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November 23, 2003

With Michael

At least once in a person's life they will meet a truly unique person. My friend Michael is one of these. Part Diva, part scientist, he both inspires and frustrates. Many of my most interesting travelling memories have been shared with him. Our roadtrip through California and Nevada was one such crazy adventure.

It started pretty tamely with the standard Oregon to Cali drive up I-5. Our greatest challenge was putting on snow chains and staying on the road as we travelled through the snowy passes past trucker plumber's butts galore.

We camped half a night in Santa Barbara. It was a beautiful site along the coast. Michael woke me up around 2:30 am because he thought he heard a bear outside our tent and couldn't go back to sleep. After that, neither could I, so we drove to Vegas in the middle of the night.

On our way back through California to Oregon, we decided to stop by Death Valley. Michael was afraid to camp where snakes might be present, so we looked in Beatty, a small border town for a place to stay. We found a small casino and trailer hotel, but they were completely booked. Our third try yielded a room. When checking us in the clerk told us "don't drink the water, because it turns purple and pink sometimes for no reason." Michael had packed plenty of bottled water, so we weren't afraid. We slept, and I quickly showered the next morning before heading to Yosemite. Two hours later, I had a nice, burning-hot eye infection.

Once at Yosemite, Michael and I had a great time. Before we reached any of the major viewpoints, Michael had been disappointed. "Why is this place considered so beautiful?," he said. "There's just trees." Of course, once half-dome, etc came into view all he could do was sing its praises and take photos (lots). We decided to try a strenuous hike. Half-dome was still not open, so we hiked to the top of Yosemite falls. When we finally reached the top, Michael only allowed me a few minutes before twitching and demanding that we immediately start back. "We only have four hours to get back down before it's dark," he said. Michael was terrified of what the Yosemite bears might do to him in the dark. He started to run, so I followed, running all of the way down. My knees were swollen, so Michael agreed to take the first shift driving back as I sat in the passenger seat with a bag of frozen peas.

After a few hours of painful, one-eyed shifts, Michael and I safely arrived home.

Once I've saved enough money, I plan to travel outside of the U.S. Hopefully, Michael can come along. I love you, Mikey... lv, Anna.

Posted by At the Party on November 23, 2003 12:47 AM
Category: At the Party with the Boots Crowd
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