D's Birthday

This is apparently how friend's birthdays are celebrated, with me lecturing them on the do's and don'ts of drinking. Actually, I have no idea what we were talking about and it was perhaps a pose struck purely for entertainment. Thanks for that one Mistycans. And even more importantly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY D!

Last night....

I drank chilled Patron tequila. And lots of it. Now it's coming out of my pores and I smell funny not to mention look like a truck ran me over. Which could have happened as far as I know. Between gays getting to marry and celebrating transitions and changes, it was a crazy night out. I am going to go home and lay down.

Dominoes, Beer, and Bowling Balls

This weekend Miss B and I packed up the car and headed to Salt Point. We are 3/3 the past months in making a trek out of the big bad city to visit fresh air, trees, the ocean, and all the other beautiful things which go along with camping. Salt Point is the very first place we elected to go camping together and every time, something new and exciting is found!

This time around it was Bowling Ball Beach. Check out these little golden nuggets of fun on the beach! When we first hit the trail and got to the beach we looked and looked and couldn't see them. It's because we had to go around a jetty, scale some rocks, and lo and behold, there they were for everyone to see! These rocks are perfectly aligned. Placed as though someone purposely set them in this configuration. And sure as heck aren't going anywhere. They will slowly erode away and more than likely not in my life time. If you are ever on the Hwy 1 near Sea Ranch, check this place out. It's a trip. Mistycans and I ran into a place such as this in New Zealand in 2003 while I was on sabbatical. The big round rocks there had crystal deposits in them which made them even more mysterious. Magical huh?

Another discovery was dominoes. I do like the game but had forgotten how much. It's easy. Goes quickly. Can be played anywhere! I like the picture of Miss B reading the directions with another important factor of the weekend, beer. A 12 pack of Boont Amber must accompany any road trip to the woods. It's delicious and goes extremely well with camping food. And smores. We played a few games as night crept in and had lots of fun doing so. Speaking of which, the light is lasting so long now! Which makes total sense seeing as the longest day of the year is about a month out. The next thing we knew it was almost 9pm and we hadn't cooked yet! A drastic change from our time at Big Basin in March when the head lamps came on around 6pm.

Another new thing this trip was a visit in the middle of the evening from raccoons or possums, not sure. We were good campers and put all of our food in our car as suggested by the ranger at check in and discarded all garbage in it's appropriate places prior to getting some shut-eye. However, in the middle of the night, Miss B heard some odd snorting sounds and then some horrific yelps and growling coming from the bushes, right next to the tent. Eventually I awoke from my foggy haze of beer and what have you to Miss B shaking me to see what is going on outside. Whatever it was, did not sound happy nor in a place for me to go checking in on it. So a few more snorts and yelps went on and the next thing you know it was over. A little too close to nature on that one for me.

I won at scrabble!

Miss B doesn't like to lose. Nor do I. It makes for very interesting scrabble, dominos, and whatever else we are playing when we go camping. Although competative, it is supportive competition. This all started in Peace Corps with my friend Lou. I am not good with math nor spelling. Two of our favorite games to play were scrabble and cribbage, both of which require skills listed above. So, until I got good at them, Lou would help my find the 15's or use the dictionary if stumped on exactly how to spell the word. This enabled me to get my sea legs, learn how to play, and do math in my head. We follow the same concepts now minus the dictionary. The picture above is from me beating Miss B in a round. She kicked my ass this weekend. I will get her back on the next camping trip, don't sweat that! More pictures to post but need to leave work now and get on with the rest of my evening.