Tayquila, Bananas and tents.

I went camping with Emma, Fran, Gordon and Ellen tonight. None of us had to work in the morning, and Emma and Fran were keen to go camping for the night at this great spot they found halfway up Cornwall mountain. So, after some loose planning, the purchase of a significant amount of alcohol and a stocked cooler, me Emma and Fran piled into Timmy (my '92 ford taurus) and headed up the road.

About 45 minutes later (a solid 30 minutes farther away than the girls thought), we found the spot and set up camp. It was a really cute little area, and while the girls set up the tents and I started a fire, I couldn't help but smile and start getting excited.

I hadn't been camping in so many years, despite the fact that I live in the country. We only went for the night, but it felt so nice to get off the ranch and do something different. After everything was set up and the fire was blazing (which took several handfuls of "hags hair" and a sufficient amount of blowing to actually light), we sat down and had some drinks.

It was really nice to just chat with the girls. I hadn't really had "girl talks" with them before, so it was nice to just relax and chat about anything. Gordon and Ellen showed up a couple hours later, guitar and flashlight in hand. Before Gordon had even sat down, Fran had hold of his guitar and I was practically chanting in her ear to sing Lua by Bright Eyes.

I decided to sing along with her, which was probably a bit of a mistake, seeing as she pretty much has the voice of an angel, and while I could maybe vouch for my singing voice being bearable, it certainly decreases in quality after a few drinks have been consumed.

I had said earlier that night that I've never been much of a drinker, and that even when I'm fairly drunk I still know when to stop. So, naturally, I got absolutely plastered that night, and I think I probably lost a good chunk of my dignity. Oh well, at least it happened around fun people. Hence the name "Tayquila." And Bananas is the name of Gordon's polyester lobster - his travel buddy he uses to document his adventures. And we decided to tie him to a stick with a shoelace and hover it over the fire in a very sacrificial manner. Poor Bananas. There's even a video I took (no memory of this) in which Emma screamed "save me Gordon," and a very drunk me insisted that "we would NEVER hurt Bananas."

The next morning we all woke up very reluctantly, groggily packed up camp, fell into our cars and drove our hungover asses home, but not before me Emma and Fran made our way to Cache Creek A&W and ate some greasy burgers.

I felt like death all day and work was a nightmare, but all in all it was a great night, in great company.