Summer's End

Will got the job. He got the job!!! He starts on monday at the US Bank in Anacortes. Though I am less than thrilled about him working in town, I am still wildly ecstatic about him being employed. Ideally, he would get a job closer to the 5 freeway, making it easier for us to move out and move on... Since Anacortes is so far west, with nothing but 20 miles farmland between it and the 5, moving away gets tricky. But we'll worry about that later.

In a final attempt to celebrate the short summer we've had here in the Northwest, Will and I decided to go camping. The weather this past week had been really amazing, so why not take advantage of it? So wednesday evening, after work, we drove all the way to the North Cascades to Baker Lake. As we are pulling in to the remote forests of the Cascade Mountains, the last glimmer of light had disappeared behind the trees, leaving us to set up camp with minimal visibility. While we were frustrated that we had spent precious daylight buying last minute junk foods at the local grocery store, we weren't frantic or anxious. Until we realized that all the campsites we either reserved or occupied. My mind flashes back to the phone conversation I had with the park ranger:

"Hi, can I make a reservation for this wednesday?"

"Aw, I'm sorry but you've missed the reservation cutoff for wednesday," he says in a surprisingly Australian accent.

"..."

"We need at least 3 days to reserve a spot for you. But don't worry about it, mate, no one camps during the week," Yep. He's definitely Australian.

"Really? So I just show up, then?"

"Yeah. Half of the camp is reservable and the other half is first come first serve. I don't think you'll have any problems."

"Sweet."

Back in real time, Will and I are growing more and more frustrated as each campsite is marked RESERVED and then a date is tacked to the post OR it is packed full of tents and dogs and kids. Will is getting increasingly more foul mouthed as it gets darker and darker and we have yet to find an available space. Finally, we check a "Reserved" space for the posted dates, and it appears the people have left early. Score!!

I start feeling better immediately, though the forrest gets awfully quiet after dark and it's intimidating. The campers turn in as soon the light dissipates. It's pitch black before you know it. But at least we don't have to sleep in our car! Will, on the other hand is still stressed because we haven't paid for the site... We had some cash on us but we were a few dollars short of the site fee. So we did not fill out the "Camping Permit" as the signs at the park entrance advised, instead we were going to wait until morning to figure everything out. Meanwhile, we are realizing all our camping gear is malfunctioning... Lanterns are busted and folding chairs are collapsing, air mattresses are leaking. All of this caused our mood to plummet. "Let's just go to sleep then," I suggest, hoping that in the morning, all will be well. As we start getting ready for bed, Penny, our tiny Yorkie, starts pulling and tugging on her leash and frantically trying to grasp at something just out of reach. Finally she succeeds and quickly chews whatever it was. I then notice that there are many pieces of what appears to be carne asada strewn everywhere, along with pools of grease by the grill... "Great."

We finally settled in to our tent on our limp mattress, trying to distribute blankets evenly and find a position that was semi comfortable... and from the woods, I hear a low growl/grunt. Penny is panicky and shaky nervous, which in turn, makes me nervous. "What was that?!" I whisper to Will. His response is "Well, we're gonna die. Awesome."

Needless to say, that night was a sleepless one. All night long, we heard shuffling of feet and, heavy breathing and sniffing from inside our tent. We knew better than to have food out in the open, but the greasy meat the previous campers left attracted plenty of wildlife. We woke ("We're alive!") the next morning to find large claw marks in the dirt around our tent. I was incredibly thankful for the dull morning light that cast a gray hugh over the forrest and made last night seem very far away. And even though there was a thick, misty cloud cover hanging above the trees, it was not at all ominous the way rain clouds are. It felt early and still and serene.

After some coffee and a TRUE california style breakfast burrito (soyrizo scrambled eggs, shredded cheese, avocado and Tapatio wrapped in a warm tortilla) We were feeling pretty optimistic about the remainder of the trip... we just needed to find a mini mart with an ATM so we can pay for the site. Now, I feel that in this moment, when I am most certain that all is right in the world, there is a mischievous leprechaun spying on me from the woods, rubbing his stubby hands together and saying "Not so fast, missy!" and then, with his evil magic, he makes everything go awry again. Because no more than 30 seconds of me feeling at ease did I hear Will curse from behind me.

"SHIT!"

"What now?" I want to roll my eyes at his constant over dramatization of everything, but I refrain, knowing it's childish.

He pulls another red "Reserved" slip from behind the Carne Asada Camper's slip. The dates are for today through Sunday. My heart sinks as I realize we have to pack up everything just hours after getting it all set up. I sigh. Then start packing in silence. Damn that imaginary leprechaun!! He ruins everything!!

By the time we get everything back into the car, it's 10 o'clock and all the campers are out and about, making bacon and chasing after their kids. Our plan is simple: Find a grocery store and get cash, buy a map of all the trails in the area, get back to the lake and hope to find a suitable campsite. Now, Will swears there was a mini mart a few miles down the road. Nope. All there is are trees. We realize all too late, that the closest store is at the bottom of the mountain about 20 miles down the road. And as we make our decent, a caravan of SUV's and minivans, fully packed with gear and kids, races up the mountain towards the lake. By the way they were moving, you might think they worked for the FBI on their way to a drug bust. We are screwed.

We finally made it back to the lake, about an hour or so later, to find the camp was crawling with newcomers, claiming their precious reserved spots. With little hope of success, we scoped the rest of the camp.... low and behold, a small site was vacant on the south side of the loop. Like our last campsite, the previous campers at this site also left behind a mess... of cigarettes! These people just flung their butts everywhere, like it wasn't even littering. Like the birds were going to collect them and use them for their nests, or they were going to disintegrate and fertilize the earth with their nutrient rich core. Seriously?! I was peeved. But I got over it. The rat race was over. And if I ever meet that Australian ranger, I am going to punch him in the face for offering such bad advice.

Once we finally got settled for real, it was awesome. Though there are a lot of campers and camp sites, it didn't feel as crowded as it was. We had a lot of room and there were so many trees and ferns that we still felt like we were in the wilderness. Which we were. I have the bug bites to prove it. I knew there were going to be bugs but... it was nuts. And as much as I hate using bug spray, I had no choice. Will read the label on the can and exclaims, "Oh, I see, mosquitos hate poison. The stay away from you because you are covered in poison." True statement. But what can you do? Although, if the mosquitos didn't kill us, the bug spray would. I saw a fellow camper set up a canopy over the picnic table that had netting on all sides to keep the bugs away. I envied that canopy.

So what exactly does one do on a camping trip? If you travel all the way to the beautiful National Forests of the Cascade Mountains, you would do things like kayaking, hiking, bike riding... you know do outdoors-ey stuff. But for me, I like to eat an drink. And then, when I have a good buzz going, I like to explore a little... but nothing too strenuous. I recently discovered that I hate physical activity. Eating is also a favorite pastime of mine. Did I say that already? So Will and I have come up with all these great semi-gourmet-but-mostly-just-awesome camping foods. I will post some awesome recipes soon!!

Smores!!