Sunday, November 11, 2007

Big Sur, CA with Skinner, Yiming, Jon and Jason

By the end of the day on Monday I was ready to go. It took every bit of my willpower to I went home and packed and packed and prepped food and prepped food...

Friday morning it was a bit more of a rush than I thought. It started with me hacking my finger and so I ran around packing with one usable hand. Jason dropped his tent by and my mom brought over a few odds and ends that I had forgotten in Benicia. Loaded up the car and headed out.
Driving down the coast was amazing. I haven't driven down all the way down the coast in daylight in years. The California coast still takes my breath away. I pulled into a turn out and stood at the edge of the cliff. It only took a moment to be lost in the curvature of the horizon. I have never found another place where I feel like I am standing on the edge of the world. I needed so badly to escape from my thoughts, even if just for a moment. Getting down to the campsite made me smile. Remembering time spent in that very site with Dori, and nearby with Baldwin, Sarah, Matt, Jason and Mark, the gorge with my family, the memories flooded back.
I set up the tents fast and unloaded the firewood etc. It was dark before I knew it and so I sat down to read. The family camping next to our site invited me over for dinner. They were very nice and it was great to have some company.
The rest of the gang showed up around ten. They had some minor car problems that had slowed them down. I was so happy to see all of them. We had finally arrived! Some beers and a few hot dogs around the fire and the stress of the week completely melted away.

The next morning I was up at eight and everyone else soon followed (with some resistance). Jon melted his super-dooper camping fork making bacon and we all sat around the fire eatting eggs, bacon, and crossants friend in butter and honey.
We left soon after for Buzzard's Roost, a three mile hike round trip... uphill. After a couple of weeks without running I was more than game! Racing to the top the view ended up being anticlimatic but the breeze was worth it. The treck back down was easy and we were back at camp before we knew it. Jon took off to get some things that I forgot. Hey, it was bound to happen. When he got back we all decided to go to the beach. It was spectacular. Everyone split off to explore on their own. Of course, I ended up in the water. I rolled up my jeans but my attention soon strayed and I was soaked. There was a great rock formation and tide pools. After a while we all met back up and ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with a bottle of red. After sunset we drove back and I went for a short dip in the river. I do it everytime I'm there. It being November doesn't change anything. I went to take a shower and came back to a nice big fire.

We cooked dinner. It was damn good if I do say so myself! Chicken and veggies cooked in foil over the fire. Some lively conversation and beers passed the time as the rain moved in and then really started to dump. Around nine we decided to call it a night. Skinner, Yiming and I were in my parents' old tent. It leaked like crazy! I was able to catch a few hours of sleep before getting up to go to work.
In the morning the weather hadn't passed so almost everything that I loaded into my car was wet. The frosting on the cake was Jon's stove not lighting, gah! No coffee!

Three hours later and I was at Earl's for work. Gobbed in mud and smelling of campfire smoke I welcomed a new week.


Back to the grind...











1 comment:

Lisa Meyerhardt said...

Heeey! Wow, what a GORGEOUS trip! It looks like you had a great time .. despite the lack of coffee and leaky tent. ;-)