Impromptu Camping

On Friday I was pleased to discover that Mike had a free weekend. "No big deal", you might say to yourself, dear reader. However, I assure you it is a big deal. You see, Mike goes to a school that requires absolute allegiance. You must be photographing, developing photographs or talking about photographs all of your waking hours, all semester. The only saving grace is that he loves it. I was thrilled with the idea of being able to go on an adventure that wasn't focused on photography.

My very first instinct was CAMPING. It has been so beautiful the past few weeks that my mind has been drifting to all of the fun activities that summer brings. When I suggested camping, Mike didn't point out the obvious flaws in my plan, (i.e. we only really had 24 hours, it was last minute, and we didn't know anywhere to go) but instead was excited by the idea.

We decided to go to Malibu Creek State Park, which is barely thirty miles from my front door, but offers beautiful green things that L.A. proper seems to lack. (Aside from my awesome garden that is ...)

Mike and I took off Saturday morning with all our gear packed up. We were lucky and they had a camp site available for us. We set up camp and went on a hike down around the river, and up to above Mulholland Drive. The views were beautiful!

Mike showed off his Oregonian roots by sprinting up hills. I went for the very (very) slow approach. But I got there in the end.

We returned to our camp tired but happy to have discovered such a beautiful place so nearby. I got to utilize my Girl Scout fire building skills, and Mike cooked up some delicious hot dogs. There is something so special about sitting around a campfire. People get more philosophical, they share more, and bask in the essental human-ness of gathering 'round a fire. *bliss*

After getting crushed at Gin Rummy, and reading maybe two pages of my book I fell asleep soundly asleep. Mike was not so lucky. You see two of our neighboring campsites were having celebrations. . . parties you might say. Mike and I giggled a little about how loud they were while we enjoyed our hot dogs, and muttered at how loud they were when we played cards. I was certain that by 10pm (park quiet hours) they would tone it down. I was asleep by no later than 9:45 last night. (Hiking is hard, okay?) Apparently the quiet hours inspired the groups to get even louder. Mike was wide awake, I continued to sleep. The Ranger came and asked the to be quiet, but they continued on. Mike was unable to sleep, I was sawing them off. The Ranger asked again, and again they partied on. Then the people were ARRESTED.

That's right. ARRESTED. I slept though two drunk men being arrested twenty feet from me. According to Mike they resisted arrest and backup in the form of the sheriff had to be called before they went off into the night. I might have a sleeping disorder. That certainly can't be evolutionarily advantageous. Once that one group had people arrested, apparently they other party campers took it as a sign that they should bump up the volume. Mike reports their favorite slogan was "It's my birthday!", from an increasingly drunken girl. They didn't stop until SIX-A.M. Yikes.

So while our day spent hiking was delightful, the actual sleeping portion of our adventure had mixed results. Poor Mike had to nap away much of a beautiful Sunday in order to recover from his (literally) sleepless night. However, we've discovered a great camp site close by that hopefully we'll return to throughout the approaching summer season. I can't wait to get back there, I just hope next time we have better neighbors.

~Claire Out.