birthday

hello so now i think i can write about my weekend.

it started with about 12 of my friends and i hiking 3miles in the heat into point reyes to picnic and swim at bass lake. we had cheeses and wines and frosty cold mini beers and bread and apples. and floaties. and the lake was a little colder than i remember it from before but it was fun to swim around or floatie around and watch the boy woop it up off the rope swing.

we hiked back out and we were supposed to drive to the sierras that night but we got home so late we decided to go to sleep and get up early

so sunday morning we got up at 7:30 and packed the truck with our backpacks and the cooler and assorted stuff. got our coffee and hit the road. we took a different longer route this time for scenery sake. there will be pictures . the drive was hot and full of california golden fields and rivers and canyons. we arrived at his fam's house in the afternoon where we lounged around in the sun on the lawn with the doggie-head. had salmon and new potatoes and corn on the cob for dinner. and sat in the hot tub under hte stars while he pointed out constellations in the summer sky for me.

the next morning we spent getting packed up for the backpacking trip. i haven't backpacked in years:

[ an aside: as a child my mother was (as she still is) an english teacher.. she now teaches high school but then taught middle school. this was in vermont. and she ran an elective program called Project Pinnacle. she was in her 20's at the time and i was .. well, born when she was 19, so do the math. anyway. by the time i was 7 i was learning to use a compass, backpack, rock climb and winter camp. we didn't car camp it just wasn't done. so, from 7 through about 15, i was constantly in the wilderness. sleeping in tents, sleeping on the ground. and then somewhere along the line.. it got too lonely for a teenager. i cared less as a child. i felt resentful. i missed my bed. i missed people. i wasn't having fun anymore. and i rebelled and wouldn't go so much anymore . ]

monk took the bulk of the weight because he wanted my first time back with a big pack to be comfortable, plus it being my birthday. it wasn't entirely fair and next time we'll have none of that.

we packed in a bottle of special red wine. and my floatie . and cheese and salami and apples and trail mix and mac n cheese.

i fell right back into the pre-rebellion familiarity with backpacking. and i could carry more, for sure. and i like backpack hiking almost more than normal hiking because there's this sense of purpose to it. you're going somewhere and there's a goal at teh end and when you're there you get to stay. and sit and sleep and swim outside. and make dinner under the stars. and i had weird nostalgia moments of being 8. i don't just mean remembering, but like that feeling you get when you smell a certain smell or hear a certain song. i could *feel* my childhood.

i felt peaceful and comfortable and happpy. boogie on the other hand was a little too cold at night. too hot during the day and got really tiresome with the whole needing to dominate rocks thing. monk was happy excedpt when he got nasty splinters under his nail or he wanted to throw boogie in the lake . (that dog can be so neurotic and annoying. but i do love him)

we had white trash special for dinner. shells and cheddar with tuna. and syrah. we didn't use the tent but instead slept on a flat area between rocks near the edge of the lake. when lifting ones head one saw water and sky and trees and overhead the milky way oh my. so many stars.

we swam and were naughty and floatied and jumped from rocks and sat in the sun.

we had oatmeal and coffee for breakfast and an apple.

my birthday was peaceful and some old me re-emerged and now i dont' have to fear but instead know it's a part of me still and something i want in my future.

backpacking, i mean.

and monk.

we packed back out. stopping at grass lake on the way out to have a quick dunk .. then back to the house for clean up , repack truck, and a quickie hot tub for me.

we got home really damn late. 1am, i think. but it was a loverly weekend and except for injuries to my boys i wouldn't have had it any other way.

and here are some pictures.

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