Rant about My Vacation
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Okay, these past three days I went with some of my friends to Santa Catalina Island (off the coast of California) for a kind of last-chance-to-get-together-before-everyone-goes-to-college thing.
We left on Wednesday. My friend Yasi and I took a later boat than the other four people because she had an appointment that morning. So we arrive at the island at about 5pm. It was a 5 minute walk down a windy and steep path to the campground, and it was EXHAUSTING. We got to the campsite and set up the extra tent we had brought, then the others came running up. They had been kayaking and had seen our ship come in, so they had come back. We then trudged back to town - town? ha. village, maybe. there was ONE store! - to buy meat for dinner. Then we tried to start the fire for like, half an hour until I walked all the way back to the store and bought lighter fluid. What a bunch of spoiled city kids we are! We cooked dinner over an open fire in the fire pit (a new experience for me, although i declined to eat said meat because i was watching the boys while they cooked it). We tried to work out some arrangement for sleeping, but nothing would satisfy the whole group. Finally we decided that we would all sleep in one tent. We went to bed around 10pm, and i had about three square feet to sleep in, so i went into the empty tent to sleep. Unfortunately, the others decided to stay up until 4am talking loudly, so I was stuck staying up too. Then, when they finally went to sleep, it was FREEZING in my tent and i had no padding to sleep on.
I woke up at 8am the next day - yes, four hours of sleep - and went to see the seals in the next cove. We swam almost a mile to the cove - IN THE OCEAN, no less - then swam through a kelp forest, which was definitely the most disgusting experience of my life. Then we climbed up onto the rocks. Well, the rocks were covered with barnacles, so it was like walking on broken glass, and none of us had thought to bring shoes. Fortunately there were these seaweed-like plants growing over the barnacles in a lot of places, so we walked on that. It was like having a very slippery carpet laid down over broken glass. We ended up with a lot of cuts nonetheless, and the seals weren't even there. So, we swam back through the kelp forest--
Let me digress for a moment here. Have you ever swam through a kelp forest? It's awful. It's like having these slimy tentacles from the deep caressing you all over your body. It's worse than anything i've ever experienced, and just thinking about it gives me the heebie-jeebies. And when i was standing at the water's edge, trying to psych myself up for the swim back through the forest, the tentacles were washing about in the waves and wrapping around my ankles in a creepy, "Come into the water, Melissa, we won't hurt you... much..." way. So i ended up jumping as far out as i could (i wish i could've gotten a running start because i might've escaped its clutches, but the barnacles prevented that) screamed as the stuff grabbed me, and swam like- er, a maniac.
Then came the swim back. Having already been exhausted on the swim there, i was DYING on the way back. Honestly, i think it was the sheer hatred of the kelp that kept me going. I was so dead when i reached the shore that i couldn't even stand up. i had to sit in the surf for ten minutes until i could stand up. Then i hobbled back to camp and put on dry clothes, vowing that i wouldn't go back into the water, even if the entire island was on fire. The others came back a bit later, and we had lunch. Then they went kayaking again, and I stayed in camp and read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Restaurant at the End of the Universe, then went to town to check my e-mail and see if i was still in Big Bandwagon. It cost me $3 for 15 minutes, and their computer was a 133mHz with a 28.8 modem. I haven't had to use a 28.8 since i was twelve!!!! five years ago!!!!!! so i spent half an hour finding out that i had been voted out of BBand posting to some of the most necessary forums... $6 down the drain. I will never berate my DSL for being slow again. Then the others returned, and we decided to go for a hike. We ended up trying to climb one of the tallest hills - i say hill because it wasn't quite a mountain, but it was at least 250 feet tall - and i made it 2/3 of the way up before i gave up. By then, dusk was dawning. Three of us never made it to the top. Two went down by crossing the hill at the top, Yasi came back down the way we had come, and the four of us ended up meeting the other two at the restaurant. We then proceeded to spend and obscene amount of money on food, including some of the most incredible cheesecake i have ever tasted in my life. I'm talking HEAVEN. Then we all went back to camp, and five of us slept in the tent together. I had to sleep next to a guy i really don't like, and the girl on the other side of him dislikes him intensely, so she kept pushing him into me. I had about a foot and a half of space, but it was warm. We fell asleep pretty fast, probably because of all the physical exertion of the day.
We woke up at 9am the next day because the site near us had 50 kids, and they were leaving, so they were making a lot of noise. We got up and walked down to town for breakfast. When we got there, i realized i had left my bag (purse) out in plain sight, and went back to hide it. I got back to town just as they were leaving. We packed up our stuff and walked back to town because we had to be out of the site by 11. Our boat didn't leave until 4, though, so we played at the playground for a while, then sat on the beach. When I put my sunscreen on, i missed quite a bit of my back, and i got a MAJOR sunburn. We got on the boat at 4 and were befriended by a 9 year old girl who tortured the brains out of the guy i had to sleep next to.
After that, not much happened. I went home, and here i am, exhausted and sunburned.
Why is it that i always come home from vacation more tired than i was when i left?
We left on Wednesday. My friend Yasi and I took a later boat than the other four people because she had an appointment that morning. So we arrive at the island at about 5pm. It was a 5 minute walk down a windy and steep path to the campground, and it was EXHAUSTING. We got to the campsite and set up the extra tent we had brought, then the others came running up. They had been kayaking and had seen our ship come in, so they had come back. We then trudged back to town - town? ha. village, maybe. there was ONE store! - to buy meat for dinner. Then we tried to start the fire for like, half an hour until I walked all the way back to the store and bought lighter fluid. What a bunch of spoiled city kids we are! We cooked dinner over an open fire in the fire pit (a new experience for me, although i declined to eat said meat because i was watching the boys while they cooked it). We tried to work out some arrangement for sleeping, but nothing would satisfy the whole group. Finally we decided that we would all sleep in one tent. We went to bed around 10pm, and i had about three square feet to sleep in, so i went into the empty tent to sleep. Unfortunately, the others decided to stay up until 4am talking loudly, so I was stuck staying up too. Then, when they finally went to sleep, it was FREEZING in my tent and i had no padding to sleep on.
I woke up at 8am the next day - yes, four hours of sleep - and went to see the seals in the next cove. We swam almost a mile to the cove - IN THE OCEAN, no less - then swam through a kelp forest, which was definitely the most disgusting experience of my life. Then we climbed up onto the rocks. Well, the rocks were covered with barnacles, so it was like walking on broken glass, and none of us had thought to bring shoes. Fortunately there were these seaweed-like plants growing over the barnacles in a lot of places, so we walked on that. It was like having a very slippery carpet laid down over broken glass. We ended up with a lot of cuts nonetheless, and the seals weren't even there. So, we swam back through the kelp forest--
Let me digress for a moment here. Have you ever swam through a kelp forest? It's awful. It's like having these slimy tentacles from the deep caressing you all over your body. It's worse than anything i've ever experienced, and just thinking about it gives me the heebie-jeebies. And when i was standing at the water's edge, trying to psych myself up for the swim back through the forest, the tentacles were washing about in the waves and wrapping around my ankles in a creepy, "Come into the water, Melissa, we won't hurt you... much..." way. So i ended up jumping as far out as i could (i wish i could've gotten a running start because i might've escaped its clutches, but the barnacles prevented that) screamed as the stuff grabbed me, and swam like- er, a maniac.
Then came the swim back. Having already been exhausted on the swim there, i was DYING on the way back. Honestly, i think it was the sheer hatred of the kelp that kept me going. I was so dead when i reached the shore that i couldn't even stand up. i had to sit in the surf for ten minutes until i could stand up. Then i hobbled back to camp and put on dry clothes, vowing that i wouldn't go back into the water, even if the entire island was on fire. The others came back a bit later, and we had lunch. Then they went kayaking again, and I stayed in camp and read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Restaurant at the End of the Universe, then went to town to check my e-mail and see if i was still in Big Bandwagon. It cost me $3 for 15 minutes, and their computer was a 133mHz with a 28.8 modem. I haven't had to use a 28.8 since i was twelve!!!! five years ago!!!!!! so i spent half an hour finding out that i had been voted out of BBand posting to some of the most necessary forums... $6 down the drain. I will never berate my DSL for being slow again. Then the others returned, and we decided to go for a hike. We ended up trying to climb one of the tallest hills - i say hill because it wasn't quite a mountain, but it was at least 250 feet tall - and i made it 2/3 of the way up before i gave up. By then, dusk was dawning. Three of us never made it to the top. Two went down by crossing the hill at the top, Yasi came back down the way we had come, and the four of us ended up meeting the other two at the restaurant. We then proceeded to spend and obscene amount of money on food, including some of the most incredible cheesecake i have ever tasted in my life. I'm talking HEAVEN. Then we all went back to camp, and five of us slept in the tent together. I had to sleep next to a guy i really don't like, and the girl on the other side of him dislikes him intensely, so she kept pushing him into me. I had about a foot and a half of space, but it was warm. We fell asleep pretty fast, probably because of all the physical exertion of the day.
We woke up at 9am the next day because the site near us had 50 kids, and they were leaving, so they were making a lot of noise. We got up and walked down to town for breakfast. When we got there, i realized i had left my bag (purse) out in plain sight, and went back to hide it. I got back to town just as they were leaving. We packed up our stuff and walked back to town because we had to be out of the site by 11. Our boat didn't leave until 4, though, so we played at the playground for a while, then sat on the beach. When I put my sunscreen on, i missed quite a bit of my back, and i got a MAJOR sunburn. We got on the boat at 4 and were befriended by a 9 year old girl who tortured the brains out of the guy i had to sleep next to.
After that, not much happened. I went home, and here i am, exhausted and sunburned.
Why is it that i always come home from vacation more tired than i was when i left?
