Have you ever tried the experiment where you drip water onto a coin one drop at a time? The surface tension allows the coin to hold a surprising amount of water. I was reminded of this while camping this weekend. It looked like some poor, impoverished soul had tried this experiment in the public restroom. I knew they must have been poor indeed to not even have a penny to try it on. Why they used toilet seats, I'm not sure. Why they used pee instead of water, I'm also uncertain. Why they had to repeat the experiment again and again is debatable.
And then there was the all american camper. He used the word "frikkin'" like punctuation. He proudly showed me his "only you can prevent forest fires" baseball cap. Fifteen minutes after he packed his gear into his truck and departed, we wondered why there was so much smoke in the air. I prevent a forest fire by going over to his abandoned campsite and pouring copious amounts of water onto his campfire.
There is a dawn chorus down in Big Sur, sung by the local birds. Unfortunately, the local birds seem to fall into two categories: jays and crows. I think most of the singers are crows, whose job it is to distract campers from the fact that the jays are busy eating whatever food has been left out. In our case, it was a can of Pringles (called "fringles" by Lexy) and a canteloupe, which is later found to have a couple of bird sized holes in it. The second night, I left the remains of the canteloupe outside just to see what would be left in the morning. The canteloupe was missing when I finally got around to seeing if it was still in place, only to be found later, halfway up the hill behind the site.
This little trip is also the first time I've gone to sleep with Jen and the kids, and awakened at the same time as them. Our schedules are usually quite literally night and day. Sophie is so charming in the morning. She spouts endless gobbledygook, points at random items of interest around the inside of the tent, kisses me on the chin, and smiles contentedly the whole time. I guess I'm going to have to get a day job to enjoy this more often.
Of course, no camping trip is complete without cowboy coffee, boiled over a campfire and strained, for the most part, through one's teeth.

written to the tune of: Angelo Badalamenti "Comfort of Strangers" soundtrack

earlier: Cop Shoot Cop "Ask Questions Later", and Dirt "Black and White"