Monday, August 23, 2004
Post-weekend bliss
As you may or may not be aware, the NoodleDog and I went “camping” this weekend with The Guy (his name is Rob, for clarification’s sake). It was, in a word, fantastic.
We left town Friday afternoon and met up in Cochrane for a quick bite to eat. The NoodleDog stayed in the Tiny Car and didn’t even complain about it. The top was down because it wasn’t raining, and I made a vow not to put it up until I had to. I was forewarned that we’d be traveling a dusty road by Mark & Jen (some of Rob’s friends who we met in Cochrane), but I remained stubborn and left the top right where it should have been – down.
We headed out to the Waiporous area, and sure enough, the road was REALLY dusty. It was still warm-ish out, though, so I couldn’t very well put the top up. The NoodleDog got covered in dust like you wouldn’t believe – he looked pretty funny. I had bought him some doggles the day before, and tried to put them on him on Friday before we left, but they were of a poor quality and he didn’t like them at all. One of the straps broke very easily so I will have to return them tomorrow. I bet he wished he hadn’t rejected them when we were on that gravel road, though.
We got to the campsite ("Ghost Airstrip"), and first thing, a new dog came to see us. Sancho was his name, and he was a husky type of dog with one ear all bent over – pretty cute. He took kind of a shine to the NoodleDog, which I tried to ignore. The NoodleDog was let out of his harness so he could go and play with the other dogs. He never even looked back at me. Rob set up the camper on some “uneven” ground. He swears it was even, I say it was a little crooked. What do I know? I’ve never been “camping” before.
I tried to help as best I could, handing him things out of the camper, like a table, a barbecue, a propane lamp, pink flamingoes, etc. so he could set it up more easily. Mark & Jen were parked right near us, and his other friends were off a little ways away all around. Once everything was set up, we made our way over to the fire to see who was around. Before it got dark, Rob offered to take me for a quad ride.
Now, I hadn’t really stopped to take a look around before then, but when we got onto the quad, I had an opportunity to really see where we were, and to observe the unrelenting beauty of our surroundings. I mean, this place was fantastic. I guess it’s not technically “The Mountains”, but more foothills, so the landscape is a little more forgiving and less harsh. The Mountains have a kind of cold magnificence to them that you cannot help but respect and be amazed by. The foothills are a little more realistic – forest, hills, streams – and seem just a shade softer and more inviting.
The NoodleDog really liked the quad. So much so that he kept leaping at it, chasing it and barking the whole way. I think Rob called him a “tire-biter”, which is apparently a bad thing. He ran pretty hard, though, and he seemed pretty happy to be doing it. We didn’t go far that evening, just enough to take a look around, and made our way back to the fire afterwards.
I have to say that Rob’s friends are really, really great. There’s Mark & Jen, who are engineers and have a brand-new baby (who they brought camping and we never heard from – she was great!). Jen is really nice, and I spent a lot of time chatting with her. There’s Rob & Lori and their little girl. There’s Joel & Steph, and their little boy. There’s Chris and Paula, who have two kids (Lexis and Zach) who love quadding. They actually live in the same town as I do, which is kind of neat. I talked with Paula a bunch, and she’s terrific. His friends were welcoming, and as soon as I got there, all my nervousness and trepidation disappeared, quickly replaced by excitement and the discovery of new people, with lots of laughter and shouts of “me too!” as we planted ourselves on common ground.
People slowly began to leave the fire as the night went on, and I found myself getting more and more tired. When my eyes started to close on their own, I headed back to the camper to bed. The NoodleDog stayed up late and played, and made friends around the fire.
The next morning we got up and made breakfast. Rob is a big fan of bacon, so he and I will get along just fine. He says it’s not “crispy”, the way he likes it, but I thought it was kind of crispy in my books. He says that “crispy” is when it’s so cooked it breaks if you snap it. I guess he might be right – maybe it was just “chewy”. Either way, he cooked it perfectly. We relaxed, sitting around in the sunshine (while there was sunshine – it was short-lived). We waited for his friend, Nasser, to arrive so we could all go quadding. Apparently, that’s the action of the weekend – quadding. Nasser brought his tiny puppy Murphy, who is a 2-month old chocolate lab and VERY cute, and when they got set up, we all took off. We shut the NoodleDog and Cooter in the camper so they wouldn’t chase us when we left.
Rob got us stuck in the mud pretty early on, which was kind of funny. That was the only time we got stuck, although I understand he was “holding back”, tipped off by the ribbing the other guys gave him. Some of the others got stuck in the mud several times, but since there was a group of us, it was no problem to just pull them out. You get REALLY muddy quadding, but you see lots of territory you wouldn’t otherwise get to. We went up a large hill, and down the other side. My legs were a little sore afterwards, but it was so much fun I didn’t notice.
The afternoon got kind of chilly, and we managed to miss lunch because we were out quadding. We got back to the camper around 4p, and cleaned up a bit. Rob even had a shower (I did not). Then, we made dinner, watched a movie and baked brownies (all at once). The brownies were supposed to be for the communal desert-fest at the fire later on in the evening. We went over to the fire for a while after dinner, but it was early enough in the evening that not many people were there. The NoodleDog was there, though, making friends, eating anything anyone dropped, and generally having a pretty good time. He just loves being told he’s “cute”, and seemed to do very well with the women who were there. He’s kind of a cuddly dog. That’s my fault because I spoil him, but I wouldn’t have him any other way.
Because there was no action on at the fire, we went for a nap and to warm up in the camper. I didn’t get back up, and I guess neither did Rob, because there was plenty of teasing the next morning. I had only planned to stay the one night, but since I was already cozy and warm, and it started to rain, I didn’t bother getting up to leave. I probably should have, in retrospect, left before it started to rain, but I didn’t, and I’m pretty glad I didn’t after all.
I left, instead, at 9a the next morning. I got dressed, hurriedly, packed the NoodleDog and my belongings into the Tiny Car, and made my way back out the not-so-dusty gravel road. I had meant to do some work when I got home, but answered phone calls instead for quite a while. I had a nice long bath, in which Smudge decided to join me briefly, providing everyone with a bit of entertainment. The NoodleDog slept, and slept, and slept, and slept. I guess he had a good time. The cats were glad I was home, and encouraged me to nap on the sofa by lying all over me. I ended the weekend thinking non-stop about Rob, and the camping trip, and how fun his friends are, and how truly fantastic I felt about everything.
And now I’m back to work. Tomorrow – the news will be of Buzz’s new puppy, Harley!
We left town Friday afternoon and met up in Cochrane for a quick bite to eat. The NoodleDog stayed in the Tiny Car and didn’t even complain about it. The top was down because it wasn’t raining, and I made a vow not to put it up until I had to. I was forewarned that we’d be traveling a dusty road by Mark & Jen (some of Rob’s friends who we met in Cochrane), but I remained stubborn and left the top right where it should have been – down.
We headed out to the Waiporous area, and sure enough, the road was REALLY dusty. It was still warm-ish out, though, so I couldn’t very well put the top up. The NoodleDog got covered in dust like you wouldn’t believe – he looked pretty funny. I had bought him some doggles the day before, and tried to put them on him on Friday before we left, but they were of a poor quality and he didn’t like them at all. One of the straps broke very easily so I will have to return them tomorrow. I bet he wished he hadn’t rejected them when we were on that gravel road, though.
We got to the campsite ("Ghost Airstrip"), and first thing, a new dog came to see us. Sancho was his name, and he was a husky type of dog with one ear all bent over – pretty cute. He took kind of a shine to the NoodleDog, which I tried to ignore. The NoodleDog was let out of his harness so he could go and play with the other dogs. He never even looked back at me. Rob set up the camper on some “uneven” ground. He swears it was even, I say it was a little crooked. What do I know? I’ve never been “camping” before.
I tried to help as best I could, handing him things out of the camper, like a table, a barbecue, a propane lamp, pink flamingoes, etc. so he could set it up more easily. Mark & Jen were parked right near us, and his other friends were off a little ways away all around. Once everything was set up, we made our way over to the fire to see who was around. Before it got dark, Rob offered to take me for a quad ride.
Now, I hadn’t really stopped to take a look around before then, but when we got onto the quad, I had an opportunity to really see where we were, and to observe the unrelenting beauty of our surroundings. I mean, this place was fantastic. I guess it’s not technically “The Mountains”, but more foothills, so the landscape is a little more forgiving and less harsh. The Mountains have a kind of cold magnificence to them that you cannot help but respect and be amazed by. The foothills are a little more realistic – forest, hills, streams – and seem just a shade softer and more inviting.
The NoodleDog really liked the quad. So much so that he kept leaping at it, chasing it and barking the whole way. I think Rob called him a “tire-biter”, which is apparently a bad thing. He ran pretty hard, though, and he seemed pretty happy to be doing it. We didn’t go far that evening, just enough to take a look around, and made our way back to the fire afterwards.
I have to say that Rob’s friends are really, really great. There’s Mark & Jen, who are engineers and have a brand-new baby (who they brought camping and we never heard from – she was great!). Jen is really nice, and I spent a lot of time chatting with her. There’s Rob & Lori and their little girl. There’s Joel & Steph, and their little boy. There’s Chris and Paula, who have two kids (Lexis and Zach) who love quadding. They actually live in the same town as I do, which is kind of neat. I talked with Paula a bunch, and she’s terrific. His friends were welcoming, and as soon as I got there, all my nervousness and trepidation disappeared, quickly replaced by excitement and the discovery of new people, with lots of laughter and shouts of “me too!” as we planted ourselves on common ground.
People slowly began to leave the fire as the night went on, and I found myself getting more and more tired. When my eyes started to close on their own, I headed back to the camper to bed. The NoodleDog stayed up late and played, and made friends around the fire.
The next morning we got up and made breakfast. Rob is a big fan of bacon, so he and I will get along just fine. He says it’s not “crispy”, the way he likes it, but I thought it was kind of crispy in my books. He says that “crispy” is when it’s so cooked it breaks if you snap it. I guess he might be right – maybe it was just “chewy”. Either way, he cooked it perfectly. We relaxed, sitting around in the sunshine (while there was sunshine – it was short-lived). We waited for his friend, Nasser, to arrive so we could all go quadding. Apparently, that’s the action of the weekend – quadding. Nasser brought his tiny puppy Murphy, who is a 2-month old chocolate lab and VERY cute, and when they got set up, we all took off. We shut the NoodleDog and Cooter in the camper so they wouldn’t chase us when we left.
Rob got us stuck in the mud pretty early on, which was kind of funny. That was the only time we got stuck, although I understand he was “holding back”, tipped off by the ribbing the other guys gave him. Some of the others got stuck in the mud several times, but since there was a group of us, it was no problem to just pull them out. You get REALLY muddy quadding, but you see lots of territory you wouldn’t otherwise get to. We went up a large hill, and down the other side. My legs were a little sore afterwards, but it was so much fun I didn’t notice.
The afternoon got kind of chilly, and we managed to miss lunch because we were out quadding. We got back to the camper around 4p, and cleaned up a bit. Rob even had a shower (I did not). Then, we made dinner, watched a movie and baked brownies (all at once). The brownies were supposed to be for the communal desert-fest at the fire later on in the evening. We went over to the fire for a while after dinner, but it was early enough in the evening that not many people were there. The NoodleDog was there, though, making friends, eating anything anyone dropped, and generally having a pretty good time. He just loves being told he’s “cute”, and seemed to do very well with the women who were there. He’s kind of a cuddly dog. That’s my fault because I spoil him, but I wouldn’t have him any other way.
Because there was no action on at the fire, we went for a nap and to warm up in the camper. I didn’t get back up, and I guess neither did Rob, because there was plenty of teasing the next morning. I had only planned to stay the one night, but since I was already cozy and warm, and it started to rain, I didn’t bother getting up to leave. I probably should have, in retrospect, left before it started to rain, but I didn’t, and I’m pretty glad I didn’t after all.
I left, instead, at 9a the next morning. I got dressed, hurriedly, packed the NoodleDog and my belongings into the Tiny Car, and made my way back out the not-so-dusty gravel road. I had meant to do some work when I got home, but answered phone calls instead for quite a while. I had a nice long bath, in which Smudge decided to join me briefly, providing everyone with a bit of entertainment. The NoodleDog slept, and slept, and slept, and slept. I guess he had a good time. The cats were glad I was home, and encouraged me to nap on the sofa by lying all over me. I ended the weekend thinking non-stop about Rob, and the camping trip, and how fun his friends are, and how truly fantastic I felt about everything.
And now I’m back to work. Tomorrow – the news will be of Buzz’s new puppy, Harley!
