn to be the campsite master chef. (I think we need to get a chef’s hat for our camp meals, by the way – Come on – we’re pretty gourmet…) I had brought along fixings for an Indian/Thai sort of concoction. I was originally going for an Indian theme, but once everything was underway, it had a bit of a Thai flair as well. I had pita bread, (masquerading as naan bread) rice, spinach paneer and a red curry sauce that I mixed with tofu, cashews, onion, garlic, red peppers and snap peas. (Which actually became known as ‘Schnap Peas.’ They’re the “cool” peas…)

Not that I’m gonna give the true master chefs a run for their money, but DAMN! That was a good dinner. Woo! And ummm, there was a lot of it! Suffice it to say that we had enough for a family of hungry campers. HEY – maybe we could’ve invited over the actual family that had set up camp just beyond the borders of our campsite. MUCH too close to our campsite, I would have to say… What were they thinking?! I mean, you come all the way out into the middle of nowhere to get some peace and quiet and you go set up basically RIGHT NEXT to someone?! Whatever… We played our music and got obnoxious ANYway… HA!

I would also like to state, for the record – even if he doesn’t agree with me – that while I was making dinner, Slingshot was busy throwing back some whiskey. Not that he didn’t help me with dinner – he did. And not that he drank alllll of the whiskey – he didn’t. However, he did take down a large portion of the whiskey while I was making dinner and was quite happy by the time we were finished with dinner. I’m just sayin’… And since I was busy cooking, I wasn’t really drinking that much. I mean, hey – I didn’t want any additional cooking debacles added to my record. Best to keep my culinary wits about me… Anyway – by the end of the meal, Paul was feelin’ pretty good… And not that I wasn’t also feeling good, but I clearly had some catching up to do. And that’s what I set about doing…

After downing a few shots of my own, we decided that it was time to clean up the campsite. Crap. So much for avoiding the curse of the cooking debacle…. CRAPPITY-CRAP-CRAP! Sigh…

As I reached for the pot that still contained A LOT of the red curry, Thai concoction, the lid slipped off in my hand and the pot fell onto the ground. And with it falling to the ground, out came a good portion of the food. CRAP! We were going to have that for breakfast… AGAIN, she spills something!! I give up…

However, it didn’t end up being that bad. Sure, I spilled some food, but it wasn’t as much as I had originally thought and there was still plenty left for the next day. So, after Paul helped me clean up my mess, we finished getting everything put away and decided to move the party into the tent. Sigh...I guess I just can't be trusted with a pot of food in the woods... What a dork.

Now, since Paul was running a bit ahead of me on the party plan, I was still up hanging out for a while. Not the case with Slingshot… The whiskey, the Frisbee, the rock throwing, the duck posse – that’s a lot of activity to take in for one day! I think it all just snuck up on him at once and BAM! Slingshot - down for the count! One might even say that he… Passed out. But I’m not gonna say that as then he’d give me his story that ‘passing out’ is when you “BAM! All of the sudden, fall asleep...” (But, between you and me – about 30 seconds after he told me that story – after I gave him crap about passing out – BAM! He all of the sudden fell asleep… Okay – I guess that 30 seconds isn’t ‘all of the sudden’, but it’s pretty close… >:-)

So, anyway, I hung out for a while and drank some whiskey in the tent. And did a bit of writing… And checked out the pictures that Paul had taken thus far… Which were awesome, as usual… And I was very happy that I didn’t have to sleep on a weird slant that night… All was well with the world.

Okay – and I REALLY wanted to finish this story tonight, but I’m tired. So there. I’ll be back very soon with the exciting conclusion. And don’t give me any shit or I’ll call the Duck Posse… I’ll totally do it.

Have a fan-freakin-tastic day/night!

-- TRJ ™

The Schweet! Spot

First it was ‘The Perfect Spot’ and then ‘The Killer Spot.’ How do you follow up such kick-ass adventures?! How do you improve upon absolute, killer perfection?! Well, dear readers, it’s as easy as this: You just gotta look for the Schweet! Spot. WOO!

Yep – we went on another adventure. We packed up our gear, piled it in Pauly’s truck and headed for the Pass. Chinook Pass, that is.

It was a beautiful, sunny day in Seattle as we headed towards the mountains. I know that one of these days, however, we’re gonna start out an adventure in adverse conditions. The streak will end, I am sure. Whaaaatever. We’re prepared – bring it on! But in the meantime, I’m happy to report that we’ve had nothing but amazing weather for every trip.

In keeping with tradition, I made my pre-adventure pilgrimage to Mighty-O Donuts that morning. It’s very important to have a bag of donuty goodness for every journey. (And if you haven’t visited Mighty-O Donuts – DO IT NOW! Seriously. Get up from your chair, open the door and RUN to Mighty-O! Organic donuts and coffee that will rock your world… Guaran-damn-teed.) So, with donuts and coffee in hand, we drove closer and closer to what would be our schweet, schweet destiny.

Chinook Pass is a beautiful part of the state. I was born in Yakima and my family spent quite a bit of time camping in the area as I was growing up. Later on, I spent several years working in and around Mt. Rainier National Park which is adjacent to the Chinook Pass area. (The William O. Douglass Wilderness Area) I can honestly say that this area is truly one of my favorite places in the entire world. It feels like going home every time I’m there.

We were heading for the Dewey Lakes area, a spot of which I had visited many years before. However, I couldn’t remember exactly where the trailhead was, so we had to look around a bit when we got to the top of the Pass. I knew it was past the Tispsoo Lake area, but I couldn’t remember if it was just before or just after the top of the Pass. As it were, it turned out there was access to this trail on either side of the Pass – go figure. However, we found a spot in the parking lot on top of the Pass and struck out from there. Yeah, I suppose maps are a good idea, but whatever. We always seem to find a spectacular spot without them.

After we figured out exactly where we were going, we hauled out the gear and started readying our always heavy packs. And as I busted out some more of the donuts, Pauly broke out what he traditionally brings for the start of every adventure: Beer.

Come on – that’s a brilliant combination – Beer and donuts. If it’s good for Homer Simpson, well it’s good enough for us! And when we really thought about the situation, it dawned us that we are actually the Simpsons of camping! DOH! We realized that we’ve started every adventure with beer and donuts! Hey, but the donuts are organic and the beer is either imported or a local, micro brew… Come on – it’s not like we’re busting out the Bud Lite and Hostess or something - This is a high class operation! (Work with me here!) Yeah, and I’m sure our pre-hike rituals have puzzled some of the peeps that have parked next to us at the various trailheads, but whatever. It’s worked quite well for us, so if it ain’t broke…

As we started out around Noon that day, we didn’t take off from the trailhead until about four o’clock or so. We were hoping to still get some of the afternoon sun, but the whole first part of the trail had already fallen into a shadow behind the ridge. However, the air smelled amazing and there’s nothing better than a mountain breeze in the late afternoon, so it was all good. Besides, I knew we’d be hiking into the sun on top of the ridge very soon, so I enjoyed the shade while I could.

When we got to the top of the ridge, it was beautiful. What I remembered about this trail was that it traveled through some fairly wide open, sub-alpine areas. I remembered the amazing meadow areas that were at the time, filled with beautiful wildflowers. However, as this was early in the Fall, the wildflowers were no longer in season. No matter though, it was amazing to see the beginnings of the Fall colors. It was beautiful to see all the gold, red and orange plants and leaves against the constant color of the Evergreens.

I also love the sub-alpine shrubs and trees that are always twisted in some crazy shape and bent in the direction of the prevailing winds. It amazes me that a squatty, 3-foot high bush can be over a hundred years old. In the sub-alpine areas, the growing season is very short and the conditions harsh, so they usually only grow an inch or so every year. I have quite a bit of respect for those little trees. Those defiant, little, bad-ass warrior trees…

After enjoying the amazing view at the top of the ridge, we began our descent down to the lake area. As we hiked down the other side, we again lost most of the sun and began hiking though a more heavily forested area. It was amazing, though to see the sun rays streaming through the trees. That just never gets old… The hike down to the lakes didn’t take very long and soon we were at the Dewey Lakes site.

I feel that I did a fairly decent job loading my pack for this trip, but it was still damn heavy. And I know the hike down to the lakes wasn’t really that long, but I was still more than happy to take the pack off for a while. So, when we rolled into what appeared to be a campsite, we decided to take off our packs and walk up the lake shore to scout for other, available campsites.

WOO HOOOO! I felt like I was literally being swept off my feet as we walked, pack-free along the lakeshore. That feeling just NEVER ceases to amaze me – so very cool… You could be crawling up on death's door, but as soon as that pack comes off it's miracle mile time!

As we hiked along the shore, there were some great areas that we came across, but none so lovely as a groovy campsite, tucked back in the trees. Tucked back in the trees and in a nicely sheltered area, but still within view of the lake and surrounding ridges. Yep. We had found another amazing spot. Crap. But we still had to go back to the other site and get our packs. So much for that flying feeling… :)P

After we hauled everything into the area, we again dumped our packs and began to contemplate where and how we were going to trick out this fabulous spot. And in our contemplative state, we felt we needed a bit of inspiration… AKA, Tequila. Yes, we had packed in the obligatory beer for our dinner enjoyment, but we also took care to bring along some tequila AND some whiskey. Platypus bags are a fabulous invention. They allow you to easily pack not only ONE fifth of alcohol, but TWO. HA! Yep. Never let it be said that you can’t bring a party into the middle of nowhere…

When we agreed upon a spot for the tent, we began setting everything up. Now, maybe I’m using the word ‘we’ a bit liberally, but I WAS there while the tent was being set up and I DID hook up a few of the clips, etc. However, it was Paul’s tent and he’s pretty much a tent-constructing master, so I felt more like a tent apprentice than anything. Hey – I ain’t knockin’ it, though – Who wouldn’t want a master tent-constructor on the trip?! Duh. But one day soon, I will complete my training and I will amaze the world with my tent-construction skills. Make that, MAD tent-construction SKILLZ. Yeah.

After the tent was set up and tricked out, the disco ball had been hung and the tunes were flowing from the iPod, we set upon busting out the dinner goods. And now, please let me bring to your attention, one of the STARS of our journeys…

TINY CHEESE GRATER!! (TCG ™) Yaaaaaay!! WooooHOOO!!! We LOVE you, Tiny Cheese Grater!!! (Insert fanfare *here*) And remember: It’s not the size that counts! ™ Vote for Tiny Cheese Grater!!

Ohhh, Tiny Cheese Grater, we MISSED you! As you may remember from the last adventure, we didn’t bring along any cheese. (Gasp!) Therefore, we had no need for the services of Tiny Cheese Grater. (Say it isn’t so!) However, we learned the error of our ways and I can officially say that we will NEVER again take a journey without the accompaniment of our beloved, Tiny Cheese Grater. ™ He is with us to the end! And will be featured in many of our upcoming adventure pics as it was decided that he’s also kind of the ‘gnome’ of our camping adventures. Check out Paul’s camping pics to see Tiny Cheese Grater in action. http://www.flickr.com/photos/p_d_gibson/

After we busted out TCG ™ and a little more tequila, we started in on dinner. Paul had brought all the fixings for a faaaabulous, Mexican feast and that’s what we were about to enjoy. Yes, indeed… Mmmm – Tortillas, avocado, veggies, CHEESE, hot sauce, TEQUILA… Yeah, it was really good. And with the glow of the disco ball/candle lantern and the fine mix on the iPod, it was turning into a very enjoyable evening.

Many funny things had happened by this time (just add TEQUILA), but one of the more notable occurrences was Pauly’s experience with the spider. We were hanging out around the cooking area when Paul noticed a rather large spider crawling by his Thermarest chair. It was a pretty damn big spider and Paul was not happy when it took a turn towards him and scurried under his thermarest. Hey, who would be happy?!

As Paul was attempting to remove the spider from under his chair, the iPod was doing its job pumpin’ out the jams. The iPod had been set to ‘random’ mode, but the song that started playing at this moment couldn’t have been MORE appropriate. As Paul continued working on the spider relocation project, a Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars tune was playing… “Where are the spiders?” was the lyric that caught both of our attention. No way!! It couldn’t have been more perfect! OR more funny! Bahahahahaha! Okay - Not that I wished a spider onslaught on Paul or anything, but it was pretty damn funny…

It was also at this time when we hit upon what would be the name of our current camping extravaganza. Yep – we had already used ‘Perfect’ and ‘Killer’ – what were we going to name THIS adventure?! We threw around a few suggestions – Fabulous, Awesome… Sure, these were great words, but none of them seemed to quite fit. Then Paul came up with the definite winner… This trip was SWEET! And after we rolled it around for a few seconds, we decided to add the ‘schwa’ sound and make it SCHWEET! Yes!!! This spot was totally SCHWEET!! Yeah…

After we finished eating, drinking some more beer and TEQUILA and marveling over our SCHWEET spot, we decided to take our party down to the lakeshore for a while. There was a great spot to set up a Thermarest and that’s exactly what we decided to do. So, with Tequila in hand, off we went…

Okay. There are beautiful spots in this world and then there are CRAZY beautiful spots. The lakeshore spot where we set up was most definitely in the crazy beautiful category. Wow.

It was completely peaceful and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. We also couldn’t see the moon, so the stars were particularly visible and bright. Not only where they visible and bright, but they were spectacularly displayed in the perfectly calm reflection of the lake. And as I paid closer attention to the reflections in the lake, I noticed that the surrounding ridges were also reflected in the lake. It was just truly amazing and nothing could really describe it better than actually sitting there yourself and experiencing it firsthand. Just absolutely amazing… We sat there for quite a while, enjoying the vibe - not saying a word... I really think that I could’ve sat there all night.

I could’ve sat there all night UNTIL we started hearing the crazy-ass X-Files noises that started going on in the surrounding woods.

“Did you hear that?! What the hell WAS that??!!?”

Seriously. It was a crazy sound! And we kept hearing it!! It sounded like a screaming woman, off in the distance… I don’t know – maybe she was being abducted by aliens or something… All I know is that it was quite a disturbing sound. ACK! As we sat and contemplated the fact that maybe WE were next, it finally started to dawn on me what it might possibly be.

As it was the Fall and there are many herds of Elk in the area, I’m guessing it was probably the Elk calling to each other as they do at this time of the year. Ummm, at least that’s what I was telling myself it was. I’m serious – it was either that or a crazy, screaming woman being abducted! What would you decide??! Yeah – bugling elk. That’s what it was. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ with it.

But regardless of the bugling elk theory, we decided that it was time to pack things up and head back to the campsite. It was also finally starting to get a bit cold, so it was time to find the warmth of our sleeping bags. And maybe a little more of the tequila… >:-)

And with this, I will bid you adieu. I’ll be back with tales of Day 2 in the near future. I super swear.

Your Pal,

TRJ ™