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 ™