Another Hurrah For Crappy D

My phone is charging in the car as we drive back to the ferry. While searching for some lunch, we pass by a store called "TOBACCO & Tobacco" that I try to get a picture of and the Crappy D-lay utterly makes impossible.

The ride back is short, and we're back in West Seattle before too long. We see an ad for Alaska Airlines' LAX flights, and I wonder why anyone would want to go there.

Seriously, I know why people would want to go there, but I don't think they should. Do yourself a favor and go somewhere else.

One More Marshmallow

It's finally time to leave. We spend a few hours packing up and are in no rush to get back. I discover, while packing up the food, that dipping marshmallows in peanut butter is very delicious.

On that note, I've had a lot more s'mores this weekend that I typically do. I think I'm enjoying them more as I get older. I was never a big fan before.

The camping spirit is still very alive even as we pack. There's a T.DF in that top tent shot, acting like a giant cat.

The dogs do their part as well, and M&M have a surprising amount of difficulty folding a tent part.

On the way out, I look up and see all the rising smoke from various campsite breakfast fires and just enjoy the visual. There's something incredibly peaceful about the trees, smoke, crackling fire-sounds, and the smell of the woods.

I'll miss it until the next time.

Jammin' Out

We go for a long walk along the beach, where many families are out digging clams. I wish that hunting, fishing, and other such wild-food-acquiring things were part of my upbringing, but I guess that's the downside of a more citified childhood.

If Red Dawn actually ever happens I'll be totally screwed.

There are thousands of sand dollars and mussels and baby crabs running around. As we make our way back, I notice a sign saying one of the beaches is closed for clam-digging due to pollution. Ah, out of the city, but not outside its effect.

I also see this pro-cow sticker.

Meaning Beyond Alliteration?

I've spent a good chunk of the day, totally asleep in my camp chair by the fire. There are few better things.

I notice that two of the chairs (from Target) are "Guildhall Green", and I wonder about the person who thought up the name for that color, and why they chose it. Is there some guild-ish connection with green? Was it just that they both start with "G"?

Who was this mysterious color-naming person? I'm oddly fascinated.

My musings are interrupted by a sudden pressing need to eat more hot dogs.

DEVIL BABY!!!

The smoke and fire are being reflected in M.DF's glasses, and various Rosemary's Baby/Omen/Exorcist discussions arise.

I appreciate the 70s genre of satanic horror, but it doesn't really work so well for me.

To be fair though, Exorcist scared the bejeesus out of me when I saw the redux in 2000.

WetButt

The Grim Reavers have forgotten a tent and have to sleep in the Cyclones' car. Ugh...

It also rains overnight, but isn't miserable wet. Last year there was a lot more rain and it was a lot more inconvenient.

This morning, T.DF sits on the bench by the fire and conveniently soaks up a lot of the moisture.

On an unrelated note, I've brought along a can of corned beef hash that I've been looking forward to. After the morning's bacon has been cooked, I dump the can on the griddle and wait until it's all browned up and awesome. Adding some eggs to the bacon fat as well I've got myself a pretty amazing breakfast.

Granted, once a year is probably enough for this particular combo.

The Grim Reavers

The Cyclones have some friends from Seattle that are coming out to join us for one night. They arrive for dinner, and we have a very pleasant evening gathered around the campfire.

My responsibility for the trip was the beer, and I've got a straight pale ale and a summer rye beer that no one really seems to be drinking but me. Ah, well.

When the friends arrive, we try to figure out a good blog name for them, and after attempting various combinations of their real names, we settle on the Grim Reavers. You would be amazed at how hard it is to get good reaver pictures on The Google, and this was the best I could do. To be fair, Firefly never really showed detailed reaver shots, which was part of their mystery. Sucks for me right not though.

It's not my finest work, I admit.

Served Up Proper

Finding a good swimming location proves difficult. We had wandered along the beach earlier today right near the campground, but the tide was out and the water was very shallow. We find a lake that looks good, but it's private.

Finally, we find another lake that looks perfect. It's big, quiet, and at this point the weather is gorgeous.

While everyone wait along the shore and hangs out, I wander back to a flower-dotted meadow by the water, where I stretch out on a non-goose-turded span of grass with a frisbee for a pillow, pull my cap down over my eyes, and completely crash.

It's exactly what I've been wanting. If anything, it gets slightly hot, but ahhhhhhhh....

Ye Olde Chiropractitionist

M.DF is in triathlon training, and on our way to find a lake for her to go swimming in, we stopped off in town.

While M went to the store, I stopped to get this photo that I had spotted on the way to the campground but not had a chance to take.

I'm not sure I want to visit an old timey chiropractor. Granted, I don't want to visit ANY chiropractor, but especially an old timey one.

A Very Not (Crappy D)ay

Lest you be fooled by my last post, I do actually realize how very non-rustic my camping actually is.

Waking up, my phone is dead, so I've got Crappy D to take over for the rest of the weekend. We make breakfast, which involves bacon and pancakes. I insist on cooking my pancakes in the bacon fat on the fire-griddle, as it was intended to be.

I'm standing by our tent in the first picture, and you can see how many coolers of grub there are allocated to this trip. This is actually a big cut-back from last year, where we literally just ate ourselves into a constant stupor.

It's a little chilly when we wake up, but a few hours later it's turning into a beautiful day.

Stop. Hobotime.

We're the first ones from the group here. Eventually the others trickle in.

With our tent already set up we go to pick up some firewood from a place we saw down the road. It's just some guy's trailer and he's selling some very nice, dry wood out front. We pick up a bunch of it, as much as we can fit in the trunk. The guy is very non-urban, and it's weird to picture being out here NOT on a weekend rustic getaway.

Once we get a fire going back at the campsite, we cook hot dogs on skewers and chill out.

When it comes to dinner, we flip up the grill surface and make burgers. There's a can of beans that insists on being heated in-can on the grill, which I find extremely pleasant.

If I can find a rock to throw in the fire and cook on later I'll be thrilled.

Make It Work Harder

We've arrived at the campground and have a bit of a wander. By the bathrooms is a bulletin board with the usual rules and safety postings. There's also this one for the kids.

I feel like "Eager Beaver" is a bit trite. Is that really the best mascot they could come up with? That's not even trying. And "Eager"? How is that *really* relevant? I get that kids should be eager, but it's kind of annoying me.

I think "Authoritative Bear" would have been better, or even a more kid-targeted "Quiet Clam".

I Command It

Off the ferry and on the local roads for a while, we are oddly implored.

Axes and Cars

I've been singing imaginary lyrics to G'N'R's "Coma" in my head that go "Hey, we're going to Tacoma" (we're not) over and over for a while now.

On a related note, thanks to my brother, I also unfortunately know that in one of his songs, Sir Mix-A-Lot gives a shout-out to his "homies in Tacoma".

I don't think I've been on a Puget Ferry since my first trip out here in 2001 or 2002. I was doing a training for a client in Kitsap, which was a very working-class area and there was nothing to do. I think I ate dinner at the Safeway and at the bar next to my motel. I did however take the ferry back over on my way to the airport and wander around Seattle a little. I remember liking it, which is probably a good thing.

I enjoy the obligatory fire-axe, and the municipal bus that appears to be transporting people on the ferry. Weird.

It's a short trip, maybe a little more than 30 minutes, and most of that is spent loading and unloading cars.

Not I-5

We're going to Penrose Point State Park, which is only 45 miles away, but way far enough to be well outside of anything "city".

There's a ferry that will take us across the sound and that way we can skip I-5, which isn't any fun for anyone.

On the way to the ferry, this car has a green "O'Bama" sticker with a clover graphic that I find amusing.

An Uneasy Alliance

I'm taking Friday off to go camping with M, the Cyclones, and the Dragonfires. It's nice to get out of this week and I'm looking forward to several days of cooking things over a fire and napping in the sun.

M and I pack the night before, which means that M does most of the packing and I try not to get in the way too much. It's important to know your own strengths and weaknesses.

I haven't used Crappy D in a while, mostly because my crappy work-issued phone does double duty as a very crappy camera.

Crappy D has had a self portrait before, so I figured the phone deserved one too. It does not however, get a name.

It has not yet earned one.

BatFang Captured

M is back home, and that's kinda nice.

While chilling at home, after many months of waiting, BatFang appears, ready to wreak havoc on anything unsuspecting that moves itself into BatFang's fat, lazy, and limited reach.

Not Sure Where I Am

That car has spinners.

Brain Glimpse

The day went as expected: difficult, but fine.

Waiting for the bus I saw this paper lying on the sidewalk. I wonder what prompted it...

I'm sometime amazed by how much people want other people to deal with their problems. There's a lot of tendency for people here to hide behind hierarchy. The reverse problem, people in power who don't properly enable their reports to handle problems is equally baffling to me.

I mean, I'm not really baffled, but come on...deal with your own issues and don't go crying to anyone unless you've given it a good shot yourself or you actually need them to provide guidance or assistance.

Dressing Up For Dressing Down

Bagels aside, yesterday was actually a very rough day, compounded, no doubt, by my lack of sleep. I have a lot of things to deal with today, so I'm wearing my more professional black stuff rather than the slightly more casual brown stuff.

They're not particularly stressful problems, just annoying ones. I'd simply rather not have to deal with them, especially since some of them are my fault.

I'll fix them though. Don't worry.