The Vacation

[zienzieu]

This is not finished and needs MAJOR editing (mostly changing everything to past-tense!) and is about a page and a half from being finished... but let me know what you guys think of it so far!! Thanks!

The Vacation.

The days leading up to our vacation were exciting. We all went shopping together for food, hiking clothes, fishing poles and fishing licenses. Ryan and I went to our storage to get all of our camping gear and we had a check list ready to go for the day-before-packing.

Thursday night, August 14th.

I got off work and immediately broke a nail. So there was an hour of packing time lost. I HAD to get my nails done. There was no way in the world I was going to go camping for ten days with sensitive fingers and be able to fully enjoy it. So I went to my nail shop right after work. They were swamped. So I went to Kelly's lady. That was my first mistake. They charge $21 for a FILL. That should have sent me out the door to begin with, but I stayed. Ryan was already pissed that I was going to be late coming home and I was anxious to get packing, too. So I let them rape my pocket. Royally. Because not only was it $21 for the fill, the woman took the liberty of removing three more nails that she said were "no good", making me have to replace a total of 4 nails at $3 a pop. And I'm not trying to be cheap here, it's just that they're NAILS not diamonds. ****.

So I finally pulled up at the house to find a HUGE RV in the drive way. I knew they were getting one, but Jesus, it was a 10 person sleeper. There were only 6 + Rylie going on the vacation and four of us were going to sleep in tents. But we know how she is.

I walked into the house to find that Kelly's mom was there for dinner so that she could say bye to us and get instructions from Kelly since she would be checking on the house while we were gone. There's yelling. I turned the corner to find Kelly, Lynnea, Sharry (Kelly's mom) and Rylie at the dinner table eating. Kelly told me to sit and eat Scott’s dinner because he wouldn’t eat it. He passed by and said to go ahead, because he was too busy to eat. So I sat and ate. Ryan, Sean and Scott were going in and out, taking stuff to the RV. So, Sharry turned to Kelly and ripped into her with "My hair looks like ****, Kelly, LOOK at it" and goes on and on about what a horrible job Kelly did on her hair. So there's all these "**** you" 's going back and forth and Kelly finally tells her mom to get the **** out. So she leaves. Great, she's gone, let’s have some fun packing! Yeah, right. Kelly's in a bad mood because NO ONE in that family likes to hear the truth... Sharry's hair did look like ****. It wasn't even, the color was blotchy and it was too short. She's in her 60's and has the same haircut that I got in highschool. The short spiky one. But whatever. I stay out of their arguments.

So Kelly starts taking stuff into the RV. Serving platters, real silverware, a wine decanter, wine glasses, cake dishes... NICE stuff. And Scott starts bringing it all back in, saying "In case you missed the memo, we're going CAMPING" ha! It was hilarious. She got told. Twice in the same night! So you could imagine what we were in for. She starts throwing **** around, yelling at everyone that she's being rushed and doesn't like it and that everyone is in her way and no one is doing it the right way (translation: she wasn't in charge and needed to throw a tantrum). So I go upstairs to work on mine and Ryan's check list. Socks. Check. Underwear. Check. Tooth paste and tooth brushes. Check. Pot. Check! he he. I can hear her yelling downstairs still, so I close my bedroom door and blast my radio. Ten minutes later I hear her in the hall slamming the cupboard doors. **** her. I turned the radio up louder and sang to the music. It was Robbie Williams "Millennium" I love that song.

Eventually she goes to bed and the rest of us finish loading the RV with the food and camping gear. The only things left to pack up were pillows and blankets, but we needed those that night, so we all went to bed. Ryan and I stayed up talking half the night, too excited to sleep.

5am August 15th. Ryan's Birthday. Leaving Day.

We get to start our vacation with more yelling. Someone forgot to put the dogs in the back yard while we got the last of our crap out of the house and Cooper takes off down the street. Kelly wakes up all the neighbors by yelling about her Thousand Dollar Dog and how she wants to know who's going to replace him when he gets hit by a car. Sean returns five minutes later with a muddy dog. Kelly’s head might explode. She takes the dog and gives him a quick rinse. Then she gives both the dogs to Sean and tells him to put them in the RV.

Yes, ladies and gentle men, the moment you have all been waiting for... we get to take two spoiled poodles on vacation with us! Cheering... no. Not even the crickets are thrilled with this one. We all assumed it was a joke and never thought she would really insist on taking those little bastards with us. But there they are, with their heads poking out of the front window of the RV. Ryan, Lynnea and I suddenly find Jesus and thank him for letting us be the ones to follow in the Yukon and not have to ride in the RV.

So we're all going over our check lists one last time to make sure that nothing important was left behind.

We have everything.

Woody decides to jump out of the RV window. He smacks his head on the pavement and doesn't move. Sean runs over to him and so does Lynnea, worried about the dog, Ryan and I follow. Kelly starts her engines again... more yelling. It's all Sean’s fault for not closing the windows. Because as we ALL know, poodles like to fly, right? Sean should have known what would have happened. We all ignore her. The dog ends up a little bloody, but fine. It was actually pretty funny. He had a fat lip for a few days. Ever seen a dog with a fat lip? Once you have, it's something you don't easily forget.

Rylie is going in the RV with Kelly, Scott, Sean and the dogs. Me, Ryan and Lynnea follow behind in their parent's Yukon... remember, it's not a car. It's a Yukon. Ha-ha. We get on the road (finally) and Ryan decides that he's going to get there well before his parents and set up camp, just to ease the tension that everyone's been feeling for the past couple of days. We turn the radio on loud, sing along to "The Wash" soundtrack (don't we all love Snoop and Dr. Dre??), light up a doobie and have a fantastic trip. We're going 90mph for a while and decide to stop for breakfast at McDonalds just past Barstow. We pee, order food and hit the road again.

Our walkie-talkie beeps. We all get wide eyed. That means that the RV is within 5 miles of us. That's impossible! They were in a HUGE ass RV; going maybe 50mph and now they were within 5 miles of us. Weird. So we speed up, hoping to put more miles between us. For one, we're smoking in the parent's car and two, we're (me and Lynnea) are high as a kite. Neither one of us wants to have to see them. The static clears and the walkie-talkie beeps again, this time followed by Sean saying that there's a beef jerky place on this road. We look at each other confused. Are we going the right way? There's no beef jerky place. Ten minutes later we see a sign telling us that there's beef jerky ten miles up. We decide to stop there for a snack. The RV is there. Waiting for us. I quickly put my sun glasses on and head out to talk to everyone. Apparently while Lynnea and I were napping, Ryan was too enthused about the scenery to see his parents pass him a couple of hours earlier.

We take off again, this time determined to get there before his parents. We have to pee in Bishop and gas up, so we do and low and behold... his parents, again, are ahead of us! They are just pulling out of the gas station down the street as we pass by. We were all amazed at how they were able to pass us. This time we were going to stay awake and make sure that Ryan wasn't being road-hypnotized or something like that.

We get to June Lake around 2 pm... a whole five minutes after the RV had gotten there. Oh well, we decided to drop it and get our camping gear out. We find the bathrooms, no shower, of course, but that doesn't bother me or Lynnea and Kelly brought her own shower, kitchen, stove, oven, microwave, hair dryer and iron anyway, so everyone was happy.

The camp site was pretty drab. It looked a lot like the desert. There were very few trees and the dirt was sandy and there was a lot of shrubbery, but not much else. It was super hot, so we decided to relax for the rest of the day and go sight seeing first thing in the morning. Scott and Sean went to the lake to go fishing and Kelly decided to "do the floors" in the RV. I guess that's her joy in life, to clean and then make sure that everyone knows she cleaned and bitch about the mess she knew would be made ten minutes later.

So me, Ryan and Lynnea are outside, near the tents at the card table we have set up, playing cards and drinking beer. Kelly and Rylie are inside the RV taking a nap. It was so nice to be there and not have to be anywhere else. We ate gummy bears and pretzels, drank our beer in the hot sun with our baseball caps on and our sunglasses hiding our intoxication. I was loving every second of it.

After a few beers and a few hands of cards, our neighbors come to their camp site a few paces away, loaded with fish. They were a bunch of guys our age, maybe six of them. One comes over and strikes up a conversation with Lynnea. Soon we know that they are from Orange County, out on their annual fishing trip, at the same camp site they use every year. We eventually get out our sacs (pot, in laymen’s terms) to compare. I have the better of the group, so we proceed with it, get nice and toasted and continue to just relax. The guys eventually leave after Ryan calls one a dumb ass. It wasn’t anything bad, he just felt comfortable enough to say it, and the guy left in a joking manner, so it was still all cool… he just left to cook his fish and the rest followed.

Kelly comes out of the RV to let us know that Rylie is awake and asks if she can send her out. We say yes and then Lynnea tells Kelly that we met our neighbors. Kelly says “Yeah, I could smell it all the way in here!” and then goes back inside, laughing. So we’re all upbeat because Kelly is in a good mood, which means that we’ll all have a good night. A stress free night. Ahhh. Nice.

So the night wears on and we all get tired early and end up eating spaghetti and singing happy birthday to Ryan in the RV. I was so cramped in there. I hated it. It took all my energy not to scream and claw my way out. I lived. I sang the song, ate the cake and then got out as soon as I could. I promised myself I would not go in there again unless I really had to.

That night was super cold. Rylie slept in tons of layers of clothes between me and Ryan under heaps of blankets. We had a camp fire, but didn’t let it burn very long since we were all fighting to even keep our eyes open. The next night would be better, we all agreed, and went to sleep.

Saturday, August 16th. 5:30 am.

Screaming. And yelling. Apparently Sean had gotten too cold the night before to sleep the whole night in his tent. When he woke in the morning, he didn’t want Ryan to make fun of him for being a wus, so he came back out, and Cooper (the dog) ran out of the RV and down a trail. Kelly was enraged. All the campers woke around us. People began to complain. Scott got embarrassed, so he got dressed and left to go camping. Ryan covered his head with a pillow and me and Lynnea took Rylie for a walk. We saw some signs for a store about a mile down a hill and decided that wasn’t too far to walk. Besides, we needed coffee mugs. Kelly packed one for herself, but no one else, claiming that we would have all done the same to her. I wasn’t going to let it bother me, so we left. As we were walking, I began to see everything hazy and dark, then light again and saw little white stars. I had to sit down. I waited ten minutes and tried to stand again, only to have the same thing happen. I stared to feel like I might puke. Lynnea decided to finish the walk with Rylie, who wanted to explore and let me rest. We chalked it down to the elevation and didn’t worry too much over it. I just had to wait till I was used to it to go hiking, even if it was only a mile… downhill. Eventually Ryan came in the Yukon to pick me up, laughing the whole time.

When we got back to camp, I was surprised to see that Kelly was outside, making coffee (enough for everyone, imagine that!) and talking to everyone. Lynnea was in her tent, packing a bowl (weed talk, again). She came out and went walking to smoke behind a tree. See, it’s not like everyone doesn’t know, and no one even cares, it’s just still polite to be unseen when doing the deed. It’s hard to explain… sort of like peeing. Everyone knows you do it, no one has a problem with it, just no one wants to see you do it.

Scott said he wanted everyone to go in the Yukon down to June Lake to fish and hang out there the whole day. We all got ready and got into the car. We weren’t even out of the camp grounds yet when Kelly turns to Lynnea and says “You know, I’m real glad that I can spend twelve dollars on one razor just so you could use it and make it rusty.” Lynnea said “What are you talking about” then Kelly went on to explain that she knew, just KNEW that her new razor (at HOME) is rusty because Lynnea used it a week ago. Scott stopped at a stop sign. Lynnea got out of the car and started walking back toward the camp site. Scott turned the car around and asked Lynnea to please get in, we are all going fishing and he had a great family day planned. Lynnea says no and keeps walking. Kelly starts to say something, but Scott tells her to shut up, she’s already done enough.

Scott ended up getting really mad at Lynnea and telling her to get her ****ing ass in the god damned car. She ignored him and kept walking. So we left her there and drove to the lake to go fishing.

At the lake, we all had poles except for Kelly. She didn’t get a fishing license because she “doesn’t fish” as Ryan put it. Whatever. I like to fish, so that’s what I was gonna do. I tried to stay away from everyone, but the damned dogs kept passing by me and Ryan kept yelling at me to get them. I was pissed. She should have tied them up.

No one caught anything that day, but it was a messed up day anyway, no one was in a good mood. We all climbed in the car, starved. Kelly pulled out food and began eating. When Scott asked her if she was going to offer any to anyone else, she said no, we should have packed her own, and she’s sure everyone is now sorry that they didn’t. She then looks at ME and says “Right, Pearl?” I was pissed. I didn’t say anything. But lucky for me, so was Ryan and he let her have it. He told her that she was selfish and unpleasant and no wonder Lynnea hates her. Scott remained calm (like usual) and explained that when the rest of us saw her with her large ass picnic basket, we assumed she would pack enough for everyone. He then told her to at least feed the baby. She gave Rylie some food and then offered me something to eat, but I said I wasn’t hungry. I didn’t want to even look at her, much less eat her food.

When we got back to the camp site, Kelly sat out side for a while and talked at Lynnea. She told her she was too skinny, ungrateful, needs and attitude adjustment… basically everything that no one wants to hear while on vacation. So Lynnea yells at Kelly, other campers start to stare… Scott, again gets embarrassed and tells Lynnea to just ignore Kelly. Lynnea says no, that no one ever lets her say her peace. No one treats her like a valid person. She’s always the one to have to back down, make peace, apologize. And she was tired of it. Scott asked her again to just calm down. Lynnea lowered her voice and was going to start saying something that seemed to have been on her mind, “You know, this is so hard for me” but Kelly cut her off and spoke over her. Kelly asked Lynnea how she likes the nice vacation that they have paid for and allowed her to be a part of, how Lynnea liked her dinner that she didn’t have to pay for. Lynnea said **** you to her mother and began to walk away. Ryan and Sean and I pretended like nothing was happening and continued to mind our own business and play our board game. Scott told Lynnea that she needs to respect her mother no matter what. So she said **** you, dad. No one could breathe. That was the worst thing that any of us had ever heard come out of anyone’s mouth. No one had the nerve to say that to Scott. No one. That was just wrong. Lynnea ran to the bathroom, crying.

We all finished our board game and cleaned up and went to bed. Once the lights were out in the RV, Lynnea came back. She didn’t say anything to anyone, just went into her tent. She was still crying. I put Rylie to sleep and then went into Lynnea’s tent. It was the best thing I could have ever done. My thinking was that I didn’t want her to feel isolated. As long as she has someone around that she felt was on her side, or would at least listen, she wouldn’t try anything rash, like getting a plane ticket home or something stupid like that. When I went in, she asked what I was doing, I said I wanted to smoke and she had my stash. Then I threw some gummy bears at her and told her to get her ass out of bed, we’re gonna go sing Coom-by-ah if it was the last thing we ever did. That got her laughing and out of bed. Lynnea, Ryan and I sat outside and looked at the stars for hours. We didn’t sing, but we didn’t really need to. The mood suddenly felt right and everyone was at peace.

Sunday, August 17th

We all got up and had a good breakfast. Cereal. Cold. We loaded up all of our camping gear. After last night, the ****** things that were said and done, we decided it was best to leave it all behind, find a better place to camp and try to have a better time.

We drove north for three hours until we finally got to Lee Vining. It was beautiful. The camp site, Big Bend, was like nothing I’ve ever seen in my life. Not even Alaska felt like that. Our tents were no more that eight feet from the stream that ran there. There was a waterfall at the end of the trail and there were birds and chipmunks everywhere. It was nothing less than spectacular. The air was cool and refreshing because the trees were so dense that not much daylight shined through. It was enough to see by and to know that it was day, but no sun got in your eyes and that kept us nice and cool.

I pitched the tent all by my self and got a pat on the back from Ryan’s dad, who was also impressed to see that I was able to hook and bait my own line, too. It seems I wasn’t full of **** when I said I could fish. But I’m still a silly girl, and it made him smile to see me fishing with everything from worms, to salmon eggs, to gummy bears and cheese crackers. It wasn’t until we were gutting fish that he actually believed that I was catching fish with my weird bait.

Kelly watched from the window of the RV until she could take it no longer. She finally came out and went fishing with us. It was a sight to see. With one leg on a log and the other on another log, we all secretly hoped that she would fall into the stream. She didn’t, but in my mind’s eye, I saw every detail of it and loved it so much I re-played the scene in my head over and over again.

We explored the area and found a bathroom, but again, no showers. There was one in the RV, but to conserve water for cooking, no one could use it. At first it was just for Kelly’s use, but after the first day, even she wasn’t allowed to use it. We were all feeling pretty gross. While Lynnea and I were checking out the bathrooms (which were nothing more than a plastic wanna-be toilet over a DEEP whole) we ran into a woman who came to the area every year. She told us about a small town two miles past the gas station that had an ice cream shop and showers and some souvenir shops and even a laundry-mat.

We went and told everyone about the showers and ice cream, but no one wanted to go except for the girls. So we all went. In the bathroom (a REAL bathroom!) Kelly decided to tell us that her **** smelled like trout. That broke the ice and made us all start laughing. Lynnea and Kelly apologized to each other and we were all in good spirits again. After our showers, we went to get ice cream. Rylie spilled all over her newly washed skin, getting all sticky. I cleaned her up as best as I could with baby wipes and changed her clothes. Poor baby. She had needed that bath so badly. She was in heaven when she was all clean and snuggly soft.

We went shopping at this small Indian shop in town. I bought myself a tank top and Rylie some moccasins. I also bought Ryan a tee-shirt with a hill-billie looking girl with huge knockers on it and I bought myself a ring. It’s really pretty. It’s made of some sort of lake shell.

We went back to camp to find that the guys were all up stream, fishing and all of our trail mix, peanuts and sunflower seeds had been swiped. A family of chipmunks was greedily shoveling the booty into their mouths like desperate little critter-pirates. It was a funny sight to see. Rylie called every animal that she saw a cat and ran after them yelling “No kitty, go way, kitty!” and began picking up her precious sun flower seeds. She cried and cried until I was able to find another bag in the RV.

Since the beginning of the trip, Ryan, Lynnea and I had been talking about calling Jon and possibly meeting up with him. I had called him the week before leaving and he was up for it, so we decided I would call him once we got there. No one ever even thought that our cell phones wouldn’t work! We all felt pretty stupid for not thinking of that. We tried them at the camp site, in town and on the road, but they didn’t work. But oh well, we were having a great time anyway.

After the guys came back from fishing, we all decided to go back into town so that everyone could shop (guess whose idea that was). Actually, the RV water needed to be dumped and re-filled anyway, so we all went in the RV. It was a bumpy ride. Scott is such a horrible driver it’s a wonder we didn’t end up at the bottom of the mountain. In town, there was a j-walker in the middle of the street, so Scott slams on the breaks. The dogs go flying into the windshield, the cupboards open and **** goes flying everywhere, a whole pitcher of iced tea falls off the counter and down my back and Kelly, who was laying on the bed, happened to have sat up a spit second before all this happened and was thrust into the wall, driving her shoulder out of socket. Scott doesn’t even pull over. Kelly boils over in anger and screams at Scott, this time Scott yells back at her. I grab Rylie from her car seat and head out the door with a bag of dirty laundry that I had brought.

The town was very small. You could see both ends by standing at the center on the side walk. So everyone went their separate ways. Kelly and Lynnea eventually come in to do their laundry and the air is very weird. No one really talks or says anything. It was so uncomfortable. So I leave with Rylie and go back to the Indian shop next door. I see Sean is getting ice cream across the street and Ryan is with Scott at the “Fine Leathers” shop next door to the ice cream place. I ended up buying souvenirs and another top for myself. Lynnea happened to be wearing a pair of shorts that she had gotten earlier that day and the cashier accuses her of stealing them. Oh god, like we really need this, I think. But I knew she didn’t steal them, so I spoke up, telling him that the other girl who was here earlier would remember us. The guy tells us that the girl just so happens to work there, at the ice cream shop and at the leather store, so he would go get her. He leaves the store unattended with us and two other sets of customers inside. We just roll our eyes and wait for him to come back with the leather girl. Leather girl tells the cashier that the shorts are not stolen and heads back to the leather store. Ryan tells me later that she too, left the store with customers inside… hmmm. Ryan bought himself a Stetson. A REAL one. It was awesome. He looked so great in that hat! He never took it off for the rest of the trip.

We went back to camp, ate dinner and then the parents, dogs, Sean and Rylie all went to bed. Ryan, Lynnea and I stayed up by the camp fire and talked until we were bored. We ended up making smores (our first time ever!) and loved them! It was a shame that we could only each have one… they were so large and ooey-gooey that it was almost physically impossible to eat more than one. I ended up making the best ones out of anyone (it’s all about technique) and was proud of myself at first, but then I got stuck being the one to make them for everyone for the rest of the trip.

We weren’t tired, so Lynnea and I decided to walk to the bathrooms because we remembered seeing a library there. Actually, it was a shelf near the bathrooms loaded with paperbacks and magazines. We both got what looked good to us and headed back to our camp site. The flashlight burns out. Not only is it creepy, but it’s actually dangerous. We couldn’t see anything. We start freaking out and walking slowly so that we don’t fall over the edge of the trail into the stream. And then it starts to rain. Out of nowhere. It just starts poring rain. A camper near by hears us walking and asks who’s there, I think we scared him. We tell him that we are camping there, but our flashlight isn’t working, so he lights his lantern for us and it’s just enough light for us to turn the bend where we could see our camp fire. The rain starts to die down and turns to a light sprinkle.

As we’re telling Ryan about our little adventure, he laughs at us and then his face turns white. There’s a bear, I think. I know it has to be. What else would Ryan get so pale over? I didn’t want to turn around. “What is it?” I ask. At least I tried to ask, but not much more than air came out. I was frozen stiff and starting to run scenarios through my head. Do I run? Do I get down, play dead? Ryan shakes his head no and tells me to look. So I turn around just in time to see the HUGEST bug I have ever seen in my entire life jump from our unused pile of fire wood onto Ryan’s shoulder. He screamed and jumped up, knocking it to the ground. Ryan stepped on it. Now, Ryan wears a size 12 ½ shoe, and the bug stuck out the front, back and sides of his shoe. That’s how big this thing was. It was long, almost like a dragonfly, but thicker. Much thicker, like a garden snake. It had moth’s wings and what looked like grasshopper legs. Lying there dead, it looked fake, like someone had enlarged bug parts and glued them together. It was disgusting. We all simultaneously shivered. I lit all the citronella candles and put them all around us so that no more bugs would come.

Then we heard rustling. It sounded small, so none of us paid much attention. But a few minutes later, Lynnea had to pee. Forgetting about all the commotion from earlier, she decides to go behind a tree. Our campsite was just a small clearing in the woods, large enough for two tents. Behind us were trees. So many of them that all you could see by the light of our fire were tree trunks. You could hear the roar and trickle of the stream a few feet further, but could see nothing more than tree trunks. Lynnea disappeared behind a tree. Ryan and I continued looking at a map, trying to figure out exactly where we were and what we were going to do the next day. I hear rustling and look up. I could have sworn on my mother’s grave that Lynnea had gone off to my left and gone behind a tree with a low branch… but when she came back, she stepped out from behind a tree on the other side of Ryan. That was to my extreme right. I didn’t mention it to anyone. I didn’t want them to think that I was going crazy; they would have never stopped making fun of me.

We stayed awake by the campfire as long as we could, but it started raining again, so we checked the tent to see if it was dry inside. Luckily it was (there was NO WAY I was going to be able to sleep in the RV) and we went to bed. With all that had happened in the few hours before sleeping, I had a lot of weird dreams that night. The worst of them was in a half-dream-state. I woke up to the sound of growling. I didn’t want to even open my eyes. I thought I heard foot steps out side the tent. I finally opened my eyes when I thought I felt something brush up against the outside of the tent. I tried not to be afraid. I heard that bears can smell fear. But I couldn’t help it. Rylie was in the tent with us tonight. My mind started racing. All I could think of was how thin the nylon of the tent was and how that was going to protect us from bear claws the way a t-shirt would serve as a bullet proof vest. I mustered up enough courage to nudge Ryan. He didn’t move. He was so exhausted. I poked him harder. The growling became so loud that Ryan heard it and woke up, startled. He sat up and looked at me. I pointed outside and mouthed the word bear to him in the dim lantern light and pointed outside. His eyebrows rose. Then he got the “you’re crazy” look, laid back down and immediately fell asleep. It started again. This time Ryan heard it for sure and jumped up. It was then that I was fully awake and realized that it was Ryan snoring that was scaring the hell out of me. In all the years that we have been together, I had never heard him snore before. And being out in the woods, with signs posted everywhere about bears, it just fed my imagination.

Monday, August 18th.

We were woken early. The sun was not up yet. But this time it was peaceful (for once). Kelly brought us coffee and Scott was cooking breakfast. We had planned a trip to see a major fault-line (that I can’t remember the name of) and hike. We all piled into the Yukon after breakfast (each with our own lunches packed) and where off. We were the only ones on the road, but about ten miles into our day-venture, the roads were closed on one side and traffic was being directed through a detour. Just after the road-block, there were busses, limos, cameras and equipment, all in the middle of the road. Apparently some sort of film was being shot there. We all tried to make out anyone that we might have recognized, but the people were all too far away to tell.

When we got there, a park ranger told us that parts of the fault-tour would be closed for the next week because “King of Queens” season premier was being shot. Ohhhh…. we all thought. So that’s what’s going on. We all looked at each other with a what in the hell is King of Queens? look on our faces. A woman nearby told us that it was a show starring the motor-oil commercial lady, you know, the one who was on Saved by the Bell. So we only got to see a portion of the fault. It was no big deal. It just looked like a 20 foot hole in the ground, maybe a mile long. Eh. It wasn’t the grand canyon, that’s for sure! A ways up the path was more crew and equipment. There were people scurrying around everywhere, trying to get things done. There were also people from the “standby” crew, as we quickly learned they were called, to shush all the tourists who were there. They were rude. “QUIET on the set!” they yelled. And it seemed they would look directly at me each time. No one like those people.

Kelly let the dogs off the leashes on purpose and let Rylie chase them, screaming. We all tried to control our laughter, but it was impossible. We kept getting hatred look-darts from the “standby” woman in our section. Kelly decides to speak up and let everyone know that we’re here for the fault line, not some stupid show that no one’s ever heard of. The actor across the fault all looked our way when she said it. She turned a little red, I guess she hadn’t counted on the echo being so loud, but stood her ground. Her family wanted to go on the tour, after all, and these *******s where blocking the way.

As we were being escorted out of the park by one of the rangers, Kelly said she had to tie her shoe. We all stopped and waited, including the ranger. She took her time and waited to faintly hear the director yell “ACTION!” before screaming into the fault “ASS HOLES!” A second later we heard him again, this time pissed, “CUT!” Everyone was laughing. And not just our demented family. Other people who gave up and left were chuckling, too.

We all climbed back into the car and decided to drive to Mammoth, about twenty miles away. My phone beeped. Everyone cheered and checked their phone. We all had reception. I called Jon, but he didn’t answer, so I left him a message letting him know where our campsite was and that I wouldn’t be able to call him again until we were going to leave. Sadly, we never heard back from him. My phone cut out ten minutes later and didn’t work again until we were on our way home.

So we were on our way to Mammoth. I’d heard so many stories of that place and was really excited to get there and see all the cool stuff they were supposed to have there. The night before, Ryan and I had read on a guide map all about a place called the Devil’s Post Pile, a pile of huge pillar, or post - looking stones. We parked and had to hike to the tourist center where we were all excited to see real bathrooms! We were beginning to appreciate the simple things in life.

The ski lifts were still with it being the middle of summer, but we got a pretty good idea of how awesome this place would be covered in snow. There were tourists who were rock-climbing and kids who were on this bungee line thing that would catapult the kid from one platform into a huge net about twenty feet away. It looked like fun, but Rylie was too little to get on. She whined a little, but fell asleep shortly after we got there and forgot all about the ride. Scott went to a ticket counter and bought us all tickets on a bus-tour of Mammoth. It felt a lot like the trips I would take with Sunrise Church back in high school. Except that my baby was now with me, and the dogs, too, of course.

The scenery was beautiful. We drove by streams, up mountain roads, by cliff-sides that fell straight down hundreds of feet. Rylie had a great time pointing out deer, birds and people hiking with their dogs. We got to the highest point of the tour and got off the bus, we were at Devil’s Post Pile. It was amazing to see these stones, they were so tall. Scott and Sean took a hike up a side trail and we took pictures of them standing at the top. When we were done taking pictures, we walked around, looking at a nearby stream and at wild birds. It was a hot day and we were all getting tired, but the bus wouldn’t return for another hour. So we decided to hike. It was long and hard, and with Rylie tired and grumpy, it wasn’t the best time. So we all gave up and went back down to where the bus had dropped us off. There was a large stream there and the water was cold, so we all got in and splashed around until the bus came to pick us up.

We left for camp early, the day seemed wasted anyway because of our short trip to the fault line. It was supposed to have been an all day thing. The Devil’s Post Pile tour was only two hours and no one really had any more ideas. Except for Kelly. She suggested that we go into town to go shopping (again). She said that it wasn’t fair that no one ever wanted to do what she suggested and that she was “owed” shopping time, forgetting, I guess, that we’d already been shopping three times on the trip so far. But Scott agreed and took us into town to shop for one hour. That was his rule. He wanted to get back to camp to fish more, so he said he would give everyone an hour in the shopping center that he took us to. We parked and everyone got out. Ryan took off to get KFC and left me with Rylie. I was upset because I was the one keeping after her the whole day and badly needed a break. Lynnea went to a massage parlor to get a 30 minute massage; Kelly found the most expensive place there and bought everything that she could get her hands on. Sean and Scott took off in the car to hose it off at the self car wash across the street.

So I’m standing in the parking lot holding Rylie’s hand, wondering what I should do. I was tired, hungry and completely stressed out because Rylie was shining non-stop. I spotted a toy store and took her in. I found some Mad-Lib books and thought we all could have some fun with them, so I got some and a couple of toys that Rylie had picked out. She didn’t deserve any of them; she was being such a royal brat. I kept trying to get her attention with stickers and books and stuffed animals, but all she wanted to do was play with a huge train set that the store had set up for little kids. The only problem was that I had to pee and Rylie STUNK. She had just pooped, so I needed to pay for the stuff I had picked out and go find the car so that I could change her. But she had other plans. There was another little girl with her mother standing near us. The mother had a newborn in her arms and the little girl looked like she was about four years old. The other mother sniffed her newborn’s butt, looking for the smell. “It’s my daughter,” I said. “I need to change her, I know, I’m trying to get out of here so I can.” I tried to smile, but I don’t think it came out the way I had intended. The woman looked at Rylie and then away. A look I know I’ve given a million times while thinking that kid is too damned BIG to be in diapers. But what could I do? She wasn’t even two years old yet and the attempts I had made at potty training were all failed. I realized that I was making excuses for my daughter. I didn’t need to do that. It wasn’t anyone’s business if my daughter **** her pants.

I tried to grab Rylie’s arm, but she pulled it away. With my arms full of stuff I intended to buy I was unable to grab her. In pulling her arm away, Rylie started a tantrum. It was nothing that I had ever experienced in my entire life. First she slapped the other little girl who was in the store. I put all the stuff I had down and picked Rylie up. I really wanted those mad lib books and I figured that I could hold onto the toys until Rylie was good again later. So I managed to take Rylie and all the crap up to the counter to pay. The woman behind the counter was rude and kept staring at Rylie, who wouldn’t stop squirming in my arms and saying “down mommy, I want DOWN!” I paid for the stuff as fast as I could and turned to leave the store. But Rylie managed to wiggle out of my arms. She fell, but landed on her feet and started to run back toward the train set. Luckily she tripped and fell down (not hard), giving me enough time to get to her. I tried to pick her up again, but this time she threw herself to the grown and began streaming and crying and kicking her legs. That was the most embarrassed I had ever been in my life. I walked out of the store, leaving Rylie there. I was seriously afraid that I might beat her at that moment and I needed to calm down. Rylie realized that I was no longer in the store and ran out, looking for me. As soon as she found me she smiled and gave me a big hug. That just pissed me off more.

I looked for the car in the parking lot, but didn’t see it. It wasn’t at the carwash either, from what I could see. So I went over to where Kelly was shopping and sat on a bench outside with Rylie. I tried letting her look at the books I bought and even let her play with one of the toys, but she would not sit still. I was getting more and more angry.

We ended up waiting 45 minutes for Ryan to come looking for us. He was in a great mood and handed me a KFC bag and let me know that our shopping hour was up. I snatched it from him and walked away, leaving Rylie with him. He came after me, pissed that Rylie had a poopy diaper. He asked me why I didn’t change her and why I was so lazy. I’d had it. That was it. I blew up, right there in the middle of the parking lot. I told him about how Rylie had been acting, about how I couldn’t find the car to be able to change her and how he was nowhere in sight to help me out. His attitude changed and he took Rylie, apologizing for getting mad at me. He changed her diaper and fed her in the car on the way back to the campsite.

When we got there it was late noon, almost evening. It was nice and cool and we all wanted to go fishing again. We went down to the stream and there were so many fish! You could see them swimming I the clear water, coming all the way up to the shore and then darting away as soon as they saw movement. I caught two fish that day, both with gummy bears. Rylie caught a fish, too, on her Mickey Mouse fishing pole and was thrilled to see it wiggling on her pole. She insisted on helping take the fish off the hook and wanted to put it into the fish basket by herself. We let her, but it slipped out of her hands and back into the lake. Rylie sulked until Lynnea caught a fish and did the same thing all over again. It was pretty funny.

Rylie got bored with fishing, so she started to play with the salmon egg bait. Some eggs fell into the stream and Rylie reached to scoop them up. The first few she was able to save, but the others had floated too far out. She toppled over and into the stream. Ryan and I were both standing close enough to pull her out right away, but she was soaked and freezing. Ryan took her to get her changed. While he was gone, Scott caught fish after fish with a new lure that he had been using. It was incredible! The line wasn’t even in the water for a second before he would get a bite. He eventually started to throw fish back. There was, after all a 5 fish limit per person per day there.

Ryan came back with Rylie, dry and warm and said that he wanted to take a walk to the waterfall that we kept passing in the car. Lynnea and I thought that sounded exciting, so the four of us went. It was so pretty. We were the only ones there, so Ryan decided to act stupid and climb on the rocks at the bottom of the waterfall. It turned out that they were super slippery, so he fell on his ass several times on his way back. I told him that he should take his shoes off; maybe the cotton of his socks would have a better grip than his rubber soles. He tried it and it worked, so he became brave enough to climb to the top of the waterfall (by the trail, of course!). When he got up there, he walked out to the middle of the fall (it wasn’t very deep) and looked like he was feeling pretty good. When he turned to get back to the trail, though, his foot slipped and he landed flat on his back in the bushes growing along the shore of the stream. My stomached tightened. If he fell down the fall, he’d be broken or dead by the time he reached the bottom. It wasn’t a far fall, but the rocks on the bottom where slippery and sharp. I couldn’t help but imagine him hitting his head on those rocks. He was able to grab the branches of a nearby tree and pull himself back up. He came back down the trail to the bottom of the water fall, laughing. He was embarrassed. I couldn’t believe he wasn’t terrified. I would have panicked for sure if that would have been me up there. But then again, I would have never climbed up there in the first place.

We took a few more pictures and then headed back to camp. It was getting dark by the time we got back and everyone was hungry. We had fish that night. It was pretty good, but I couldn’t help but think of the poor things flopping in the basket only a couple of hours earlier. I couldn’t finish my dinner. I ate some pretzels and trail mix instead.

It was still early evening, but Rylie said she was tired, so I put her to bed in the RV. She slept the whole rest of the night. She was so exhausted from such a long day. It was a good thing she slept, though, because the next day would be even longer.

Ryan, Lynnea and I did the usual that night… smoked, drank some beer and talked. We had finally gotten batteries in Mammoth that afternoon, so we were able to listen to cd’s on the portable radio that we brought with us. We were all super gitty, the next day we were going to Yosemite! We were so excited.

Tuesday, August 19th.

I woke before anyone else that morning and packed a lunch for myself, Ryan and Rylie and packed some extra clothes and made sure I had the sunscreen in our bag. I made breakfast for everyone (the first bacon and eggs breakfast so far on the trip!) and slowly the smell of a good meal woke everyone else. It was so fun. I got the campfire going by myself and cooked everything in a cast iron skillet over and open fire. I was so made for this. I love camping! We took our time getting ready to go to Yosemite and made sure that we didn’t forget anything. Although we would be coming back tonight, we were going on a three and a half hour drive, so no one wanted to leave anything important, like a camera, behind.

Everyone thanked me and we all finished cleaning up, I was in a great mood. Until she decided to ruin it. After me being so nice to everyone and going out of my way, I was still treated like ****. After breakfast, everyone was brushing their teeth. It was the last thing that needed to be done before we were all ready to go. The Yukon was packed and ready (with the dogs waiting inside, of course) and Lynnea asked me if she could use my toothpaste. I gave it to her and then went into my tent to make up the beds and turn the covers down so there wouldn’t be much to do when we returned. Lynnea came a few minutes later and let me know that she was done and I could go brush my teeth now. She handed my small bathroom-bag back to me, but the toothpaste wasn’t inside. She said she forgot it in the RV. Great. Not only do I have to go into the RV, I have to go into the bathroom of the RV. It was much like the air-plane-style bathrooms at the Edwards mansion.

I went into the RV and into the bathroom to get the toothpaste. I was trying to be as fast as possible about it so I wouldn’t have to spend any unnecessary time in there. Kelly was in the main bedroom of the RV and said “there isn’t enough water for you to brush your teeth in there, you have to go outside” and stood there at the door of the bathroom with her hands on her hips. I don’t know what it was, but I got pissed when she said that. I guess it was just the way she said it, but I was steaming mad. She went back to making the bed and I stormed out of the RV, already flustered from the tight corners and cramped walking space. Ryan was coming in as I was going out. He asked me what was wrong and I said nothing, that there just wasn’t enough water for me to brush my teeth. He looked at the water gauge. It read ¾ full. He read the dirty-water gauge. It read empty. That much water would last us three days. We only needed enough for one day since we were going to spend the whole day in Yosemite and tomorrow would be our last day there. On top of that, Ryan and Scott had discovered that morning that they didn’t have to even move the RV to re-fill; there was a water spout close enough for the hose to reach.

Kelly went into the bathroom to pee. Ryan rolled his eyes and called her a bitch under his breath and smiled. He knew I didn’t even want to brush my teeth in there to begin with. It was the principal of the situation that mattered. I Ryan asked me if I wanted a cup to fill with water outside so I could brush my teeth by a tree. I said “yeah, if you’re sure there are enough of them for me to use one” and took it and left. Ryan called after me to not be a brat. I didn’t care. She heard me and I didn’t care. She finished in the bathroom and then came out to brush her teeth. Funny, this was the first time during the whole vacation that she brushed her teeth out side. She made Sean and Scoot do the same. When they were done, she comes up to me and says “See, we all came outside; I wasn’t trying to single you out”

Whatever.

I go to sleep in the Yukon on the way to Yosemite and my contacts get all goopy and sticky in my eyes. Ryan is trying to put drops in them for me and Rylie is screaming in the way-way-back seat next to Sean and the dogs, tired of being strapped in the car seat. Kelly decides to stick her head out her window as we drive through a tunnel and scream at the top of her lungs. Sean is playing an ANNOYING game-boy game, Lynnea is covering her ears and saying “I’m not really hear, I am not related to these crazy people!” and Scott won’t stop fidgeting. He adjusts his hat. Scratches his nose. Changes the radio. Taps his thumb on the steering wheel, looks in the rearview mirror, then back at the road, then at Rylie. All this and the dogs won’t sit still. They want up front. They want to look out the window, whine, scratch, play. It was all too much for me. I was sitting bitch in the middle-back seat between Ryan and Lynnea and I was starting to feel boxed in. So I ate some pot. I mean, it wasn’t like I was able to smoke it in the car, and Ryan’s parents have never confronted me about it, so I’m never really positive if they actually know that I do it. So I snuck some out of my pocket and put it in my mouth. It was so grainy and dry. I wasn’t sure if I’d even be able to swallow it, or if it would even do anything once I did choke it down.

It did.

I was feeling all better by the time we reached Yosemite and got out of the car. We parked near a huge souvenir shop and went in to go shopping (yes, again). This time I bought some stuff for my mom and brother and my cousin Rita. It was a nice place and it sold food, good food. We picked up some snacks and another top for me, a t-shirt for Ryan and a sports cup for Rylie.

When we were done in the store, we all went outside where Scott was waiting with the dogs. He was standing at a ticket booth, ordering tickets for the 4 hour tour. The last thing I wanted to do after nearly four hours of driving was drive for four more hours just to have to take that long again to get back to the campsite. But I didn’t really have a choice in the matter. Not only was Scott paying for these tickets that were $30 each, he wasn’t going to go. The dogs were not allowed on the tour and Scott wanted us all to experience Yosemite so badly that he volunteered to stay behind with the dogs. We all objected saying that we could find something that everyone (including the dogs) could do, but he insisted and said that he’d already been on the tour before and since none of the rest of us had and this was the first time any of us were here, he wanted us to go.

The tour was going to be in an hour. We walked around the shops and took pictures while we waited. I bought Rylie an ice cram cone since it was so hot and she was being a good girl. She didn’t so much as whine or make a peep the whole time (since getting out of the car, of course). When it was time to go to the tour tram, we were told that we would have to take three different busses to get to where it was leaving from. There were no refunds and no exchanges; we would have to try to make it before the tram left.

We were the last ones there, all sweaty and breathless from running. The only seats left were in the very front row, so we took them. It was an open tram with no seatbelts, just benches along the width of the tram. There was a driver up front in a small cab and the tour guide sat above the cab facing all the passengers in a comfy looking seat under an umbrella.

He began his story by telling all about his job and how great it is to live and work in Yosemite. He said that he was provided with food, water, a tent to live in and was paid… all for basically being on vacation in one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Along the tour we saw rock climbers and hikers and some deer and bears. We saw waterfalls and mountains, rocks, streams, hills and meadows. It was awesome. It made me feel so small. Rylie fell asleep in my arms and missed all of the great stories that the tour guide told. He was a great story teller. He told one about two mountains:

Long ago in the Yosemite Valley, there were people who came to settle. They were the first Indians to come into the land here. One of them went to Mono Lake and married an Indian woman named Tis-sa-ack. He wanted to bring his wife back to the Yosemite Valley where they would raise a family. The journey from Mono Lake to Ah-wah-nee (what they called the Yosemite Valley back then) was far and hard. The husband carried nothing but a roll of deerskins on his back and had a staff in his hand. His wife, Tis-sa-ack held a baby's cradle, food, water, coverings, tools and and a pointed carrying basket on her back. When they came by Tenaya Lake, she began to get mad that she was carrying all of their stuff when he had so little. The old Indians say that you can still see the tracks of the old Indian lady Tis-sa-ack by the lake where she stomped her feet in anger. When the newlywed travelers came to Mirror Lake, also known as Ah-wei-ya, the husband and wife began to argue. Tis-sa-ack felt homesick and wanted to go back to Mono Lake where they came from. The husband argued that his wife loved the oak trees and thought they were beautiful here at Tenya Lake and there were no oaks trees or any trees, for that matter at Mono Lake. Tis-sa-ack that she would take some acorns and seeds along the way and plant trees back home. But her husband would not listen to her pleas; he was determined to settle here. Tis-sa-ack began to cry and run back down the trail making her husband very angry. He cut a limb from a tree and beat his wife severely and then forced her to continue on the journey, feeding her anger. When they arrived to the shore of Tenya Lake, she fought back by drinking it dry. She did not leave a single drop for her thirsty husband. He was angry and beat her again. She began to throw things at him and strike back. From above, an angry nature god watched. He sent warnings in the form of wind and rain, but they did not stop fighting. He sent warnings in the form of mountains rising and reaching high into the sky, but they still did not stop fighting. The mighty god wanted to punish them for their hatred and violence, so he turned the husband to stone and can now be seen in what is called North Dome, a huge mountain. Tis-sa-ack was also turned to stone and her face can be seen on Half Dome, the mountain which faces North Dome. The husband was cursed to stare at a wife he hated for an eternity and the wife was cursed to remain crying forever to repay the lake that she had stolen.

The tour guide pointed out the two dome-shaped mountains and sure enough, there was a face on each of them. One looked like an angry, scowling man and the other looked like a young, crying woman. It was amazing. We took tons of pictures and everyone one on the tram was in awe over how clearly you could make out the faces. He told other old Indian tales of mountains forming over night and about the Yosemite Fire Falls. The fire falls, he said were pretty recent. Like back in the 40’s and 50’s. I guess it was just some guy that would burn trash at the top of a mountain and then push the embers over the edge. It was so spectacular that people would travel from all over the world just to see the fire falls. Eventually people realized that it wasn’t such a great idea to send burning embers over the side of a mountain in a National Forrest, so they stopped doing it.

There was so much to learn about Yosemite, it was a shame that the tour only lasted four hours. We heard more stories, were served cold water (that you would have thought was gold and it almost caused a riot among the passengers of the tram because it was so hot out) and finished the tour with the tour guide telling Lynnea that she should get a job there and move to Yosemite because he thought that she would like it.
That’s all she had to hear. After that, she was convinced that she was going to move here. She kept saying that as soon as we got home, she was going to pack her bags and drive right back. Sure. I guess it was fun for her to make-believe.

When the tour was over we found Scott and put the dogs in the car so that we could all go eat dinner. Walking to the pizza place, we all had stories to tell about the tour. I hadn’t been that excited about something since I was in elementary school. I was glad to have had the experience. Scott told us that while we were off having a great time, he was pretty much stuck in one place. He said that there was only one trail that dogs were allowed to go on and that the dumb asses just kept getting tangled in each other’s leashes anyway, so he just walked around a little, took a nap in the car and had some lunch.

We ordered pizza and ate in a huge lodge that was filled with other tourists. It felt just like 6th grade camp again. Rylie was running around with the kids from another table, strangers were meeting and talking, making friends, and there was beer. We all (except for Scott and Sean) left there pretty buzzed and in extremely high spirits. Until later. It’s always like that, isn’t it? It can never stay good for too long without something going wrong…

We were all in the car, ready to go back to the camp site. Everyone was tired after such a long day. Rylie was passed out in the way-way-back seat and I was in my bitch seat… Scott was in the driver’s seat. And that was it. Everyone else had gotten out of the car to go shopping (again) I was getting so sick of it. Thankfully Ryan bought me a picture frame, so I was happy, but the wait still sucked. I had eventually pretended to go to sleep because of the god-awful awkward silence between me and Scott. I mean, we really have nothing in common and to this day I have still never had a real conversation with him, so we just had nothing to say to each other. After at least an hour, everyone came back happy that they got yet another rare (yeah right) chance to shop.

The car ride home was pretty crappy. And cramped. Lynnea was all bundled up with her knees up and was leaning against her window. Ryan was awake and sitting straight up and my butt was even with Lynnea's and I had my head on Ryan's arm. Sean and Rylie were asleep and I was dozing off myself. Lynnea was snoring. And Kelly decides to turn the radio up full blast. Lynnea and I both jump up because it's such a shock to hear when you're sleeping (or trying to sleep) and Kelly starts laughing so hard she snorts cherry 7up all over herself. About ten minutes later, she does the same thing. Scott tells her to knock it off and stop acting like an idiot. Lynnea (from under a beanie, hood and blanket) softly says "Thank you, dad" unfortunately it was loud enough for Kelly to hear and she starts poking Lynnea in the butt and arms saying "I love you Lynnea" over and over and over again like a parrot. I seriously wanted to slap her; she was really getting on my nerves.

It started raining and Kelly decided to OPEN the sunroof so that me and Lynnea and the baby would get soaked. Ryan and Sean were both on the passenger side of the car and the wind was blowing from that direction, so they didn't get even a single drop on them. Lynnea started yelling at Kelly, Kelly yelled back. Lynnea told Kelly that she was embarrassed of her and ashamed that she had a mother like her. She said that if she could just be normal, maybe they could get along. She called her a bitch and said that Kelly was crazy. Kelly continued to act totally stupid. She put the radio loud again, started calling out on the walkie-talkies, trying to mess with people on them and would do her little scream-thing every time we would drive through a tunnel. She was just acting like she was loony. Seriously crazy. I laid my head back down on Ryan's arm and closed my eyes and covered my ears. The music, rain and yelling lasted about an hour. And that was only because Kelly's voice became so hoarse from yelling that she just couldn't anymore.

I have no idea how much time passed when Ryan tapped my shoulder to wake me up. I sat up, thinking it was time to get out of the car. But it wasn't. He wanted to show me the freaky road that we were on. It was very truly the creepiest I have ever felt. The road ahead of us was lined with trees and mountain on both sides, as if this road was carved out and the forgotten about. It was a two lane road, but no other cars passed going the other direction... it was past midnight. We were only able to see a few feet ahead, where the headlights shown. And that was it. The winds and turns came out of nowhere and sometimes we had to swerve to not hit rocks in the road. It was raining pretty hard and it was hard to see anything at all. Kelly's bright idea to turn the headlights out to be "spooky" received a well deserved "that's a stupid idea" from Sean all the way in the back, who we all thought was asleep. Even he had more common sense than Kelly and he's usually the one with the not-so-bright-ideas...

We heard a noise, like a low rumble and it was getting louder. Within seconds we were right on the tail of a teeny tiny motorcycle, loaded up with the hugest bundles. There were pots and pans hanging from ropes, a sleeping bag, tent, backpack, hunting gear, fishing poles, bags, clothes, food... you name it, it was on there. It was only going about twenty five miles an hour. We all pretty much scratched our head. How was it even able to carry a load like that? It was something like a kid's Yamaha dirt bike. It wasn't built to lug stuff around like that, and you could tell it wanted to give out. Pots and pans scraped the ground and sent sparks flying at each curve in the road. We stayed behind for a while, but eventually Scott got tired of driving so slow and we passed the guy. He was a small man and had a helmet on and with it being so dark and rainy; we couldn't tell if he was really ok or not. But oh well, I mean, it's not like we twisted his arm to be out there. Whatever his deal was, he only had about another hour's drive (maybe just a little longer for him...) before he reached the exit to Yosemite.

That hour seemed like forever. Now Ryan and Kelly were sleeping and the rest of us were awake, anxious to get out of the car and stretch our legs. I don't even remember going into the tent that night, I was so tired. I do know though that night was the best sleep I'd gotten on the whole vacation.

[Barbriat]

I enjoyed reading this narrative, and I would like to read more, if there is more to come.

The thing that most impressed me (other than descriptions of natural surrounds) was the way you handled dissention between some of the characters. Instead of confrontations (only a few) you chose to use social tools. This made the story all the more real. It read the way one would expect people to interact on a camping trip. I laughed about all that was packed into the RV, contrasted by the tent pitchers. I'm a hammock camper. The more primative, the less work.

Of course, having camped at June Lake, added a whole bunch of interest. I love camping. Hate fishing.

Wish I had been along on this trip!

[zienzieu]

Thank you so much for reading! :) Yes, there will be more to come... as soon as I'm finished writing I'll post it here, then it's editing time! I think I may have rushed through a lot and may be able to turn this into a Novella (hopefully). I have some more researching to do on the area though before I can get into any more detail about the scenery. :)