Camping at Wright Beach

I spent the weekend with my parents and brother at Wright Beach, outside of Bodega Bay.

Legend has it that more than 80 years ago the largest rock was connected to land, and a family was walking out on it with their son, who sadly slipped off and drowned. In his anger and wanting to prevent another tragedy like theirs ever recurring the father blew up the connecting rocks.


Despite this beach being so deadly that you can't go in the water (and even going near it is discouraged due to sleeper waves) we had a great time! Here mom in her pj's holds Kali and Troy holds Sage (who is in her fashionable doggy sweater) while they play and tangle themselves up.


Hiking up the path to walk back to our campground, viewing the beautiful huge waves through the fog.


Daddy!


Happy weekend! And a welcome respite from the heat in Sacramento (over a hundred!) while we enjoyed high fifties, s'mores, and dad's homemade chili. Yummy!

Fun up High

Sap in the Sand

Silhouette Smooch

God, He's Cute

Happy

Nick and I, sitting on a gnarled huge tree trunk on the beach right next to Van Damme, watching the sunset while Ryan was our personal photographer. He took a bunch that I adore and will be printing out to hang in our future apartment.

Van Damme

I just spent Sunday through Thursday at the Van Damme campground in Mendocino, near Fort Bragg on the coast. The weather was great--we were having cool mornings and warm afternoons and cold evenings while at home they were sweltering in the hundreds. Ugh!

We biked up trails and to the ocean, flew kites and ran in the sand, soaked our ankles, poked through tidepools, and ate too many s'mores. I camped with Nick and his whole family, and our friend Ryan who we've known forever and ever. We went down to Van Damme very specifically because Nick's dad dives for abalone. Last year we went down and I dove with them but this year I stayed on the rocks with his mom and sister while Nick, his dad, and Ryan dove. Nick's cousin Brett joined us after two days and he dove the third day as well. Each day they pried off two to three abalone (like 10-25 feet down, they are giant snails stuck to rocks and they can be impossible to pry off) and we feasted on abalone for dinner.

Abalone are so weird! You gut them (eeew), slice them thin, and then mallet them until they are tender and then cook them however you like. We fried them in tempura/panko and they're soooo delicious! Monica made the most amazing fish chowder as well with some abalone in it and ohmigod it was so yummy!

We had so much fun just hanging out. We stayed busy riding our bikes and driving to beautiful spots on the coast. At night we sipped tea (or beer, or gin and tonic, or wine, whatev) and talked and told jokes and traded stories. Nick and I found the best shower where you can get like 20 minutes for a buck instead of the five minutes you were supposed to, yay! And then we shared the good news with everyone else. I bet the guys thought it was weird to go to the girls side of the showers. Heh.

Ryan took some awesome photos of Nick and I that I am so happy to have--I'm going to print some out for our apartment! I'll post them soon.

PS I've got to still take photos of my room! I went camping before taking them and it still is a little messier than I want to photograph.

There is a Tent in My Living Room

The tent is so we can check that there are no holes in the fabric before we leave for our Yosemite backpacking trip. Each day we are going about 7-11 miles at a very high elevation, and we take everything with us except food. (Apparently the food is deelish! Brought in on mules!)

In other exciting news, I just got a super happy tentative diagnosis of gastritis by my wonderful doctor (seriously nice guy) after I finally caved in and made an appointment after 6 days of constant dull pain and nausea and lower bowel issues. He said to take an acid reduce (prevacid) and a probiotic (align [expensive!]) and gas-x and pepto bismol as needed, and that it will be hopefully better in about 2 weeks. Yay!

This has been an awesome summer, with me being sick. About three days after the semester ended I wound up with a really sucky cold that knocked me out for about a week. A week after I recovered from that I got a urinary tract infection (peeing blood) and went on cipro antibiotics. A week or so after that I caught Vicky's flu for two days and then relapsed during Nick's camping trip. And now I have gastritis. The doctor said that my system is probably way out of whack, with being sick so much, and that hopefully the acid reducer and the probiotic will get me back on track.

In conclusion: Nick, you were right about making me see a doctor. Mom, you were right about saying what was wrong and also that our doctor would be cheaper than the county clinic. Aimee, you were right to say to take an acid-reducer. I'm sure other people were right too, but right now my stomach is too rumbly to think about it. (But no pain! NOOOO PAAAIN! Yess!)

Cross your fingers for me that this works! Also, wish me lots and lots of luck and happy stomach feelings on this trip, since we will be in the middle of nowhere.

Guess Who Sold Her Car?!?!

ME! ME! ME! I sold my car!!! My very first car, my silvery blue Toyota Camry 1994 car, my car that grandma and grandpa sold to us (for a very nice price), that car, is sold. To a very nice man with a two year old daughter. I put the car out for sale with Nick at 4pm, got a call at 6pm, and he drove it at 7pm, and then called at 9pm to say that he wanted to buy it. No haggling, all very simple, and breezy. And he paid in cash!



Huzzah!

I also got the flu, and went camping with Nick's family in Fort Bragg, and then went on a vacation with my family, all of which I will post pictures of shortly. But I am soooo excited because I sold my car!!! (Except now I really ought to pay for my new car since I have moola. Drat!)

Blah Blah Whine Blah Blah Saab

Nick bought a Saab! A beautiful fun completely digital silver awesome driving machine! It is a Saab 93, I think a 2004, and it is oh-so-pretty.


Anybody want to buy a 1994 Camry or a 1968 Mustang? Let me know!

In other news, I have the flu. Vicky had it, then her daughter, and I foolishly still went over to her house, (but I had fuuuun) and I promptly started puking last Saturday. I had a nauseous few days, then went camping in Mendocino with Nick's family, and it was awesome. Until I got sick again two days in and spent the last few days trying not to throw up. Now I am back home and feeling queasy.

I have eaten enough saltines and chicken noodle soup to last me a good long while. I have been sick three times this summer vacation. Ack! This sure makes me appreciate my usual health!