that's me on top of mt langley, some 14,042 feet above sea level. i crawled up there this past weekend, when i done gone backpacking for the first time and lived to tell about it!
i uploaded a whole mess of pictures from the trip on my flickr in case you care to see more. i had a fantastic time all around. i hope to elaborate on the experience as it soaks in.
in the mean time, have a fine september, everyone!
that was taken yesterday, when jg and i went for a late afternoon stroll on miramar beach. it had been a while since we've been to the beach. seeing how we just spent a weekend above 10,000 feet elevation, jg thought it would be good to remind ourselves of sea level.
according to the gps on our trusty phones, sea level is at approximately 131 feet. did you know?
tiny starfish, missing a few parts but alive
the tide was the lowest we had ever seen at miramar, so we went as far as we could, which mapped out to be 1.4 miles.
waffles can't be far
exposed rocks strewn with hollow lobster heads
what happens when the jump rope is too short
oh no, mr bill!
starlight express
a nice place to hang
a remnant trick from skating days
by the end of the 2.8 mile stroll, the bottom of our feet were thoroughly spotty with tar. sure was nice to get our feet wet again.
one 75% duck down standard pillow: $39
one middle aged guy with an adolescent sense of humor: priceless
that's a pillow i bought on an impromptu trip to ikea yesterday. we had gone to camarillo to meet up with jg's former step mom. it was a treat as we rarely get to see her.
jg and his other mom, kathy
after the reunion, we managed to do a little shopping. by we i mean jg. he actually bought two sweaters for gay men from jcrew.
funny how i had to pull his teeth to get him to go inside jcrew. he only agreed because i have a gift card for it. turned out i forgot to bring the card. when we went to pay, the cashier asked jg a series of questions, one of which was, "did someone help you find these [sweaters]?"
schmee: his wife.
jg: yes, my wife helped me.
so... anyway, it was inside this i've-died-and-gone-to-martha's-vineyard store that i learned of jg's spontaneous plan to go to ikea. "it's only 47 miles from here." okay, thanks for the heads up.
these vases aren't nearly white enough
we got everything we needed and more from the swedish big box. the princess cake was terrible, but the shopping was successful, except for the near scuffle i had with a fellow shopper.
before i got to the check out counter, i parked the cart at an empty spot and waited for jg. (he had gone to fetch multiple big furniture parts.) i sat on an empty couch some four feet away from the cart. within minutes a pasty house wife in full yoga attire approached my cart. i looked at her and said, "oh, that's my cart." she paused for a moment and proceeded to comb through the cart.
so i stood up and declared again: this cart is mine. she continued combing, saying casually, "just looking. i'm not gonna take anything."
schmee: well go look elsewhere before i force you into downward facing dog!
no, i didn't say that, but i did have to pull the cart away to stop her. i would have willingly engaged in fisticuffs to protect my cart. no one is going to mess with sh*t that i just wasted an hour collecting!
on the way home i made jg stop by target. did you know that the target in oxnard closes at 11 pm? we went to the one in ventura; it closed at 10.
