Brice Campin' Weekend

This past weekend was, without a doubt, one of the most memorable and best camping experiences of my life. As Sara puts it, "our friends are awesome and I want to fuck us". Indeed. Below is a list of the people who attended and my favorite memories of the weekend with them (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER EXCEPT ROBIN. DUH.)

1. Robin. Duh. He's, like, my boyfriend. But more over, he's a steadfast, intelligent, caring and loving person. We went out on Thursday together (before everyone else came on Friday) and I had an awesome time. We spent our day taking a couple of walks to Casa Bonita, playing cribbage (TWICE!!) and chatting about Ben Johnson. We miss you Ben! Over the weekend, he was his usual jubilant self, making everyone laugh and giving the most ginormous hugs you've ever seen. It's a beautiful thing to be in love with the person whom you can spend the whole day talking and not talking. We could talk and not talk all day and still find things to not talk about :)

2. Sara. Precious, brilliant, teacher-I-would-take-elementary-school-for-again Sara. Sara and I had lots of fun playing cribbage and I especially had fun using half of her suntan lotion (thanks, hon! No sun burns!). One of our more memorable moments was me showing her the cannodling of Evan and Liz C. and her breakin' up that biscuit. I was too chickenshit to do it, but she jumped right in. Sara made us all lunch when we went to Brice Creek, always helped with cooking and dishes and made a MEAN veggie ravioli and tortellini. Her idea of learnin' children to count quickly and efficiently - teaching them cribbage. I love you Sara!

3. Rachel. Raucous, radical, radiant Rachel. If you've never met a truly caring spirit, or you've never met someone who couldn't harm a fly, you've never met Rachel. Rachel and I had tons of laughs all the time, but that's what happens when ANYONE talks to Rachel. My favorite loving moment of Rachel came when she and I went down for a morning dip in the brisk waters. We both splashed around (and completely submerged ourselves) and painted our bodies with rocks. It was positively gleaming outside and whenever you see Rachel react to the sun's energy, you know everything's gonna be all right.

3. Sami. Hard-workin', shit-talkin', ass-kickin' Sami. You all know she's really sweet and that she'll always speak her mind. But we also know she's the world's Number One Instigator, the bringer of Earl and fabulous beyond all reckoning. My favorite memory of Sami and the weekend was whenever she called Artie (the dog) to her: "Artieartie!" What is so special about this is how animals react to her, not just Artie (though he would come runnin' when she beckoned). I've seen cats who hate life love her and butterflies and birds land on her (and stay for some time).

4. Tim. Sami's new squeeze, but he is much more than that. He is quickly becoming one of us (ONE OF US! GOOBLE GAABLE!). Tim is sincere as Sami, bright, fun, tubular. He has a wonderful puppy named Venus who loves her daddy so much. My favorite memory of Tim this weekend was his unshakeable appetite for cribbage. Sorry fellow cribbagers, but the award for Most Willing To Play Cribbage Anytime Day Or Night goes to Tim. He is, in a word, a Cribbage Evangelist. He's playin' it, preachin' it, lovin' it. Can't wait to see you at (more) cribbage nights Tim!

5. Liz Green. She's literally the most honest person I know and will tell you exactly what she thinks on any subject, just ask. She is kick ass to have around because like Robin says, "you always say what we're thinking!" When Liz loves something, she loves it unapologetically, unequivocally. My favorite memory of Liz involves two things - 1) Kissing everyone around the campfire on the lips, just cuz' and 2) Declaring me President and Rachel Vice President. You have chosen wisely, my dear :)

6. Liz Churchill. You-can-take-the-girl-out-of-the-city-but-you-can't-take-the-city-out-of-the-girl Liz Churchill. She's really smart, really precious and very, uh, willing to pursue what she desires (interpret that as you wish). Where Liz goes so does the Catch Phrase, which is always a favorite. My favorite memory of Liz involved that goddam jug of Peach Schnapps which she believed was the best drink ever and wanted to share it with everyone, especially the already "there" Evan. When she suggested putting the Schnapps in my whiskey and Coke... yeah. Thankfully, Liz is a very sweet (if determined) person, so she took my polite (or not, I think I made a vomiting noise and ran away) "no thank you" kindly.

7. Evan was there.

8. Scott. Long-ass drive for Scott to come see us, so it's always nice when he comes to things. Scott is a never-ending puzzle of technology, humanity and imagination. He's here and there and everywhere. A truly sporadic soul, being around Scott is like being in a blender. There's no telling what he'll say, when he'll say it or how the rest of the world will take it. My favorite memory of Scott is when he and Benny and I went to the store. That was fun.

9. John/Benny. I include them together because they came and left like the wind, but were no less entertaining. They are friends of Tim from Tahoe and arrived in a Toyota. These guys are, like, crazy drivers because it's an eight hour drive to Tahoe and they were like, "no prob, we'll just get up early to go". Damn. Benny likes to talk a lot and when on the trip with Scott and myself to the store, we learned much about him and Tahoe. Thankfully, he's not one of those talkers who I don't want to listen to. John and I didn't really connect. I think it's because every time he approached me, I flailed my arms around pretending to be an orangutan and clawed at his face like a cat from the Simpsons. He was nice to me anyway.

10. John Macken. The daddy mack-mack. I'm really happy that John has been hanging out with us lately. He's a cribbage usual, a Portland native and a happy little soul. He shared much with us this weekend, because he was so happy and comfortable in our circle of lovey love. Well, we got news for ya' John. You're awesome. Your giggle is my favorite memory because it makes me giggle too. Another fond memory of John is his utter glee in being there for the weekend. No one looked more content than he did. Which means our plan to lure him in is working. Excellent.

11. Phaedra. Goddam mother of fucking shit I love this girl. It really, REALLY sucks that she has to live in Corvallis, though I kinda' understand because she goes to school and works and has a house there. Phaedra and I don't know each other super well just because of the distance between us. That doesn't stop our random adventures from occurring, however. Our conversation is speckled with random words and laughter, none of which are coherent to anyone outside our conversation (and probably inside, too). My favorite memory of Phaedra was playing badminton on the road because of the middle of the court. HOBO was printed on the road for unknown reasons and it became our center "net". Phaeds and I were utterly tired by the time we played this game so she made the rule that if the shuttlecock landed half-over the HOBO, whosever side it landed on had to serve it. Pretty soon, both of us were at the HOBO, sneering at one another and smacking the shuttlecock to the other's feet, only to have the person snarl back and do the same.

12. Lea(h). Don't know how to spell it, don't fookin care. She's Uvo's little sister when I was formally introduced, but now she's her own person because she's so totally awesome. Lea is wonderfully sweet, caring and precious. She was enamored with my firedancing so I taught her how to spin poi! That was extrasuper fun and my favorite memory with her because she was a really fun learner. She can successfully do the forward and back weave. I really, truly hope to see more of this little cutie pie in the future!

13. Ryan. MVP goes to him because he brought the hammock. Need I say more?


GREAT trip everyone! I lovey love you all and can't WAIT for our next adventure!!!