Do puppets get seasick?

So the old man and I decided to take the trip to Catalina this past weekend. I say old man because Casey had yet another birthday and there are only 5 short months when we are different ages, so naturally I want to take advanage of that.

5am, saturday morning, alarms are blaring! Much easier to get out of bed when it is for fun! Roll out of bed and into the car for the drive to Dana Point where we hopped the ferry to head to the island. Not only were we celebrating Casey’s birthday, but also celebrating our 7 months of newlywedness!

The water happened to be rough that day so when we picked up our tickets we were also offered Dramamine. Not wanting to effect our energy levels in any way, we turned the offer down. As soon as the ferry takes off, Casey runs out to the back of the boat to ‘take pictures’…I suspect he was nervous about getting seasick so wanted the fresh air :) When the boat started rocking too much, I quickly joined him! We stood outside and said goodbye to the mainland.

When the wind and cold became too much, I decided to sit back inside and rest my eyes for a few. As the movement of the boat jerked me around… I imagined I was a puppet and the ocean my master… and not knowing which way I would sway next was slightly nauseating. I began to wonder….do puppets get seasick? I mean, seasickness is really just motion sickness and your inner pathways not communicating properly….or something like that. Casey came to check on me and I inquired about Pinocchio’s equilibrium and he just gave me a blank stare. Apparantly he didn’t have the answer either.
Luckily, we arrived just fine.

The weather was PERFECT…it was so clear that you could see sister islands that apparantly are only viewable maybe 3x per year. Good timing! So we walked a mile from the ferry to the trailhead and started out on our 16 mile journey. Within the first…um, maybe 20 feet…..POISON OAK! My worst enemy! I backed off and stood there debating putting pants and long sleeves on to be extra careful. I must have stood there debating for too long because Casey appeared to start getting restless and cranky so I just decided to stick with what I had. It was too hot to be in sleeves anyway…and this girl does not own lightweight desert hiking gear. oh well.

debating

This was our first backpacking trip in a long time…and we were definitely out of shape physically, but strong enough mentally to conquer just about anything. Which is why when we ran into a Bison on the trail, we didn’t freak. Plus i’m kind of experienced with these things :) (see photo below from Yellowstone) This lone Bison was the only guy we got to actually ‘see’ since he was directly on the TCT trail and pretty much in our way. My heart definitely started racing as I walked directly at him and came within 10 feet before I veared off of the trail to go around him. Casey started mumbling something about me ‘chickening out’ but when you are so close to a 1500+ pound animal that also can run up to 30mph and there is a wide meadow and no trees to climb, well, I must say, I did get a little nervous. And come to think of it….why was I in the front anyway.

Bison are kind of self-conscious and well, I would be too. They do not like to be stared at so I did my best as I passed to avoid looking at him, yet all I wanted to do was stare. I could tell from the corner of my eye he was looking at me and I don’t like being stared at either…but I let him win.

note the lone bison behind me to the left…we had already passed him and I got too nervous to stop to get the shot that close

Yellowstone 2009

The last 9 miles went something like this…hot valleys, nice breezes on the cliffs, deep conversations, laughs, silence and breathing, and amazing views like this….

shades of green

coming up to our campsite

Eventually, the hike became whining about our back and knee pain from the weight….so we were more than happy to arrive at our beautiful campsite Little Harbor, rated “One of the Best Campgrounds in the West” by Sunset Magazine…..and that it was….

We took a dip in the ocean….watched the sunset with some vino and crashed almost immediately after dinner. I woke in the night to the sounds of a bison roaming around our site. I woke Casey and told him to stick his head out of the tent to see him but he wouldn’t. Thank goodness we were so tired that we quickly went back to sleep.

As soon as the sun rose over the mountain, the entire campsite lit up and we were awake…just like that. A beautiful way to rise vs. setting an alarm.