It actually all started out looking like everything was going our way. We were first daunted with the task of trying to fit five people, all of the camping gear AND climbing gear all into a Honda Civic. But we succeeded! Of course we all (except for Derrick, the driver) had something stowed behind our feet, in between our legs, and on our lap, and were basically squished in like sardines. But it was only going to be a three hour drive, right?
Well lets get straight to where things went wrong. To start, we were not allowed into Canada.
We were (supposedly) randomly picked to be one of those unlucky cars made to pull over for further inspection. Strike one. Standing in line, the next available agent was Mr. Asshole-the-size-of-Texas. Strike two. I have a lack of respect for assholes, this guy lives and breaths for his power-trips, and there is a bullshit rule on the books written only in an attempt to gain more money. Strike three.
Strike three will be detailed in another blog, but regardless, we did not make it into Canada. Oddly enough, upon explaining to the US border control agent on our way back why we had only been in Canada for an hour, he just shrugged, but then excitedly gave us directions to a place where we could find rock climbing on this side of the border. We decided to give it a go, and thus continue our comedy of errors, the rest of which I think I will tell in pictures. But first...
We ate some lunch before heading back towards Seattle and three prospective campgrounds.
Unfortunately we got to the first campsite five minutes too late and we could not find the second one, so we settled on the third. After setting up the tent we headed out to find a grocery store. But...
We got a little lost. Partially due to bad directions and partially due to some pretty bad ass fog.At one point while rolling through one of the 100 people or less towns along the freeway, we happened upon some locals. Note to self, never, never, ever again, talk to the locals. The mother and child duo we happened upon had the same monotone voice and hollow stares as the children of the corn, and despite all of our attempts to find out where they themselves got groceries, they kept eerily beckoning us to go to the restaurant. We decided that we did not want to find out what they did with out-of-towners at the "restaurant."
We eventually found a grocery store and now after not three, but nine hours in the car...
We did what anyone would have done.
We started drinking.
Really drinking. :)Oh. But first we had to start a fire. Uh, but we forgot to bring any kindling or paper to start the fire. No problem. We have the paperwork and forms given to us by the 40 year old virgin, Canadian border patrol agent from hell. :)
The next morning we thought we had started anew and could handle anything fate threw at us. This feeling prevailed through our realizing that we had forgotten to buy cups at the grocery store for our coffee.
So we used used last night's beer bottles (rinsed out of course).Sufficiently caffeinated we headed out to do some rock climbing.
Except there was one small problem. (Are you starting to see a trend here?)
The rocks were too wet from rain to climb. Doh!We explored the area looking for any dry spot to climb but only found moss, mushrooms, a frog, and...
A door?I shit you not. We found a huge door set in the middle of the cliff face, and yes, with a picnic bench parked outside. There was a humming sound coming from the other side of the door but all electric cables leading out of the rock were severed and not live. The entire thing was covered in layers of rust and tagging, yet, the door had a brand-new padlock on it. Cue eerie music.
(We later found found out that this had been a testing site for a giant drill that may have been used to dig the chunnel. Did they use it? How far in did they get? And what is the noise coming from inside? Nope, the above explanation is all the man could tell anyone.)
Well after coming to the realization that the main reason for our camping trip was now a no-go, we headed back to the campsite. But not before stopping to pick up some vodka. Oh, and a tarp, because it had started to rain.
Yep. That is a picture of Matt, Melissa and Hillary trying to light a campfire under and umbrella.What you can not see is the rest of us trying to put up tarps over the BBQ and table, in the middle of the rain, at a campsite with trees only on one side. The resulting lean-to style seemed to work just fine though.
That all being done, we decided to start drinking again.
We did luck out in the fact that our immediate neighbors on either side did not show up the first night because of the rain (silly them), and the next night did not really care about us being loud and obnoxious.I lucked out in the fact that Hillary is a very understanding person and did not mind when I accidentally tried to climb into bed with her husband, Chris. Word to the wise, before it is dark and you are drunk, pop your head into the tent and take notice of where your sleeping bag is located. With six other people in the tent, you have poor odds at picking the right one.
The next day we decided to go on a hike to see some waterfalls, and everything was going great.
Until Derrick mentioned something about it not raining anymore.
It was a beautiful hike though and we saw some beautiful waterfalls and a mouse half the size of your thumb.We decided to cut our camping trip short a day and head back to Seattle to have a night on the town, a nice dinner, and do some sight-seeing the next day.
Dinner and a night on the town went great. Sight-seeing? Well besides the unseasonably cold weather and most tourist spots being closed on Labor Day (go figure) we had a blast walking around, uh, looking at things... that were closed...
We spent the rest of our time doing what any Seattler would do. Drinking coffee and sitting out in the misty weather.
The end. :)
