Day 1, 2

Day 1 of The Big Trip will go down in a rush of thunderous last-minute action shots still-framed in our immediate memory bank. How else do we store moving days? We will pack our car. No, we are not merely going to organize our belongings and put them in the car. We will pack our car. That's right. Floor to ceiling. The only place we will forget to stuff our stuff will be in between the ceiling and the outer sunroof.

It will be sad saying goodbye to everyone we have come to know and like. But we will be comforted in knowing that we'll meet up again, perhaps in Patagonia (hint hint), which would be fantastic and magical. Leaving with an already activated plan to stay in touch makes leaving almost fun! This much has happened. Plus breakfast at Smith Rock State Park. Mm..Mm, instant oatmeal! But I'm getting ahead of myself or at least the current state of this chronologically-dependent story! Let's backtrack, shall we?

It's a month ago and I'm guessing we'll arrive in Smith Rock at 2am because my Junior Kids Program class at Stone Gardens runs from 5-7pm. And, with a drive enduring six hours, what else would one expect? Really, though, it's 1am a month later as we pull up and in a rush, put headlamp on and trek over volcanic-esque rocks to the bivouac area where we promptly set up tent and fall asleep in our Sierra Designs two-person backpacker award tent by 1:38am. The tent is nice because a) it's very lightweight b) without the rainfly, it functions as a stargazing, bug-denying window to the world you're sleeping in, and c) it still has a rainfly and takes 2.2 seconds to set up, and that's when it's a pitch black solo setup with no headlamp!As predicted, the next morning at Smith Rock State Park will be full of hurried hiking to get to what I like to call Worldtop Boulder. This name derives from tabletop, except it's on the world, not on the table. The Worldtop Boulder sits atop one of the massive rock formations that comprises the rock climbing at Smith Rock State Park. There is a problem there that has big moves to get through and over a roof section and the boulder overlooks a lot of nice climbs at Smith, so I wanted to get a picture of it that I had notioned into existence for quite some time.
We did. It happened. And along the way, we found a great picture-taking spot where I made Alisa stand for a split pea second! We wanted to leave SRSP around 8am. After showering and jazzing some rock, clocks showed a solid Noon. It must have been taking pictures whilst hiking that slowed us down... NOPE! Could it have been the driving? NOPE! With shared driving, we arrived in Berkeley - or is it Broccoli? - California at 8:30pm, half of an hour ahead of scheduling. Then, pasta at Mom's Place. Excuse me, mom's place. Where's mom? Mom? Maybe she's at class. Or maybe she's in NY! Either way, thanks for letting us borrow your apartment, mom!

For now, on with our travels! To everyone back in Seattle: Miss you guys already! Also, if you see Johnny G, tell him congrats again from me. If you see Dave, tell him happy birthday mom in Darrington and hurry up and climb that ladder! And if you see Jeanna, tell her she def. needs to visit! And make it contagious! I think I want that to be a theme of life: make it def. contagious!


-Your Worldtop Broccolihead Landescaper, N8