11 for 2011: Camp in a New Place

The perfect opportunity for us to try a new camping place came about when I was tasked to conduct a training in Ridgecrest, which is pretty much in the middle of no where.  But it was only an hour away from Lake Isabella, and work was paying for my mileage, so I definitely had to take advantage. 

The view from the visitor's center.  This particular welcome center was the most paltry of any that I had ever been to in terms of resources, but at least the view was pretty!

This was the first camping trip in which we didn't book any sites ahead of time.  Since it was relatively early in the camping season, Easter weekend, and the tail end of spring break, we knew that most sites wouldn't be at full capacity, so Jerry decided it was best to just drive around and find a campground that we'd click with.  Also, there wasn't much on the internet about Lake Isabella to help us make an informed and detailed decision anyhow.  (If you know Jerry, he is very meticulous in his research about picking a campsite- he'll actually go to Google Maps to view the site and to determine the proximity to bathrooms/water/trash etc.)

After passing up a handful of camping grounds around the lake, we ended up at Tillie Creek.  It was well maintained and pretty clean.  We were warned that it could get pretty windy at Lake Isabella so we made sure our own site had lots of trees.  Our site was awesome in nearly every way- except we didn't think that we'd end up with such terrible neighbors to the right.  All was quiet and peaceful- we had just finished up setting up camp when an SUV rolled up next to us blasting head-banger heavy metal music.  It was so bad that the folks two campsites away got annoyed too.  Not only did they have lousy taste in music, but they also were the "trying to be cool" types with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other.  Ugh.  Such posers.  Anyways, I have the bigger mouth and more confrontational attitude in the relationship, so I got to be bad cop and walk over to tell them to turn it down.  It was so loud that they couldn't even hear me.  They turned it like, SLIGHTLY down.  And male jerk #2 muttered not so quietly, "Don't be mad, neighbor" in a mocking tone.  Oh no they didn't.  But I let it go.  For the time being. 

The rest of evening #1 was quite nice.  Male jerk #1 came over and apologized for the music and said "oh we're actually quiet and respectful campers, sorry about the music earlier."  Alright, peace offering, I was satisfied with that.  (For the time being.)  We cooked a really tasty dinner, explored the campground via our bikes, and then had the BEST CAMPING SHOWER EVER.  I mean seriously Tillie Creek campground rocks for their FREE SHOWER with PERFECT TEMPERATURE and STEADY WATER PRESSURE.  And throughout night #1 instead of head-banger music, they were playing 80s classics!  The neighbors had redeemed themselves (for the time being). 

Day 2:

We drove around the lake and stumbled upon Campground 9, which was the perfect place to ride our bikes!  We had discovered the evening before that many of the trails near the lake weren't suited for biking as it was quite sandy and full of water filled ditches.  Campground 9 was perfect- paved, barely any cars or people (just some folks fishing) and had such gorgeous views.  I got in a lot of practice- over 10 miles! 

 

Along Sierra Hwy, there are a lot of horses and cows.  I asked Jerry to briefly stop so I could snap some shots.  One of the horses was super friendly and such a camera ham!  The other one (with the white mane) just wanted to eat haha.

So things got really interesting, or worse depending on the way you see it, after we settled into our tent for the night.  Instead of the nice 80s music from the night before, they continued blasting the heavy metal junk since the late afternoon.  On top of that, they were talking so loudly that you could hear everything they were saying on top of the music.  And it was not the most thrilling or scintillating conversation either.  Examples:

Chicken:

Female jerk: I'm making chicken.  How much chicken?  Do you want some chicken?  There's leftover chicken.  What should I do with the chicken?

Pillow:

Male jerk #1: Dude, that was my F'ing pillow!  Why'd you throw my pillow over there? Bro, that sucks what you did my pillow.  F you. 

Male jerk #2: Laughing uncontrollably.

Their own dog barking:

Dog: Bark bark.

Male jerk #2:  SHUT IT!

Dog: Bark bark.

Male jerk #2: Be quiet!

Dog: Bark bark.

Make jerk #2: SHUT the F UP!

(We actually don't mind dogs barking as it's natural for them to bark.  Funny how that was the one noise that they couldn't stand.)

Jumping over the fire pit while taking pictures:

Male jerk #1: I'm going to jump, you better take the picture.

Female jerk: I TOOK THE PICTURE!

Make jerk #1: No you didn't!  Do it again, you better do it right!

Male jerk #2: Dumbass, you didn't use flash!

Female jerk: Just shut up and jump again so I can take the F'ing picture!

It's too much to type, but imagine this particular conversation to go on for many more excruciating minutes.

At one point during the night, I couldn't stand it any longer and shouted out, "SHUT UP!!!!"  And for a glorious moment, it was silent.  For the time being.

And then:

Male jerk #2: You be quiet!

Me: Have some F'ing respect!  

Male jerk #1: Bitch!

Me: So much for being quiet and respectful campers!  

Female jerk: You shut it!

Male jerk #2: Let's turn on the music even louder.  (They actually turned it off completely a little bit later on, so go figure.)

Maybe I should have gotten up and walked over and politely told them to be quiet, but after dealing with a whole afternoon/evening of head banger music and on top of that trying to ignore their absolutely terrible meaningless conversations, I just had it and blew up (from the safety of my tent, no less).  Stupid jerks.  They are totally the reasons why people think Americans are so ugly.  Of course, while I was riding on my wave of bravado, Jerry was scared that they were gonna come over and vandalize our campsite.  So after giving me a proverbial pat on the back for speaking up, he then implored me to not say anything more.  Needless to say, I slept like crap the rest of the night.

The next morning we woke up fairly early, around 6:30.  Simultaneously packed up and cooked breakfast.  We could have been loud and obnoxious, but there were other campers around us, and it didn't seem fair to impose noise on our non-jerky neighbors.  We hopped into the truck and drove away just as they were getting out of their tent.  See ya NEVER jerks!  Enjoy your cancer sticks and beer. I heard that lung and liver cancer are real treats.

I don't want to end on a bitter note, because we actually had a nice time overall.  We cooked tasty food, got in lots of great biking, had beautiful weather, and the cherry on top were the nice hot showers.  The drive back was relatively short and scenic.  (I say this because Sundays usually mean a long and dreary 5-7 hour drive back, whether it's leaving Vegas, Union City, Yosemite, Death Valley, etc.) 

We were able to check out the Red Rock Canyon State Park.  It's so pretty!

Jerry took the opportunity to "gas" up the truck.  We generally bring extra gas on camping trips, and it was especially handy this wknd as we knew Costco was closed on Sunday.

More pretties:

Our final stop was at the Mojave Air and Space Port.  Worth a quick drive around, if you've got time to spare.

4 down, 7 to go!

Looking Forward To, Spring Edition

I haven't done one of these in a while!  Yesterday's post was a bit of a downer so I thought I'd write about some things that I'm looking forward to. *all images via google*

We haven't been home since the holidays, so it'll be great to see familiar faces.  I also am quite excited to squeeze in a visit to Ike's Place at the Stanford location.  I haven't had an Ike's sammie since 2008! 

I have to conduct an upcoming training in a very rural area and it works out perfectly that Lake Isabella is an hour or so away, so Jerry and I decided to turn the work opportunity into a camping trip.  It's probably going to still be chilly, but I'll think of it as a primer to our someday-to-be-planned-snow-camping-trip.  I <3 camping. 

Unique LA is back next month and is an event that I always look forward to twice a year.  This time I'm taking my friend C who's never been!  C nabbed a BBE coupon for the Gorbals so we're combining both outings into one.  I can't wait to try that sticky toffee pudding!

Jerry and I are hosting Mother's Day at our place this year.  I love hosting parties and even though it's a potluck, I'm looking forward to planning the menu.  Also, I'm going to attempt to keep this party soda free, we'll see how that turns out!

My oldest friend S is getting married this spring!  We have known each since we were 3 and 4 years old (we were neighbors), and our moms are old friends as well.  I am very excited to attend their wedding and am looking forward to all the crafty projects and personal touches that she has in store for her guests.  Can't wait to celebrate with S&E! 

I am super excited to visit S&A and explore Seattle through my eyes and tummy.  Long distance friendships suck!  What would we do without gchat? :(

Oh boy.  This will be interesting.  Has anyone does this before?  Please share tips/experiences/etc.

It's going to be a fun spring!  What are you looking forward to this spring?

Japan

I haven't addressed it here in this blog, but for readers who don't know me personally, we were supposed to be in Japan all last week, coming home tonight.  We had booked our flights last June (I know...we plan THAT FAR ahead of time *shrug*), made all our hotel reservations, and were in the midst of scouting things to eat, do, and see.  Then, unless you had been living under a rock, this happened.  Given the tragic circumstances and collateral damage, there was no way that we could continue on our trip.  Besides the practical and safety reasons, it just didn't feel right to go on holiday and play tourist while many people were suffering so immediately.  Instead, we went back to work and carried on, put forth airline refund requests, canceled accommodation reservations, donated to relief efforts (Jerry's company 100% matches donations, yay), and spent spare moments here and there reading about the progress, struggles, and stories (loved this story) of what was going on in Japan. 

The majority of folks that I talked to were in agreement that we did the right thing, and that they would have done the same themselves.  However a small minority brought up a point that that did cross my mind: "Don't you think that they need an economy boost so that they can recover?"  We also recieved this email in reply to one of our hotel cancellations:

Thank you very much for your email.
We have accepted your cancellation and we totally understand your concern.
*There is no cancellation fee due to the circumstances.
Just in case, we’d like to inform you the latest situation about the risk of traveling to Japan.    
Needless to say, we do not recommend visiting areas within 30km of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex. To avoid unwanted worries, we recommend following the 80km guideline given out by US, UK and Korea. However, for other areas of Japan(Kyoto is 500km from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex), we want you to understand that it is safe to travel, even now.
Gregory Hartl, the spokesman of the World Health Organization (WHO) interviewed in United Nations Office at Geneva and gave comment about the radiation level in Tokyo does not represent health hazard.http://www.who.int/en/ As for Kyoto, we do not have any direct damage from the earthquake, tsunami or nuclear power plant.We are located 500km west of Tokyo and the nuclear power plant in Fukushima is 200km north east of Tokyo.
*Italian newspaper recently announced that the radiation level in Tokyo is 0.04ms (which is lower than that of Rome 0.25ms).
*NOTE: Rome's radiation level is absolutely safe.http://www.rainews24.it/it/news.php?newsid=151021

For Japan to recover quickly from this disaster, we kindly ask travelers to maintain the usual visits to Japan.We, as an hostel, are very much willing to support northeast Japan. However, if all the tourists are gone from Japan, we can no longer exist.(Unable to support them or even ourselves.)
For this reason, your visit to Japan in April, May, or anytime soon is very much welcomed and needed to support Japan.
*Excessive warnings by the foreign media is slowing this this down. If this continues 2 to 3 months, Japanese people and companies will no longer able to support each other, financially.
If you could ever rethink about your cancellation of your trip to Japan, please do it for us.Your support is very much appreciated. 
Thank you very much for you time and support.Best regards from Japan,
Capsule Ryokan Kyoto

Sigh.  I'm sad that small businesses (further away from the devastated regions) that depend on the tourist economy to survive are financial victims of the collateral damage.  I was pretty bummed for a while- disappointed that I couldn't go, and sad of the impact on small businesses because people such as myself weren't going.  I really, really want to visit Japan in the future to help them recover.  Now may not be the time, but Jerry and I surely see a trip there in our future.

On a sort of related note, my in-laws' Mediterranean cruise recently got rerouted from Egypt to Turkey, and back in 2001, my mom, grandma, and I were due to fly out of Berlin a couple days after 9/11 happened.  Needless to say, many flights were canceled and we had to extend our stay for another week.  Our 24 hour flight home looked like this: TXL-ZRH-SFO-LAX.  Whew, that was quite a memorable journey!  It felt so good to finally be home (and then a few days later, I moved into Rieber Hall).

Have you ever had to cancel or make changes for a trip due to unforeseen circumstances?

32

Dear Jerry,

Happy birthday, husband!   Your gift this year: I finally re-learned how to ride a bike in an open space with no moving objects. 

Just kidding!  You can go to Sports Authority later and pick out whatever you want. :) 

Love,

Your wife

11 for 2011: Go to a Sporting Event

A little over a week ago, Jerry and I attended the Kings vs. Sharks game at Staples, thanks to Groupon.  Have I mentioned how much I love Groupon?  Cus we paid 33 bucks for a 200 level seat.  No fees.  This is where we ended up sitting instead:

I generally hate buying tickets online because you get hit with all sorts of fees.  Sometimes the Ticketmaster or Live Nation fees end up costing more than the actual ticket itself!  I think that happened with my old roomie C with a concert in Irvine?  C- correct me if I'm wrong?  Anyways, so I was verrrrrry pleased to find that Groupon didn't stack any additional fees, AND we got upgraded to section 106, row 6!  In lieu of seats, rows 1-3 were basically an open space for video/photographers, so we were technically in row 4, even better!  Despite all their equipment, the vid/photogs were never really in our way. 

To give you some background, this was Jerry's first hockey game, and my second.  I also attended a Kings vs. Sharks game back in 2003 with a college pal.  No those were not our seats, haha.  We got there so early that we were able to come all the way down to watch warm ups.  Our seats were actually in the 300s, nosebleeds.  Come to think of it, I paid around 30 bucks then, too! 

Teemuuuuuuu when he was a Shark. 

 

Our actual seats back in 03.  Jerry, you were spoiled this time!

To give you even more background, I was a pretty die hard hockey fan in high school, despite having never been to a game then and not having cable at home.  Nope, I followed my teams the old fashioned way...via radio.  Here's some blasts from the past:

Yep, I was so excited that I would write a play-by-play in my high school diary.  Fun times.

Okay back to the present.  So it was a really fun game, the scoring was back and forth, and lots of exciting goals, including a Sharks goal that tied the game with literally 3 seconds to go!  Jerry was so excited.  Here are some pictures, enjoy!

 

The only annoying thing was this couple that sat right in front of me that had major PDA.  Tongue, saliva, and all.  I was relieved that during the second period, it turned out they were so stupid that they sat in the wrong seats, so they ended up moving to their actual seats to make out there.

Who drank more beer during the game?  Hehe.

It was a fantastic way to spend a Thursday night, and I don't think we'll get as good of a deal ever again, with a great overtime/shoot-out game to boot.  Now excuse me while I go write in my diary.

Just kidding...blogger is my diary now. :)

3 down, 8 to go!