Friday, July 1, 2005
Picked up toiletries at Walgreens. Stopped at REI at 12:58 PM. We picked up a new double-wide sleeping bag since the one I had was a single only and needed to be dry cleaned. (Patrick sneezed for a few hours after we opened it a day or two ago.) We rented 2 Therma-Rest self-inflating open-cell foam sleeping pads. Patrick got new sandals which were better for casual hiking than the sandals he brought along. I bought a beige Barmah canvas drover hat to wear in the sun. Tower Car Wash at 1:25 PM. Patrick and I leave San Francisco for a camping weekend with 10 friends in Guerneville, California, which is known for having a number of gay campgrounds and resorts. Lunch at 3:40 PM at Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers (1850 Santa Rosa Avenue, Santa Rosa). I had a Chinese chicken salad, Patrick had a bacon classic burger with fries. We shared an iced tea. $10.82. We arrived in Guerneville around 4:00 PM. Travis and Steve came out to meet us and helped us haul gear in to our camping site at sites 17 and 18. Our neighbors at sites 13 and 14 already had their camp set up and decorated very festively in tiki torches and red, white, and blue flags and balloons and a sign which proudly proclaimed Camp Ol' Glory Hole. Travis, Steve, Patrick, and I raised Timmie's tent. Patrick and I got settled and rested for a bit. I played with Travis' new Blackberry. The user interface isn't as clunky as the demo on the Blackberry website makes it seem (see June 30, 2005), but Travis says if his company didn't buy it for him he'd have preferred a Treo instead. Patrick read from Dai Sijie (Mr. Muo). All four of us went to dinner at Main Street Station Ristorante, Cabaret & Pizzeria (707-869-0501, 16280 Main Street, Guerneville). Patrick had salad and calzone, I had salad and crab cakes, Travis had salad and spaghetti and meatballs, Steve had soup and spaghetti and meatballs. The restaurant had good live music which started just when we sat down. The food was good but not great, we got large portions, service was not terribly attentive but friendly and earnest when it arrived. Went to Safeway, bought a bottle of gerwertzermiener and some Jiffy Pop popcorn (which we ended up not using on this trip). When we arrived back at camp, Greg and Antonio had arrived, so we helped them bring gear in. Then Galen and Peter arrived. Galen made a round of cape cods. I was very sleepy and went to bed. Our camp site was the closest to the bunkhouse which turns into a disco/nightclub at night, so earplugs were very useful. My 30-decibel earplugs almost entirely silenced the music, but Patrick found the earplugs uncomfortable and ended up having trouble sleeping. If you decide to camp at Fife's and are sensitive to noise when sleeping, remember to stay away from (roughly) camp sites 10 through 28 and cabins 201, 202, and 310 through 318. One other thing about Fife's: There are only 2 men's showers for 60 camp sites (!). I consistently awoke early (around 6:30 AM) and didn't have to wait in line for a shower. If there's a really long line at the campground showers, try the day use showers next to cabin 318.