In Which I Have a 10'x7' Tent Set Up in My Living Room
Are you curious? Too bad. You'll just have to wait until the end to find out why.
School is finally over for the summer. I ended up with an A in geology and anthropology, and a B in genetics. It would have been nice to pull straight A's, but I'm perfectly happy with what I got. Especially since I was really sweating genetics there in the end. I don't know what David got yet, but he's not sure if he passed one of his classes. She was one of those teachers that handed out assignments and then expected the students to teach themselves. And if you got a question wrong, she'd tell you you were wrong, but wouldn't tell you why it was wrong. Hopefully he passed just so he won't have to take the class again.
To celebrate the end of finals and to break in the tent I received for Christmas, David and I drove up to Crescent City last Sunday for an overnight stay at Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park. The tent was really easy to set up (well, after we read the directions 9 billion times), and I think Sarah and I should be able to get it set up in less than ten minutes easily. We tried to make spaghetti in a pot on the little BBQ, but that didn't work out so well, so we pretty much filled up on chips and dip and went to bed. We definitely need to get a bedroll of some sort for a cushion. David had a really rough night with lots of back pain. I wasn't too uncomfortable, but I wouldn't want to spend more than a couple nights that way. I also discovered that I don't like tent camping at 3 AM when I have to use the bathroom and there's signs all around the camp saying "Bears and mountain lions wander this park day and night" and we had to lock all our food away in a bear-proof safe. I think I may have a chance to professionally race the 100 m though, because I think I broke some sort of record running to the bathrooms and running back. The campground was really nice though, and we enjoyed our little trip.
Once we packed up in the morning (oh ok, around 11:30, jeez) we headed into Crescent City for breakfast (ok, lunch). The Good Harvest, isn't. It was ok, but not great (or even good), and my vegan breakfast consisted of a slice of plain raw tofu on one corn tortilla, with 1/8 cup of black beans covered in a little enchilada sauce, 2 slices of olive and 3 slices of green onion. But hey, it was better than the granola bar back at camp.
After our meal, we headed out on the road for home. But wait! What's that on the side of the road? Big blue building with a shark? Two giant sea lions in front of the parking lot? It's OCEAN WORLD! Yep, the same place we used to go when I was little, and I got yelled at for...something involving the sea lions, I don't remember now. I wish I would have remembered the camera when we went in, but by the time I remembered we were halfway through the tour. The best part by far was watching David lick a sea anemone to feel his tongue go numb (the tour guide encouraged it, so we're good). I may have tricked him into it, and David assures me that there is massive pay back a-comin', but it was well worth it.
We finally got back and unloaded the car, preparing to just dump everything in the living room and clean it up the next day, when we get a phone call. Oh, David's brother Jennifer is coming. She'll call when she gets into town. Great. Wonderful. Perfect. PANIC!!! We spent the next two hours frantically cleaning (okay, shoving things under the bed and into the closet....) when the phone rings. Oh, Jennifer is in San Francisco for the night and will actually be here tomorrow. We abandoned the cleaning and watched LOST on DVD for four hours until we fell asleep on the couch.
Jennifer, her boyfriend, and her two kids got here around 4:30 on Tuesday and we all went out to dinner to celebrate David's 24th birthday. I'm hoping she'll e-mail David the picture of him in the birthday hat with the waitresses singing to him. We went to Hometown Buffet and it was surprisingly easy to eat vegan there. Well, at least vegetarian. There's no telling how much butter was in stuff, but I'm guessing a lot. After dinner Jennifer and the gang headed off to a hotel for the night and David and I went to see Ironman. It was actually really really good. Much better than I had thought it would be.
Last night David and I went to see Indiana Jones. Not worth it, don't even bother. George Lucas really screwed this one up. Aliens? Russians? Eerily expressive groundhogs? Swinging through trees on vines? Monkey's coming to the rescue? It was a huge let down, and I wasn't even expecting the same level of awesomeness as Raiders of the Lost Ark. I wouldn't even recommend renting it. If a neighbor offers to lend it to you for free, and there is absolutely nothing else on then maybe go ahead and watch it. But only if nothing but static is on your tv.
Today we just hung out. I decided to set up the tent in the living room to let it dry out. I would rather it be outside, where tents belong, but it's been rainy and windy and I figured I needed to get it dried out from last weekend before it started to mold. I never realized how small my living room was before.... In a little while I'll need to climb over assorted furniture and around the tent to get to the kitchen to find something for dinner.
Tomorrow we'll watch the start of the Kinetic Grand Championship on the Plaza, and I may head out to the Manilla dunes while David is at work to watch more of the race. I haven't decided yet. Sunday morning we'll get up and head down to Red Bluff. David will be there until Tuesday, and then will come back for work. I'll be there until around the 9th or so, after Sarah's graduation. I may have to make a couple of one day trips back up here, since we're actively looking for a new place and there are several that will be available for viewing in the next couple of weeks.
Is anyone still with me after all that? I think that's everything, except that Oprah is going vegan (kind of), and the FBI is looking to infiltrate vegan potlucks (Oy).