The camping trip, part four
Any bets on how many posts this is going to take? I'm thinking seven or eight.
The rain had settled into a drizzly state, and we were hungry, so breakfast time it was. The drizzles meant that making a fire for breakfast was definitely out, so David broke out the propane stove. He had bought fresh propane tanks on the way to get me, so that wouldn't be a problem. But whatever can go wrong will, and this time it wasn't the propane tank. The thing that connected the tank to the stove was failing. Crap.
That was okay because he had a Plan C. Remember that little grill we bought last time? It came back, this time with fresh charcoal. The breakfast game plan was oatmeal and eggs, and we boiled water for the oatmeal first. To be more accurate, we got the water hot enough for oatmeal, as it refused to boil. But that's okay because it still cooked the oatmeal. I kept trying to protect the eggs from the rain while they were waiting for the grill to be freed up from the water. David pointed out that the water wouldn't harm the eggs and besides, I was getting my skin cells in the eggs. I said that I knew this, and besides, he already got his skin cells all over the water for the oatmeal when he stuck his finger in it. (My skin cells got in the water eventually too when I tested it.) I ate a packet of strawberry oatmeal with strawberry chunks and a peaches and cream pack with the eggs. Well, before the eggs.
Other things that happened over breakfast:
David, Jordan, and I started playing the useless superpowers game. And by started, I mean I granted the superpower to go halfway to a place, then halfway closer, and so on, so you'd never actually get to a place. Zeno's paradox in action! "Damn you, Zeno!" Jordan said. And then we started talking about other things.
We heard birds honking in the distance. I honked back at them and David said that I couldn't honk because I wasn't a swan anymore. He asked to see my nails. I said that I cut them the night before we left. He lamented the lack of nail polish on them, and I told him that my toenails were still blue. He asked to see them. I pointed out that it was rainy out, so no way. (This comes from one night when I told him I felt like painting my nails. This led to a full-on prettification and transformation into a swan. He said I'd be able to honk properly because of this. For those who follow me on Twitter, this is why I was honking constantly there for those few days.)
Jordan called David a Mexican. Or rather, he said, "$davidsnick, you mexican" or something like that. David said, "Who?" and Jordan corrected it to "Sushi, you Mexican."
We cleaned up after breakfast, which was mostly uneventful besides David throwing a scrubber at me and me ducking even though the scrubber didn't make it all the way to me. What? I didn't expect it. "I wouldn't have gotten to see your reaction," he said when I asked why he threw it.
After we had cleaned up, all ten of us went to the waterfall. Yes, the waterfall that the two people who didn't get eaten by bears or coyotes went to the night before. It was still sprinkling, but that's part of the adventure, right? So we headed out. The walk to the waterfall wasn't a short one. David, Jordan, and I talked about writing; apparently Jordan also does some writing along with the music he dabbles in, and David had read me one of Jordan's stories one night. Turns out they also worked on the Twitter rap together. Look at that, I knew of Jordan already.
The rain outside made everything look dreary. David and I decided to sing a springy song to get everyone in the spirit of spring. The song we chose was JoCo's "First of May". Admit it. That song makes you feel very springy. (If you look it up, you should probably know that the song's about outdoor sex.)
We hiked up the hill and down to the bottom of the waterfall without major incident. There was a sign on the rocks just as you could start to see the waterfall that said "Fatalities have occurred here." Good to know. Six of us decided to make the hike all the way to the bottom. We hung out at the bottom of the waterfall for awhile. The discussion eventually turned to video games, and of course I have no knowledge of video games. Erin, the other girl who hiked to the bottom of the falls with us, climbed over all the rocks to the other side of the fall. Her shoes and pants got soaked. David decided he was going to climb over it too at one point, but he had waterproof boots.
After awhile we headed back to the campsite, and this is where the fun began. Or not-fun, for me, at least. Even though I was perfectly fine on the uphill, then downhill trip to the waterfall, the trip back to the campsite didn't go as well. I got winded not far into our uphill trip, and even though Erin and I were at the back of the pack, I fell farther behind as we continued on. I found myself stopping often to catch my breath. David walked back at one point near the FATALITIES HAVE OCCURRED HERE sign to make sure hadn't collapsed or died or anything. This continued a few times until we reached the downhill point and I had stopped to lean over and catch my breath. "Stand up straight," he said. "Leaning over won't help you any." He pointed out that we were about to start the downhill trek, and he put his hand on my back and prodded me forward.
We were the last ones to make it to the bottom. The others were waiting for us at the bathroom at the foot of the hill. David ducked into the bathroom while I gulped water from the water fountain and went into the ladies' room, not because I needed to go, but because I needed to sit down. I eventually came out and had more water. The others were ready to head back to the campsite and were talking about giving up on camping since the rain was starting to get worse. I was okay with this; if the rain was this bad, what were we going to do for the rest of the day, much less tomorrow? (I was too tired to actively take part in this discussion.) I didn't go with them when they headed back to the campsite; moving that great a distance was out of the question at that point. I told David I was still there and that I'd be in the bathroom in case he came out.
This turned out to be a good thing. I found myself hovering over the toilet, and some of my breakfast came out, including some of those strawberry chunks from my oatmeal. This is the first time in years that has happened. I told David this (he was still in the bathroom). He said he'd go back and get the car. This gave me more time to recover, which I needed, and gave me a good place to be in case more strawberry chunks made their way out. This was very kind of him. He took awhile, probably talking to the others about giving up on camping (which I already knew), and of course the walk back to the campsite wasn't a short one. He eventually returned, and we headed back. We passed the visitor center on the way back and set out to explore it only to discover that it wasn't open, probably because it wasn't peak season. So we headed back to the campsite. The rain was coming down harder, and everyone else was talking about giving up on camping and staying at Jordan's place about an hour away that night. This was okay with us, so we took down the tent, packed our stuff, and headed toward Boone.
Holy crap, was there a lot of rain. The rain definitely got worse on our way there, and the fog added to the problem. We followed Jordan, Erin, and Meaghan there, and we could barely see in front of us. David took off his top so he'd be dry. I made a quip about society's stigma against topless ladies. The five of us were the first ones there, and while others were headed for a shower, I was happy to change into drier clothes for the moment. We sat around and talked while the queue for the shower and other bathroom formed. I eventually got into drier clothes when the bathroom became clear, which was my first priority. Ah, sweet sweet dryness.
(Also, my waterfall icon is appropriate. Yay!)
The rain had settled into a drizzly state, and we were hungry, so breakfast time it was. The drizzles meant that making a fire for breakfast was definitely out, so David broke out the propane stove. He had bought fresh propane tanks on the way to get me, so that wouldn't be a problem. But whatever can go wrong will, and this time it wasn't the propane tank. The thing that connected the tank to the stove was failing. Crap.
That was okay because he had a Plan C. Remember that little grill we bought last time? It came back, this time with fresh charcoal. The breakfast game plan was oatmeal and eggs, and we boiled water for the oatmeal first. To be more accurate, we got the water hot enough for oatmeal, as it refused to boil. But that's okay because it still cooked the oatmeal. I kept trying to protect the eggs from the rain while they were waiting for the grill to be freed up from the water. David pointed out that the water wouldn't harm the eggs and besides, I was getting my skin cells in the eggs. I said that I knew this, and besides, he already got his skin cells all over the water for the oatmeal when he stuck his finger in it. (My skin cells got in the water eventually too when I tested it.) I ate a packet of strawberry oatmeal with strawberry chunks and a peaches and cream pack with the eggs. Well, before the eggs.
Other things that happened over breakfast:
David, Jordan, and I started playing the useless superpowers game. And by started, I mean I granted the superpower to go halfway to a place, then halfway closer, and so on, so you'd never actually get to a place. Zeno's paradox in action! "Damn you, Zeno!" Jordan said. And then we started talking about other things.
We heard birds honking in the distance. I honked back at them and David said that I couldn't honk because I wasn't a swan anymore. He asked to see my nails. I said that I cut them the night before we left. He lamented the lack of nail polish on them, and I told him that my toenails were still blue. He asked to see them. I pointed out that it was rainy out, so no way. (This comes from one night when I told him I felt like painting my nails. This led to a full-on prettification and transformation into a swan. He said I'd be able to honk properly because of this. For those who follow me on Twitter, this is why I was honking constantly there for those few days.)
Jordan called David a Mexican. Or rather, he said, "$davidsnick, you mexican" or something like that. David said, "Who?" and Jordan corrected it to "Sushi, you Mexican."
We cleaned up after breakfast, which was mostly uneventful besides David throwing a scrubber at me and me ducking even though the scrubber didn't make it all the way to me. What? I didn't expect it. "I wouldn't have gotten to see your reaction," he said when I asked why he threw it.
After we had cleaned up, all ten of us went to the waterfall. Yes, the waterfall that the two people who didn't get eaten by bears or coyotes went to the night before. It was still sprinkling, but that's part of the adventure, right? So we headed out. The walk to the waterfall wasn't a short one. David, Jordan, and I talked about writing; apparently Jordan also does some writing along with the music he dabbles in, and David had read me one of Jordan's stories one night. Turns out they also worked on the Twitter rap together. Look at that, I knew of Jordan already.
The rain outside made everything look dreary. David and I decided to sing a springy song to get everyone in the spirit of spring. The song we chose was JoCo's "First of May". Admit it. That song makes you feel very springy. (If you look it up, you should probably know that the song's about outdoor sex.)
We hiked up the hill and down to the bottom of the waterfall without major incident. There was a sign on the rocks just as you could start to see the waterfall that said "Fatalities have occurred here." Good to know. Six of us decided to make the hike all the way to the bottom. We hung out at the bottom of the waterfall for awhile. The discussion eventually turned to video games, and of course I have no knowledge of video games. Erin, the other girl who hiked to the bottom of the falls with us, climbed over all the rocks to the other side of the fall. Her shoes and pants got soaked. David decided he was going to climb over it too at one point, but he had waterproof boots.
After awhile we headed back to the campsite, and this is where the fun began. Or not-fun, for me, at least. Even though I was perfectly fine on the uphill, then downhill trip to the waterfall, the trip back to the campsite didn't go as well. I got winded not far into our uphill trip, and even though Erin and I were at the back of the pack, I fell farther behind as we continued on. I found myself stopping often to catch my breath. David walked back at one point near the FATALITIES HAVE OCCURRED HERE sign to make sure hadn't collapsed or died or anything. This continued a few times until we reached the downhill point and I had stopped to lean over and catch my breath. "Stand up straight," he said. "Leaning over won't help you any." He pointed out that we were about to start the downhill trek, and he put his hand on my back and prodded me forward.
We were the last ones to make it to the bottom. The others were waiting for us at the bathroom at the foot of the hill. David ducked into the bathroom while I gulped water from the water fountain and went into the ladies' room, not because I needed to go, but because I needed to sit down. I eventually came out and had more water. The others were ready to head back to the campsite and were talking about giving up on camping since the rain was starting to get worse. I was okay with this; if the rain was this bad, what were we going to do for the rest of the day, much less tomorrow? (I was too tired to actively take part in this discussion.) I didn't go with them when they headed back to the campsite; moving that great a distance was out of the question at that point. I told David I was still there and that I'd be in the bathroom in case he came out.
This turned out to be a good thing. I found myself hovering over the toilet, and some of my breakfast came out, including some of those strawberry chunks from my oatmeal. This is the first time in years that has happened. I told David this (he was still in the bathroom). He said he'd go back and get the car. This gave me more time to recover, which I needed, and gave me a good place to be in case more strawberry chunks made their way out. This was very kind of him. He took awhile, probably talking to the others about giving up on camping (which I already knew), and of course the walk back to the campsite wasn't a short one. He eventually returned, and we headed back. We passed the visitor center on the way back and set out to explore it only to discover that it wasn't open, probably because it wasn't peak season. So we headed back to the campsite. The rain was coming down harder, and everyone else was talking about giving up on camping and staying at Jordan's place about an hour away that night. This was okay with us, so we took down the tent, packed our stuff, and headed toward Boone.
Holy crap, was there a lot of rain. The rain definitely got worse on our way there, and the fog added to the problem. We followed Jordan, Erin, and Meaghan there, and we could barely see in front of us. David took off his top so he'd be dry. I made a quip about society's stigma against topless ladies. The five of us were the first ones there, and while others were headed for a shower, I was happy to change into drier clothes for the moment. We sat around and talked while the queue for the shower and other bathroom formed. I eventually got into drier clothes when the bathroom became clear, which was my first priority. Ah, sweet sweet dryness.
(Also, my waterfall icon is appropriate. Yay!)