All good things in moderation...

Oy, did we ever have a crazy-ass weekend. Good thing it was extra-long so that we could get into even more trouble. Yikes.

Friday was spent dragging ass through work and then immediately setting out for home and going out. Indie Rocker and I met up and attempted to get some dinner. We couldn’t really agree on anything, so we got this sort of mediocre dinner and then met up with his friend Tonka to go out. The bar we went to was mellow, but the other patrons were cool and it was cheap. After that, we met up with the crew leaving the Blues Fest and had some foofy drinks down the street.

Saturday was spent running errands with my dad after breakfast with Indie Rocker. I actually got a bunch accomplished and getting to hang out with my dad was great. He’s loving his new job and told me all about it. The company sounds really cool and he likes everyone he’s training with. I left around 5 to go watch the start of the Tour with Indie Rocker. It was a lot of fun. Poor Jan Ullrich—that guy never seems to have a good Tour. They showed a picture of the window he went through on the back of a car. Ouch. Later, we headed over to Walkabout’s house to watch movies and kick it with some hasher kids.

Sunday we headed out to the coast, which wasn’t supposed to be as much of an adventure as it turned out to be. Good Lord. We headed out later than Indie Rocker wanted, but that was only the start of our problems. We got to Newport and checked out Otter Rock, only to see how flat it was. We settled on Agate Beach, where I ended up having a bit of a tough session. After fighting the waves for two hours, I was tired and hungry. We went to eat at the Rogue Brewery in Newport, which was actually a lot of fun. The food was good and the beer was great. We stocked up on beer for the 4th BBQ and got some for us to have when we camped on the beach. After eating, we headed back to Agate to check the surf and it had only gotten flatter. So we bailed up to PC and watched the idiots get stuck in the soft sand and have to get hauled out. It was quite funny. Shortly after we got there, I decided to call Tri and find his crew. They weren’t far down the beach, so I hung out with them until our table was called and went to get Indie Rocker. Dinner was great—I was sitting next to EB and we were making fun of each other as much as possible, so that rocked. His girlfriend PT was there, as were Tri’s friends Bud and Karen (not their real names, of course!). It was great because we got to watch the sunset, watch all the crazy people on the beach and the literally hundreds of illegal fireworks being launched all over the place. It was pandemonium for two solid hours. Loved it.

After dinner we had already decided to head over to a different and potentially quieter beach. We caravanned and then started making really bad decision. Well, let me qualify that. We discussed the decision and were then overruled without our knowledge. Anyway, the idea turned out to be attempting to drive around the point to the north side of the beach. Keep in mind that it is 10pm at night, dark, and the tide is definitely coming in. Tri went first and since he’s driving an Element (orange, too. I know!), he made it. Indie Rocker and I went next in his truck and made it as well. As soon as we got across though, we tried to turn around and go back because it was going to end badly if we didn’t. Too late. We realized the EB had tried to gun it in his Jetta GTI and was now both mired and getting really wet. I looked at Indie Rocker and said, “What now?” He threw the truck into park, opened the door and said, “We push,” as he jumped out and ran down the beach. I stripped off my jeans, grabbed my surf pants and ran down to the car as well. We realized that pushing wasn’t working, so I ran onto the other side of the beach and yelled for a tow rope. We didn’t get one, but fortunately for us a large and very, very nice Hispanic family was camped on the other side of the point and came running to help us. We managed to push EB’s car out of the surf and a good way up the beach before deciding that the tide wasn’t going to go any further. Of course, before we were done, Karen’s Golf had gotten stuck and we had to push that backwards. She managed to get off the beach on the south side of the point and parked in the lot upstream.

With EB’s car safe, if not in particularly good shape, we started emptying it and bringing his and PT’s gear up the beach. Both Tri and Indie Rocker had run their cars up as far against the rocks as they would go, so we retreated up there and set up camp for the night as we changed out of wet clothes and draped wet stuff all over Indie Rocker’s truck to dry overnight. Tri cranked up the tunes, we started cracking beers and shortly after we finished moving and dried off, the family next to us bailed and donated their campfire to us. By that time, Bud and Karen had hiked down with their gear and set up camp as well. Once we got the campfire donated, Tri wandered over to their tent to get them, only to become traumatized and run back to the fire. Hee.

Indie Rocker and I slept on a tarp under the stars, which were beautiful. I’m glad he suggested that, as I had massively wimped out and begged to sleep in the truck. The night was gorgeous and there’s just something about curling up next to someone on the beach, under sleeping bags and going to sleep under millions of stars.

Waking up the next morning was painless, as the sun came out and slowly warmed us up. Tri started making batches of coffee, while the rest of us cleared up camp and started to work on EB’s car. PT tried calling AAA, but apparently we were too far off the road and they refused to come get us. Luckily, Indie Rocker’s pretty handy under the hood of a car and managed to figure out that the distributor cap was wet and that’s what was preventing it from starting, even as it was being jumped. Once that was dried, the car started (thank God!) and we attempted to move it backwards towards the wetter, firmer sand. And promptly high centered it. Argh. Tri, Indie Rocker, EB and I dropped to the sand and started digging. Right about then, our new friends from the other side of the point rolled over and started helping us. Awesome. We managed to dig out enough of the sand to push the car out onto the wet sand, but not before ripping off the front bumper, since it’s really, really low and we couldn’t lift the car up far enough to clear it. Apparently, that’s not the first time it’s been ripped off, though. Karen and Bud managed to sleep through the entire ordeal, of course.

After that, we sat around staring at the waves and drinking coffee for a while. Indie Rocker got bored, so I drove him down the beach so that he could surf for a little while and I’d help everyone schlep gear, since EB had relocated to the parking lot where Karen was parked. They had managed to fit most of the gear into Tri’s car, so I picked up the bumper, Karen and Bud and headed to the lot. We got everything organized, I bid farewell to the crew and headed back to the beach to watch Indie Rocker surf. I had impeccable timing, as I pulled up right as he was walking up the beach. He wanted to check out PC, so I drove over there and we determined that the waves were better, but the lineup was insane. He changed out, we got some coffee and hit the road so that we could get home before midnight. The drive was totally uneventful and not slow at all, so that rocked.

After cleaning up, we headed over to the park to meet up with Indie Rocker’s aunt and uncle as well as a bunch of friends. We ate, drank, played Frisbee, played with the kids, drank some more, played with kites, talked, I met another aunt and uncle and Mom came to watch the fireworks with us. It was a lovely 4th weekend and I’ll be recovering for days, I’ve no doubt.

Quote of the Day: “Trying to find where trouble ends/I've found out it's in your friends/I've done things I shouldn't do/taken things to get me through/I've been sinking in the sand/always had a helping hand/trying to find where trouble ends/I've found out it's in your friends.” Friends, 22-20s.