Roughin' It: A Lesson In Camping + Preparedness.

I went camping and SURVIVED.

It was fun and beautiful and life-affirming and dirty.

We saw the mountains, the trees, and the beauty that is a creek hidden in the woods.

Annnnd, we took over 500 photos. Yes, OVER 500 photos.

Out of the 500, I narrowed it down to a measly 72 pictures to put on my FB. Out of the 72, I've chosen to post 40 up on my Flickr. Out of the 40, I'm gonna only post up about 20 pictures on the blaaaagh.

*THINGS WE LEARNED/DID (aka "How to make fools of ourselves in a forest/small town setting."):

• The Boy Scouts are right: "Always Be Prepared."
• No matter how hot it is during the day, it's ALWAYS going to be 30 degrees F (about 0 c) at night.
• We LOVE hot, well-made coffee.
• I love pocket knives.
• No matter where you go, there WILL BE A THRIFT STORE.
• Jaya and I dress pretty much the same way we do when in L.A.: inappropriately.
• I still want to live in the woods, but not in a tent.
• No matter the situation, Mary or I will find a movie/t.v. show to quote.

**QUOTABLE QUOTES OF THE TRIP: Our "boisterous" friend, The Tapper, went camping with us, annnnd Me + Her = Quoting CHAMPIONS! Here are the top 4 quotes of the trip ( and if you can figure out where they're from before clicking on the link, I'll give you an internet high-five!!) :
-"I've made a HUGE MISTAKE."
-"I hate you bees! I hate you bees! I hate you bees!"
-"That's what she said."
-"Like a twinkie, like a twinkie."

***PICTURE MONTAGE TIME!!: I'll try to keep my comments down to a shout, sooooo enjoy some pictures and GO EXPLORE NATURE!

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The campsite:

I MAKE FIRE. ME WOMAN!!!:

My favorite kind of 'mallow: CHARRED BEYOND BELIEF.:

Two things: 1) The biggest reason I wanted to go camping to was to stargaze. Living in a city with millions of lights, I don't get a chance to see more than five stars at night. I know, BOOOO HOOOO, Kaya. Sooo, this is my night sky-watching outfit and 2) I look like a gym rat lost in the woods.:

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The first night was terrible (sleeping on the ground is ridiculous (just as Jaya... hint hint)) because we only got 3 hrs. of sleep, collectively, but the next morning... refreshing? I jumped at the chance to cook with the propane grill, which was greaaaat, because the next morning it almost blew up.: 

"I hate you bees! I hate you bees! I hate you bees!" We spent the second day looking around town and sampling the local wares (FYI: the food was turrrrible).:

At a restaurant, Jaya GOT RECOGNIZED. A random lady stopped her and said, "Hey tattoo girl, you look familiar. You're unforgettable, but in a good way." WHAAAAA? Even freakier, this is the second time this has happened to her (the last time: Palm Springs, in a thrift store, by a VS student hair stylist).:

Found a pair of vintage leather boots:

Outfit change. Wearing Jaya's thrifted find:

Last night.:

Last day! Packing up and getting ready to hike Lily Creek:

Laaaaater NATURE!

P.S.: Thanks Idyllwild, CA for treating us SO GOOOOOD.

I love the wilderness... I think.

Image found on google

Me, my sister, and our friend, The Tapper, ARE GOING CAMPING!

When I told my co-worker, he looked at me and said, "You?"

YES, I go camping. WE go camping. The whole of us go camping. Us, and them, and you, the collective "WE" go camping.

Albeit, it's been 10 years since Jaya and I crashed our high school's science club's camping trip to Monterey, CA, BUT IT WAS REAL CAMPING.

S'mores will be had ("Want a s'more?" "Some more of what?" "No, you want a s'more?" "How can I have some more of nothing if I hadn't had anything?" GIVE ME THE NEXT PART OF THAT QUOTE AND WE'LL BFF'S 4 LYYYYYYFE!).

Forests will be hiked.

Picnics will be laid out.

Maybe a 'lil creek fishing dreams will be fulfilled.

Keep your fingers crossed that I don't falll in lusty-love with the woods, go all Walden-style, and abandon civilization... and that Jaya doesn't find her bear boo, hop on it's back and scream, "Take me home, Papa Bear!"

We'll be seeing you sooooon, Idyllwild, CA.

California KNOWS HOW TO PARTY...

Soooo.

This is AWKWARD, huh. I give you a teaser photo of fun happenings then NOTHING.

I went on this totally fun and amazing roadtrip vacation with Jaya and I was soooo hyped to share all the awwwwesome photos when we got back.

That was almost three weeks ago. Ohhhh, I'm shaking my fist at myself! I was going to write some quippy/witty crap like,

"Ohhh, isn't it the pits when people force you to look at their vacation photos? They either have too many landscape/architectural/olde-tyme church things (none of which you care about) or they have too many face photos (and don't get a sense of where they went or what they saw). And they almost NEVER put some kind of description. So, you end up looking at pictures of your 'friend' smiling like a jerk, with some olde-tyme ruins behind them, and you have no idea where they are. Then you start hating them juuuust a little because they got to go somewhere and you didn't. NOOOW HERE'S MY VACATION PHOTOS!!! Enjoy."

Now, I'm not "trying" to make excuses, but be happy that I waited this long to post because I'm pretty sure I could've done 3+ posts of just vacation photos.

Sooo, if you want to give in and look... NOW HERE'S MY VACATION PHOTOS!!

A baby description: Jaya and I drove up the scenic route of the 395, from Los Angeles to Bridgeport, CA, then down to Bishop, CA, then continued on the 190 to Death Valley. I drove approximately 1,200 miles in 3 days.

001/ MANZANAR:

002/ CONVICT LAKE:

003/ LEE VINING, CA/BRIDGEPORT, CA:

004/ BODIE GHOST TOWN:

005/ MONO LAKE, SOUTH TUFA GROVE:

006/ BISHOP, CA.

007/ DEATH VALLEY, CA/MESQUITE DUNES/BADWATER, CA.:

I've spared you the "you-had-to-be-there" jokes and commentary, but if you're interested, I have more photos on my other Flickr account (I wrote more detailed accounts). If you haven't seen it already, watch the video of Jaya and I in Bodie (it's cute; it's funny; the music is weird and frenetic; and Jaya learned how to do alll of the editing in, like, 2 hours time).

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All I gots to say now is, without all its big cities and glaring lights, California is STILL an AMAZING STATE.

In one day, we went from the highest point in California (Conway Summit @ 8,143 ft above sea level) to the lowest (Badwater, CA @ -282 ft below); I drove one of the craziest stretches of roads that was rife with "squiggly line" caution signs and 9% grade inclines [click on the link to see a beautiful panoramic shot]; there were sequoias, redwoods, joshua trees, sand, and salt flats for daaaays.

Old women hassled me the "appropriateness" of my dress. We saw an older French couple that found my keys in Bodie a day later, 300 miles away, in Death Valley. On the way back home from Death Valley, Jaya and I got crazy "lost"- meaning all we had was an incomplete AAA map and a sketchy sense of direction. For a couple hours +, I was shit scared that the car would break down and we'd be desert toast.

Gooood times were had, most definitely.

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**BECAUSE IT'S SOOO GOOD: There was one song that says it best (just replace "Watts", "South Central", and "Compton" with "Lone Pine", "Furnace Creek", and "Trona").

2Pac's California Love:

We loves us a gooood "crick".

We just came back from visiting family in Walnut Creek, CA and it was good times, good times. Tons of eating, a little bit o' swimming, and lots and LOTS of horsing around with our young cuz's (aka Baby Hands McFumbles and Soft Hands McGooo).

I's lookin' like a CREEPER creeping up on my cuz, Baby Hands McFumbles.

WHAT I LEARNED FROM THIS TRIP:

• I HAVE GOTS TO STEP UP MY GAME; I can't let a couple of baby hands beat me at Spoons, Slap Jack, and Kerplunk (aka "Marbles").
• Forecast for the future: I might inherited a CACKLING, earth-shattering laugh.
• Kids don't like to be threatened to be left on a sidewalk to wait for their parents to pick them up.