September 5, 2008

• I need a vacation from vacation…

  

  I had a very fun vacation, but I’m paying for it now. On my birthday (thanks everyone, by the way), I was sicker than I had been in quite some time… I’m a little better now.

  Thursday
  

  I was not needed at the drill site, so I decided to do something I had wanted to do for quite some time: Hike Wheeler Peak, the very triangular peak I keep showing in pictures. It is or is not the highest peak in Nevada, and it is at least the second highest. So I woke extra early, at sunrise, to go. That morning, I saw the biggest thing ever at the border, and I see tons of mining stuff and heavy machinery. This was so big, it had multiple trucks towing it, some in front and some in back. It certainly is not the highest thing, but it was as long as 5 semis.

  
  

  It is, if I’m correct, the highest hike I’ve ever done. It starts at just above 10,000 feet, and ends just over 13,000 feet, and is about 8 miles round trip.

  

  It was 2.75 hours up, 2.25 down. It was very hard, but the view was great.  You can’t really see in this picture, but Notch Peak is perfectly lined up with the top.  It was really cool.

  

  Even though you can not see the glacier from the top, you can certainly see the effects of it, with cirques everywhere. The hike was quite rough, since the (pC-C) Prospect Mountain Quartzite is quite blocky and the elevation. It was only after I got down that I felt light-headed and not all there. This actually lasted for a while.

  Friday
  

  On Friday, as I recovered, the drillers and I drove down to Vegas, down good ol’ US-93. Here is me at what I believe to be a certain infamous gas station in Panaca… Andy, I’m gonna need some confirmation on that.

  

  What I can confirm is that this deal, like so many great things from our youth, has gone the way of the Dodo. We got to Vegas that night.

  Saturday
  

  We arrived in Palms at Fernando’s house. The ‘we’ is pictured above: Cati, Fernando’s girlfriend (L); Fernando a.k.a. Fernman (C); and Matt, one of the driller’s out of Vegas (R). Matt is from Tennessee and was so excited for the game. I was personally relaxed because I gave us little chance. I mean, they are going to get good with college’s best coaching staff, but not yet. Here, they partake in Irish carbombs.

  We did our fair share of partying that night on 3rd street, the first in a series of nights with too much fun and too little sleep for me.

  The first thing that happened when I arrived is Fernando insisted that I chop of my beard. It was getting kinda long, so I did not resist (see below). As of now, I am sans facial hair all together, for the first time since I lived in Dykstra.

  Sunday
  

  Sunday we hung out, showed Matt around UCLA, and did some more party-going, this time at Citywalk. This is where my non-drinking comes in handy, since I was turned to many times as a DD this weekend.

  Monday: Gameday!
  

  We woke up at the buttcrack of dawn for some unknown reason, well, the reason was the Gamma’s and Fernando like to tailgate early no matter what. Long story short: we got to the parking lot at 8 AM for a 5 PM kickoff. Guh…

  

  The best tailgate equipment by far was this hand-painted UCLA Rose Bowl replica field Beer Pong table. It was so cool. However, the biggest event for the table was an epic match of Flip-cup.

  
  

  In case this is a new game to you, as it was to me, you pound a half beer in a plastic cup, then flip the cup from the edge of the table to an upside-down position in a relay race.

  

  These UT older guys were great. They could not believe the women at the game. They were gawking like crazy, and often would approach a girl (1/3 their age) with a classic line like, “I know I have no shot, but can I at least get a picture with you?”

  

  We got 5 UT fans vs. 5 UCLA fans. We figured it would be close, and after the Bruins won the first game, and the Vols took the second, the decisive game went UCLA’s way. Premonition? We could only hope…

  

  I have to say this was awesome, both sides were pumped and chanting, but no, the bear did not play, just watched. We had quite the crowd by the third match.

  

  After much, much, MUCH drinking, we finally went in.

  

  I would say, about 1/4 of the crowd was UT. Can you see the wedge of them? I do have one complaint: They play “Rocky Top” a lot. They make $c’s band seem eclectic. Don’t get me wrong, I’d still rather hear them, because Rocky Top is a good, catchy song, unlike the monotonous, dull, simplistic, drone that spews from $c. We (driller Matt and I) sat behind the goalposts, a first for me at the Rose Bowl.

  

  The game itself, if you saw it, was very sloppy, very close, and very thrilling. We won 27-24 in OT in a game we were underdogs by at least a touchdown. We threw 4 INTs in the first half (and did not bench Craft… gotta hand it to Chow and Neuheisel), and they missed 4 FGs. All in all, quite the weekend, though it all added together to fuck me up now.

  
  Notch peak at sunrise

  In fact, by the end of the game, my voice was gone, and by Tuesday, I was really sick. By Wednesday, my birthday, the drillers and I drove back to Snake Valley and I was sicker than I had been in quite some time, but you already knew that. So, Knoxville and Great Smokey Mountains in 2009, anyone?

  • 4:59 pm
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