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nanamins-kitten · 4 years ago

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First kiss

note: I've been thinking about this for daaaaaaaaaays and I finally procrastinated studying to do it

no warning, just soft core Nanami lover

Being dragged to church in itself sucked. Being dragged to church for multiple hours sucked even more. Being dragged to church for multiple hours at night sucked dick and balls.

At least the service was over, after like 2 hours of keeping yourself occupied with watching your candle burn and the wax travel down until there was no more string to keep the light alive, and the church was surrounded by nature, lots of trees and a whole row of blossoming magnolia trees.

But it was still after midnight. And it was slightly chilly.

And it started raining.

You grumpled. You had no umbrella and no hood on your white overcoat and stopping somewhere would just take more time to get home. Swearing inside your head, you continued your walk along the magnolia trees.

'Excuse me...'

Suddenly no water was hitting your head anymore. Looking up, and towards the voice that came behind you, a umbrella was now shielding you from the falling water, held by a young guy with blonde hair and bangs falling into one side of his face. You slightly compared it to those of the emo guys that were all over quotev and wattpad covers when you were still active on there, but it was suiting him and his slightly tired, yet defined, face. He seemed to be wearing some sort of uniform, a school uniform.

'You, um, seemed not prepared for the weather.' he said once you two locked eyes.

'Yeah, I made the mistake to not check the weather forecast' you laughed nervously, a little shy at talking with a stranger and slightly intimidated by him. He was tall, very tall, and he was really pretty, and very close to you, sitting under the same umbrella. But he seemed a little shy, or stand off-ish, unsure in his movements, like an awkward teenager. That comforted you.

He looked away for a second, seemingly thinking, pondering something, before looking ahead the magnolia trees again. 'There is a bit of a walk till the gate. Let me walk you there.'

'Oh, thank you! You shouldn't have, but thank you.' Starting to walk on the road again, at a comfortable pace, you continued to look at him and smiled genuinely. 'You're really nice to do that.'

That seemed to make the boy blush a bit, making you smile more, keeping a giggle inside. He was really cute, wasn't he?

'I think that you also look very nice.'

Now it was your turn to blush. It was nice to be complimented by someone you were attracted to.

'Thank you.'

He hummed and the two of you continued to walk quietly. It was actually nice now that you were covered. The smell of rain and spring flowers in the air, the soft nightlights and no busy noise around felt actually close to a date, a perfect date. Step by step, you observed the boy had slowly gotten closer and closer to you, enough that he was in your personal space now, not uncomfortably so, but just enough like someone that you are close to. His hand with the umbrella was between the two of you, his upper arm touching yours. You liked the closeness and tried to swiftly bump your shoulder into his (which was pretty hard, since he was so tall and you could only touch his arm with your shoulder) and it was nice. It felt warmer, even if it had actually gotten slightly windy, but the silence in his presence was actually comforting, and he didn't mind when you lowly hummed a tune.

Finally, the gate was reached.

You turn towards the boy, smiling softly. The rain is much gentler now, but the wind started picking up. 'Thank you again for being so nice.' The gate was right there, a few steps ahead. But you felt the need to do something. So you stepped on your toes and leaned to peck his right cheek, on the spot that wasn't covered by his hair. It was closer to the corner of his mouth than you had planned, which made you blush and bite your lip nervously when you pulled back and were to continue to walk away.

Until he caught your hand.

His face was adorned by a rosy pink and his face was scrunched in some kind of confusion. Was it because you kissed you him? Was it because he didn't know how to react?

Stepping again closer to him, so his arm dropped, but his hand still in yours, you looked him in the eye and waited for him to make the next move. To see what idea is in his mind, what is he planning.

He locked his eyes with yours. He looked determined, a little intimidating, but there was no feeling of fear around you, he didn't want to hurt you. So you didn't move. His head leaned closer to yours and his hand, the one that one second ago was grabbing your hand, reached for your cheek, his knuckles caressing blushed skin. When your noses touched each other, he stopped in his tracks, unsure if to continue or not, if you changed your mind or not. You could feel his anxiety cascading out of him.

So you moved your head forward, your noses rubbing onto his this time, as consent to go ahead. It was a soft peck on the lips, just as gentle as the kiss you left on his cheek. His lips were slightly chapped and felt salty, like he just ate something very recent, but it melted your knees from how gentle it was when he cupped your face with the one hand.

You felt a sudden weight on you, looming, and you opened your eyes in shock to see him stumbling over you.

The wind had picked up suddenly and powerful and stole the umbrella away, exposing the two of you to the rain again. You broke apart to take the image of the umbrella flying away at big speed in, but then your vision went black as a piece of cloth went over your face and a yelp escaped your lips. Turning back to the boy, you understood he took his uniform jacket off and put it over your head to protect you from the rain, while he was completely exposed to the water droplets carried aggressively by the wind. His face was flushed more and more, and he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

'I don't want you to get wet.'

You weren't sure why that sentence hit you in the guts as hard as it did. Was it the gentle way he was holding the jacket so he could still see your face? Or maybe it was the way he was looking at you like you were the most precious thing in the world and was afraid of accidentally bruising you?

Maybe it was all of it that made you smile cutely, cup his face with both hands and tug him down, where you kissed him lovingly, like he was the love of your life. He was surprised, shocked, but his arms wrapped around your waist to keep you there.

You felt something soft under your hands, but it was not his face, it was softer and lighter, easily to grab and squeeze.

You woke up, eyes slowly fluttering to the morning sun. There were no more rain, no more night, no more church, magnolias, and the boy disappeared completely. Just you naked under the duvet.

Two arms squeezed your waist and a pair of lips left a kiss on your cheek, and then the face all those limbs belonged to nuzzled against yours. "Did you have a good sleep, darling?"

He didn't disappear.

He just grew up.

"Kento," you whined in your sleepy voice, turning in his arms to face him, "I had such a beautiful dream. And you were there too?"

His eyes were still closed, but he hummed as a sign that he was listening. "Is that so?"

"Yes, but actually it wasn't you... it were you when you were still a student, like I saw in the pictures when Gojo showed me."

Nanami groaned. "Please don't mention him first thing in the morning, kitten."

You giggled a bit. "Sorry, sweetheart. Will not happen again." You kissed his nose in apology. "And I was a student too, I think, and we met one silent, rainy night and you walked me with an umbrella and then we kissed."

He squeezed you closer to his chest at your words, kissing your forehead. "I like your dream, kitten."

"Me too." A dreamy sigh left your lips as your fingers were leaving circular patterns on his shoulder. "You know, if that would have been reality, you would have been my first kiss."

"Was I a good first kiss?"

Looking up to him, his eyes were still closed. You continued with your skin patterns, pointedly ignoring his question.

Immediately, his eyes opened and he lowered his head to look at you. You continued with your silly little task, trying not to smile when he moved to ask you again. "I believe I asked you something, kitten."

Damn him and his sexy morning voice, even deeper than usual, and his strong arms grabbing your naked skin so expertly.

"I mean..." you knew teasing Nanami had its limits, but it was way too fun sometimes. Like right now. "It was as good as a kiss as a dream kiss could be. You were really cute and shy then, all blushy and hesitant." Finally, you left a giggle out, remembering how cute he was, you wanted to squeeze him to your chest.

The Nanami you had with you then and there, however, was nowhere near the shy awkward teenager from you dream. He easily flipped you on your back, hands softly pinned on each side of your head, the duvet uncovering your body as he loomed over you.

Going for your right ear, he trailed kisses down to your neck, biting the skin near the shoulder. You moaned and bit your lip, embarrassed by the sound, even after so much time of dating Nanami.

"Aren't you the shy one now?" the whisper in your ear sent shivers down your spine, and warmth shooting through the whole body.

"Kento..." you started, intertwining you fingers with his while he held you down, staring you down.

"What is it, kitten?"

Your eyes travelled to his lips and stayed there for a few seconds, not saying anything.

"I need words, kitten."

Locking eyes with him again, you whispered "Kiss me like it's the first and last time, please."

#jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jujutsu kaisen x you #jjk x reader #jjk x you #nanami kento #nanami #jjk nanami #jjk nanami kento #nanami kento fluff #nanami x reader #nanami kento fic #nanami kento x you #jjk nanami x reader #Mine.#Mine #Mine forever.🧿🧸#🧿🧸

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kellerose · 4 years ago

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Holistic Analysis of ‘Volver’ by Pedro Almodovar

tw// mentions of child abuse, pedophilia, death, blood, and sharp objects

Conduct a holistic of the film Volver by Pedro Almodovar. Be sure to integrate terminologies and concepts from course discussions on both photography and film in your analysis. Cite all borrowed materials.

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‘Volver’ by Pedro Almodovar is a 2006 Spanish film set in Madrid, Spain as well as a small village in the La Mancha Region. Upon further research, it’s noted that La Mancha is where Almodovar grew up, which indicates that this film highlights the essence of his childhood.

‘Volver’, which is Spanish for ‘to come back,’ beautifully captures the importance of women’s lives and what comes of life after death. The film is compacted with stunning architecture, camera angles, color, music and sounds, and visual images that all fit into the film’s overall message.

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Composition: I have noticed throughout the film that Almodovar chose interesting and compelling camera angles for different situations. When people walk through big doors-- mostly with the windy village in La Mancha-- the camera would be at a one-point perspective. The center of the door would be the ‘vanishing point’ of the frame so that you’ll see the rest of the hallway that the characters will soon walk down. When Almodovar films the characters going up a flight of spiral staircases, he puts the camera on the ground facing upwards in the center to show the movement of the characters. When his characters are going down the set of stairs, he changes the angle so that the camera is at the top facing downwards. When characters are walking down or off onto the street, the camera tends to follow their movement in a single shot; either in front of the characters for more intense scenes and dialogue or on the side of the characters in a distance shot to move along the plot. I also noticed his choice of car scenes. He would usually show the red car driving down a dirt road of wind turbines in a distance shot. If there were people in the back seat, the camera would shoot from the front of the car, and if it’s only one person or two they would shoot their side profiles. I also noticed that certain frames had significance to the plot as an angle would be used for multiple shots; one with Raimunda cleaning the knife before and after the murder of Paco, and when Raimunda was standing by the tree by the river after burying Paco then later that same angle was used when Raimunda and Paula visited the same spot.

Visual Cues:

Color- The main color of the film-- as well as any Almodovar film-- is red. The color symbolizes death as well as womanhood-- the passion, empowerment, and life that goes with women. The film was full of bright colors, which is a usual touch that the director loves to add to all of his films. Almodovar chooses his color precisely by the setting, as he stated in his interview with Jennifer Merin about the film. He chose to use a lot of black and white because of the location and social environment of La Mancha. Those colors, he says, aren’t ones he typically uses but were the best choice for those certain parts of the film.

Gestalt Laws:

Proximity- The closeness between Raimunda and Paula throughout the entirety of the film shows that the two are related in some way. The fact that the two characters are inseparable and are seen living together, an individual can assume that they’re mother and daughter. Paco getting constantly pushed away and being distant from the characters symbolizes the dysfunctional relationship he had with Raimunda and Paula. When Sole ran away screaming from Irene upon first meeting her, one can assume that the relationship is unwanted by the forcible distance. However, we see about 20 minutes later, Sole allows Irene into her home and ends up sleeping next to her in the night. The sudden closeness indicates the love and comfortableness between a parent and child.

Common fate- The people of Madrid and La Mancha always kissed each other’s cheeks as a form of greeting. Raimunda and Irene both had their partners murdered for doing something taboo. Irene’s husband was having an affair and sexually abused and impregnated their daughter Raimunda. Raimunda’s partner, Paco, was stabbed by her daughter Paula for sexually assaulting her. Another common fate is that Raimunda and Paula were both sexually assaulted by their fathers/father figures.

Semiotic Signs and codes:

Indexical Sign- The abundance of people are dressed in minimal amounts of clothing which indicates that the weather must be quite warm. When the characters are in the La Mancha village, the character’s clothes and hair move rapidly indicating that the area has harsh winds.

Symbolic Sign- The use of red in the women’s clothing, on and in buildings, on the furniture, vehicles, and close-ups on vegetables and blood certainly doesn’t go unnoticed. However, an individual who notices may not understand its significance. Therefore, the color red is an example of a symbolic sign in this film. It emphasizes the meaning of life after death and the importance of womanhood. Another example of a symbolic sign is the song sung by Raimunda within the film. The title of the music is the same as the movie’s title, ‘Volver’. The song is about the need for one’s life to come back, especially a mother’s, in order to move forward in life, which is an addition to the film’s message. One final example is at the very beginning of the film. The women of the La Mancha village are seen cleaning off the gravestones in the local cemetery. The way the women talked with one another made the audience indicated that this was a common practice. This scene set up the meaning of life beyond death and womanhood because only women were standing over the dead.

Purpose of the Work: A main purpose of the work was for the director to pay homage to his childhood as the movie filmed in the place he grew up and the characters were similar to the women who raised him.

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Personal Perspective:

As usual, when films start, I need to take some time to get into it. This is the same with any kind of story, even with books. But, unlike books, I can stay focused and entertained by good cinematography. The Spanish film ‘Volver’ did just that for me. The stunning single-point shots and frames kept me wanting more. I completely adored the close-up shots of characters doing simple tasks. For example, when Raimunda was putting away Tupperware, washing the dishes, and grabbing paper towels-- just to name a few-- I absolutely adored how they were shot. When the plot began to thicken, however, it was more than just the cinematography that left me breathless. The acting was incredible that I was convinced I was watching someone else’s life right before my eyes. There were many surprises that I didn’t see coming that left me on the edge of my seat the whole time. When the film ended, I had felt satisfied and unsatisfied. I wanted to know more of the story, it felt like the conclusion was only starting when the credits began to roll. But, at the same time, I was okay with how it ended because I can make up my own conclusions about how I feel the story will continue. I really enjoyed how the visuals throughout the whole film were chosen carefully to match the overall message.

Cultural Perspective:

Almodovar uses a lot of past and present aspects of the Spanish culture in his films. As he grew up in Spain, it’s something he knows well and feels most inspired from. The director is obsessed with the media of Spanish culture-- such as telenovelas, magazine stories, infomercials. Almodovar adds Spanish media to his films quite often. For example, in ‘Volver,’ he uses the idea of a film-within-a-film aspect near the end of the movie. Another example is when Paco was watching soccer on the television in the earlier shots of the film. Almodovar claims that the brightness and intenseness of the colors match the drama that Spanish films have, which is why he tends to this culture more to satisfy his creativity. A quote from a 2006 interview mentioned in an Amuse article by Colin Crummy, Almodovar states, “It is something very Spanish but it is hardly used in Spain. It corresponds both to my personality and the baroque behaviour of my fictional characters. Explosions of colour fit in very well with high drama.”

Critical Perspective:

There were multiple mentions of child abuse and pedophilia within the film. One example is that Raimunda’s father abused and raped her as a child that led to the birth of Paula. Near the beginning of the film, there was an up-close shot of the fourteen-year-old girl’s private spot indicating that Paco-- the supposed father-- was looking at it, and he was creeping on her while she got undressed in her room. After a few scenes roll by, we see Paula waiting for her mother at the bus stop in the rain looking petrified. After Paula didn’t give a clear answer, we see Raimunda finding Paco’s dead body on the kitchen floor. Paula began to explain the whole event of the assault that led to her stabbing him in detail. The aspect of child abuse and murder is enough to provoke a strong response from the viewer. The whole event is extremely traumatizing that will make people talk about it afterward. A major theme throughout this film is death and the afterlife. The superstitions of spirits visiting you before you pass on overflowed the village. Irene was thought to have passed in a fire four years prior to the story’s timeline. So, when she had visited her sister who was dying, many suspected that it was her spirit helping the living pass on. The idea of death and the afterlife is a difficult topic to bring up in conversation, so it wouldn’t be unusual if someone had felt uncomfortable. There were many ways death occurred within the film; stabbing, old-age, a house fire(that was intentional), and cancer. Each death-- and the reason it happened-- can provoke an emotional response from the audience. The running themes and cultures of the film will leave anyone’s mind wondering: what’s next?

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References

Merin, Jennifer. “Jennifer Merin Interviews Pedro Almodovar Re ‘Volver.’” ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS, 13 Dec. 2006, awfj.org/blog/2006/12/13/jennifer-merin-interviews-pedro-almodovar-re-volver/.

Team, Amuse. “A Musical Tour of Ibiza.” Amuse, 24 Mar. 2021, amuse.vice.com/en_us/article/bvg3p4/a-musical-tour-of-ibiza.

Lester, Paul Martin. Visual Communication: Images with Messages. Sixth ed., Michael Rosenberg, 2014.

Almodóvar, Pedro, Agustin Almodóvar, Esther García, Penélope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo, Yohana Cobo, Chus Lampreave, Antonio . Torre, Carlos Blanco, José L. Alcaine, and Alberto Iglesias. Volver. , 2006.

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tansypoisoning · 4 years ago

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Tansy’s Spooky Challenge

Because the World is terrifying :D

To celebrate this milestone (1k followers :O) I’m starting a challenge which hopefully will give back to this community in terms of exposure of less known authors (or just authors that aren’t known by my followers) and in creating more stories. I’m so thankful for all the attention I’ve been given, and I hope to give you guys my attention as well.

I love writing challenges because they give authors motivation to write (sometimes even things out of their comfort zone), because they’re a great way for writer’s to promote themselves, and because it’s a great way for the person hosting it to find more stories and authors they could end up being big fans of :D I especially encourage people with less followers, or whose works I haven’t read to participate.

The main objective of this challenge is to write something that has an element of horror in it. It can range from a situation that seemed scary but is okay, to something that is a little eerie, to pure unadulterated terror. As for rules:

You DON’T have to be following me to participate.

You have to enter with a reader insert/OC fic. There doesn’t have to be any smut or shipping, and if there is, the relationship DOESN’T HAVE to be about dark!character or dark!reader.

I’ll read works for any fandom, but the ones I’m most familiar with are Marvel, Overwatch, Snowpiercer, Knives Out, Naruto, Avatar:The Legend of Aang

You can submit drabbles, one-shots, or an entry of a serialized story.

A single prompt CAN be used by more than a single person.

The fanfics can be of any length, but if they’re on the longer side, please try putting a ‘Read More’ in there somewhere to avoid making things difficult for people reading on phones.

Things that are not allowed in terms of content: underage sex, bestiality, graphic child abuse (allusions are ok) I don’t think anyone would submit an entry that I would have reservations reblogging, but if in doubt you can ask me for help. Give warnings for any sensitive topic you bring up.

Tag your fic with “TansySpookyChallenge2020”

Send me an ask or dm telling me you posted it, preferably a dm. Asks can get eaten by the inbox, and tagging doesn’t always work.

Deadline is November 24th. You can DM for extensions

PROMPTS BELOW

Choose one item from each list and work them into a story. I allow and encourage trying to game the system with multiple interpretations of a term, less literal readings, or wordplay.

List 1

Happiness

Jealousy

Nostalgia

Desperation

Fury

Triumph

Sadness

Acceptance

Fervor

Disgust

Awe

Confusion

Hope

Craving

Foreboding

Denial

Loss

Ennui

Adoration

Sympathy

Pain

Betrayal

Commiseration

Anxiety

Rancor

Determination

List 2

Sink or swim

Chokecherry

Crossroads

“Let me see what you have.” “A knife!”

French vanilla

Something forgotten long ago

The shore

The eye of the storm

Bathtub

Corn hell

Down by the river

Baby’s breath

A little fire

An old saloon

Unearthed bones

On the move

Before dawn

Dead men walking

By candlelight

Frankenstein

Prima Donna

A hill about a mile outta town

First dance

Ritual

Underground

A small request

These text prompts can be used however you want: whether you want to have them in your story in their entirety, use bits, write something around them, something inspired by them, or just something you think has a similar feel. Just let me know which you picked.

There is a Corvette parked in front of the building, just by the front door. You approach the vehicle as if compelled by an invisible force and look in through the closed window. There’s none inside, but you see, in the driver's seat, illuminated by the neon lights of the bar, a white cowboy hat with a golden band. This isn’t the first time you see this hat.

The hole is no more than eight feet long and three feet wide. You peer in deeper, but you can’t see the bottom. There’s a soft but grating sound coming from somewhere within, like sharp nails raking against a metal plate. You can’t see the bottom, but you think you can see movement inside.

You abandon the warmth of the laundromat for the biting cold of the outside world. To your right, the road extends for miles and miles into the night, as it does to your left. There’s no place for you to go, but you can’t go back inside.

The light of the neon sign proudly displaying “Rising Sun Motel” shines through your door. You had closed and locked it before taking your shower – you know you had, because you do it in every room you rent. You take a cursory glance of your surroundings. Nothing is out of place or missing. Must be a faulty lock. The night is windy and could have pushed the cheap door open. You go to lock it again, and when you turn around you see that the closet door is slightly ajar.

The land is flat as far as the eye can see and identical houses with identically manicured lawns sprout from it as far as the eye can see. You run up and then down the street (or is it down and then up?) but you can’t seem to find anything else. The people look so friendly when they smile and wave as they pass you by, but you don’t ask them for directions. You look at your phone. You have signal, but all you can get your internet to show you are advertising for washing machines and sites with recipes for awful things preserved in aspic. The date and hour on your home screen keep changing. You’re positive you’ve been in this place for hours, but the sun won’t set.

“B-but… I don’t understand...” “We have checked the security footage three times and found nothing. There are also no signs of forced entries. No fingerprints.” “-My phone! I took pictures, I know I took-!” “We found nothing on your phone, in the SD card, or in the Cloud. There’s nothing.” “That’s impossible!” “We searched as much as we could. I’m sorry, but… are you sure-” “I know what I saw! I know it! Look again!” You aren’t imagining things. It couldn't have been your mind. It couldn't, it couldn’t, it couldn't

What kind of convenience store has taxidermy heads for decoration? You ask yourself as you roam the aisles of the near empty shop. You peek from behind a row of shelves to one side and spot the clerk. He’s old and severe looking, and although his pupils are pointed in your direction, you get the distinct feeling he’s looking right through you. You move your head to the other side of the shelves and spot another one of those fucking deer heads. This one’s large, wet eyes are turned to a fixture in the ceiling, but you would swear it’s watching you.

Rain pelts you as you stand at the dock, waiting. You hope your boat will arrive soon. You look over your shoulder into the mist and see nothing that should give you pause, but your leg still won’t stop shaking. You touch your arm by reflex and wince when you brush your cut. You think your makeshift tourniquet is working, but it looks fragile, like it could get dismantled at any second. In this weather, you’re sure is just a matter of time. You look over your shoulder again. Still nothing, but you fear it won’t last. You hope your boat will arrive soon.

The living room is dark, but you don’t turn on the lights. You are still too close. You move to the kitchen, and there you feel safe enough to reach for the switch. The illuminated room, much larger than it needed to be, is a ghastly land of contrasts. The many counters and their many marble tops are covered in trash. The tile floors, formerly clean enough to eat out of, are now muddied, not a single spot spared. The eyes of the two stoves are covered by pans and pots boiling foul mixtures. Through the window you can see the sprawling lawn and walls of hedges. They will hide you, but for how long? There is something waiting for you in the hallway, something terrible. You have to address it before sunrise, but for now you’ll wait here. The kitchen isn’t half as bad as the rest of the house.

‘The Bystander Effect’ is the term used to describe the phenomenon in which people don’t intervene in emergency situations when in a group, and, the larger the group, the less likely they are to intervene. You know this to be true, even without doing any research, as you hobble your way through the maze of alleyways. Your cries for help had gone unanswered, bouncing off the concrete walls into a multitude of uncaring ears. It’s just how it is in the big city – every man for himself, and the devil take the hindmost. So much for safety in numbers. The truth is, in this city, surrounded by all these people, you’re more alone than you’d ever been.

You take the first step with care, mindful of all the ice. The second is a little clumsier. On the third you almost slip. You skip the fourth and fall on the fifth, rolling down the stairs and landing face first in the snow. You scramble to get back to your feet and run to your car. You have to get home. You lock yourself in and don’t bother with the safety belt. You shove the key in the ignition and turn and turn but nothing happens. Did you leave it in the cold too long, or- There’s no time to think about it. You step out of the car and start running, into the freezing night. You have to get home, you have to get home now.

Cleanup time is always a hassle. You wish you didn’t have to do it, but it wouldn’t be fair to leave the mess all to your partner. You two near the open trunk of the car and load the heavy cargo into it. Your companion seems the most affected by the weight, and you offer an apologetic smile. Fair is fair though; it was your turn to carry the feet end.

Skinny dipping had seemed like a good idea when your friend suggested it earlier, under the sweltering sun. Now, standing in front of the pool in your bathing suit, all by your lonesome, you start to regret having agreed to her scheme. Wasn’t she supposed to have arrived forty minutes ago? She said she’d bring people too, because skinny dipping alone isn’t fun. Well, now you are all alone in the cold, and you suspect that is even less fun. Just as you make up your mind to leave, you see a car through the chain link fence. It pulls up just before the gate and the engine turns off. That must be them.

#TansySpookyChallenge2020

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cakirk2 · 3 years ago

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Day 46, Wednesday, October 13. 208 miles, Salida to Embudo, NM

Listened to the wind howl all night long outside my Hostel room. I couldn't seem to relax - always felt like I couldn't catch my breath. Elevation? Anxiety? Probably a little of both. Not much sleep.

Checked weather very, very, closely, then checked it again and again. Clear, sunny, but cold (40's) and windy all along my route south. Decided best way to tackle the day was with a full belly, and waiting until temps rose enough that I was confident it would be mid/high 30's over my favorite Pass. Yummy big breakfast at Robin's of Salida, rolling down the road at noon.

Same lit sign at the base as yesterday - 'Be Prepared. Expect Winter Conditions'. 36 degrees at the top of Poncha Pass, dry road and sky, windy. Next 200 miles, more of the same, 'cept temps in the 40's. Winds came and went. The final 75 miles were pretty rough. Strong westerly wind blowing me around quite a bit.

Missed multiple photo ops along the way - hate that! Just too dang cold and windy to try and stop, plus my cold weather gloves don't work very well with my camera.

Google Rio Grande Gorge - very cool. There's a bunch of architecturally strange homes 25 miles or so north of Taos on highway 64. They're very quirky and 1/2 underground - probably 50 or so homes. Worth a look if Google can find something on it.

Taos was a cold, windy road construction mess. No stop for me. Deb and I will come explore one day.

My Airbnb is a quirky little place out in the country south of Taos along very scenic Highway 68. I had it all to myself. It's a UnU Retreat Center. Google that. Reader's digest - "Un'U Center aims to facilitate a deepening experience into the mechanics of human's consciousness and the healing of the mind-body-soul complex." Huh?

Um, yea, I'm a new man. :)

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gay-jesus-probably · 4 years ago

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A beginners guide for skiing/snowboarding

It totally just occured to me that with nothing else to do this winter, people are probably looking at skiing as a good way to get out, do something, and remember that other human life exists within this universe while not exposing yourself to the threat of plague. And that’s a great idea! Because skiing is fun as hell and vastly superior to snowboarding in every way.

But I also realize that most people don’t have parents that consider skiing a necessity of life, and therefor didn’t start skiing pretty much right after they got the hang of walking. So, for those of you who want to get into the sport, here’s some useful advice from someone that’s been skiing for... I think about seventeen years? I’m honestly not sure.

And unless specifically stated otherwise, yes all this advice applies to snowboarding as well. They’re pretty similar sports.

Under the cut because this is very long and I’m not doing that to your dashboard.

Step one: Gear

- The most expensive part is the skis and the boots. As in, buying one pair of good quality skis + boots will probably be $1000+. So if you’re buying gear, you’d better be absolutely certain that you’re going to get at least a decade of use out of it. So, complete beginner? Don’t buy. Rent. Same thing for children; kids just grow too fast, they’ll need new gear every season. I know most ski shops will let you rent gear for a full season though, so that makes things a lot easier (and cheaper).

- Skiiers, get the hang of the basics before you get poles. They’re basically for extra balance, help moving over flats, and navigating especially messy terrain. Get some confidence on just skis first. Feel free to buy your own poles though; poles are cheap and they don’t come with any sort of performance level. Literally the only difference is height, grab type and paint job. Sizing is easy, you just need to be able to grab the handles with your elbows at a ninety degree angle and the tips on the floor. Ask if you’re not sure. Everything else is just personal preference.

- Snowboarders, get wrist guards. That’s non-optional. You’ll be landing on your hands a lot. Save yourself the fractured wrists. Skiers can get them too, but snowboarders are the ones that really need them.

- Helmets are mandatory. For everyone. You are never too good for a helmet. Olympic level skiers have died from bad wipeouts without a helmet. Put your fucking helmet on. And I don’t mean a bike helmet or a skating helmet, you need to get a proper ski helmet. This is not optional.

- Goggles are also a must, but this one isn’t controversial. Keeps the wind out of your eyes, and also helps you see the hill better. Different tints are better for different lighting, but don’t worry too much about it; I’ve never bothered with different lenses. Just get a light orange tint; it’s best for flat light, which is the hardest conditions to see in.

- Get ski socks. They’re not hard to find, just make sure you get a pair that are comfortably tight. Loose socks cause blisters. And normally socks will not do, the socks need to be long. The tops should be under your knees, but still a good way up your legs.

- For pants, you want something light and comfortable. Sweat pants or leggings are perfect. Honestly, pajama pants will work in a pinch too. Don’t wear jeans unless you really hate yourself.

Step two: Staying warm

- Waterproof outside and layers on the inside. That’s what it all boils down to, really.

- A good winter jacket is your main concern. If your hood can come off, take it off, it’ll just get in the way. Not one of those long jackets either, you want your legs free. Also, zip up your pockets before hitting the slope! Nobody likes finding snow in their pockets. Nobody.

- Snow pants. Again, freedom of movement is the goal, make sure you’re fine. Also snowpants with suspenders may not be the best idea; there’s nothing worse than being on the top of a mountain and having to unzip your jacket to pull up a suspender. Also the snowpants go on the outside of the boots, not the inside. Just to be clear.

- Gloves or mitts. Again, waterproof is a must. If your hands get cold easily, mitts are a better choice here; you can have your fingers wrapped around a heat pack all day, while with gloves all you get is toasty palms and frostbitten fingers.

- Neckwarmer! It’s damn windy on the hill, cover your face up. You’ll be glad for it.

- Cycling back to the layers thing, to explain in more detail. The bottom and top of your clothes stay the same. Bottom layer is a comfortable shirt, which will be horrifyingly sweaty by the end of the day. Top layer is your jacket, which is waterproof and windbreaking. Everything in between is optional. Some sort of fleece or sweater is a good idea. Don’t wear a hoodie though, the hood will just annoy you all day. If you’re way too warm, lose a layer. If there’s no more layers to lose, unzip the jacket a bit. Do not take the jacket off. Seriously. Don’t.

Step three: Safety on the hill

The Alpine Code is the agreed upon universal code of conduct for skiiers and snowboarders on a hill. This is the most important thing you need to know. Not just because you’ll be in trouble if you break it, but also because not following puts you and everyone around you in danger.

Always stay in control. You must be able to stop, or avoid other people or objects.

People ahead of you have the right-of-way. It is your responsibility to avoid them.

Do not stop where you obstruct a trail, or are not visible from above.

Before starting downhill or merging onto a trail, look uphill and yield to others.

If you are involved in or witness a collision/accident you must remain at the scene and identify yourself to the Ski Patrol.

Always use proper devices to help prevent runaway equipment.

Observe and obey all posted signs and warnings.

Keep off closed trails and obey area closures.

You must not use lifts or terrain if your ability is impaired through the use of alcohol or drugs.

You must have sufficient physical dexterity, ability, and knowledge to safely load, ride, and unload lifts. If in doubt, ask the lift attendant.

This exact text will be on the back of your lift ticket, and on signs around the hill. These are the rules. Follow them.

To clarify some points:

- Stopping on the hill is totally fine; just stay off to the side, and make sure people can see you. This is especially important for snowboarders, because your stopping means sitting down. Be very sure that people will spot you in time to move out of the way. And if you’re in a group, line up vertically. Don’t collectively block the hill.

- When they say it’s your responsibility to avoid people in front of you, they’re not fucking kidding. If you can’t stop in time, you have to fall. It’s better than a collision, trust me. I don’t care if someone accidentally swerves directly in front of you, if your momentum is going to hit a person or thing, you need to stop that momentum immediately. This goes double if you’re about to hit a tree or something; please, for the love of god, fall. A wipeout will hurt. Hitting the tree can kill you.

- When you get off a lift, move. Immediately. There’s probably people a few seconds behind you, and you need to be out of the way. Also, if there’s multiple ways to go when unloading from a lift, make sure you know which way everyone on the chair plans to unload. Don’t fall over each other.

- For witnessing an accident, you don’t have to hang around and call ski patrol any time someone has a wipeout. Just pay attention to the other people on the hill, especially if you see a bad wipeout. If someone has a group of three or more, keep going; they don’t need you. But if you see a person wiped out alone or with one person, and they look like they’re struggling to get up, stop and check in with them. Ask if they’re okay. If the downed person is actually hurt, offer to go get ski patrol for them, even if they’ve got an uninjured friend; it’s better to have a stranger going for help while their friend stays.

- If someone wipes out and loses skis and/or poles up the hill from where they end up, grab them and bring them down if you can. That’s not alpine code really, it’s just basic manners. It’s incredibly hard to walk up a hill in ski boots; they’ll be eternally grateful to you.

Step four: Difficulty

If you look at a map of a ski hill, you’ll see every run marked with a symbol. That tells you how difficult that run is, by the standards of that particular hill.

Green circles are the easiest runs; these are gentle slopes that usually have lots of room to turn. I say usually, because CAT tracks also become green runs - those are the roads that brought machinery up to clear trees and stuff when they were building the ski hill. They’re a little narrow sometimes, but always a very mild slope. All green runs are groomed every day, so don’t worry too much about terrain. Most hills will mark their very easiest run, so that’s the place to start if you’re brand new.

Blue square is intermediate. They’ll be steeper than greens, but they’re usually groomed daily. Being steeper means they’re at more risk of ice, so watch out. Don’t try a blue until you’ve got some experience and confidence; if you’re a skier, you should have been using poles for awhile before you hit a blue. Make sure you’re confident in stopping, and know how to slow down. If you’re still relying on the snowplow instead of a proper brake, you’re not ready for a blue.

Black diamond is the hardest. Some of them are groomers, but plenty aren’t; thats how you get moguls after all. Black diamond runs are for very skilled skiers with years of experience. If you’re on a black and not feeling confident, then take it slow and careful, and don’t be ashamed to give yourself a muttered pep talk all the way down, possibly interspaced by frightened owl noises.

Double black diamonds are a symbol of mans hubris. These are never groomed. These are steep, messy, and personally hate you. If you’re not 100% comfortable on moguls, don’t take a double black. Even I don’t do double blacks; it’s just not the kind of skiing I prefer. Basically if you’ve learned something new from this guide, you’re definitely not ready for a double black.

Please remember that while these are universal symbols and meanings, every hill has a different standard of difficult. For example, a river valley or a man made hill will call their runs green, blue and black, but for a mountain skier the whole place would be very tame greens. Different area have different standards. If you’re trying a new ski hill, always assume that they’ve got higher standards than you’re used to. It’s better to underestimate your skill and do a few easy runs to warm up than to overestimate and find yourself stuck on a run you’re not prepared for.

Step five: Getting up the hill

While chairlifts are the classic method, there’s actually a lot of different ways to get up a hill, and no telling what a particular place will use. So here’s a full list of lift types, how to use them, and where you’ll probably find them.

Magic Carpet

It’s a conveyer belt. It’s literally just a big conveyer belt. You stand on it, and it brings you up. Short, slow, simple. These are usually found in areas meant specifically for beginners, at the very bottom of the hill. If there’s nobody in front of you and you’ve got skis, you can kinda shuffle walk up to go a little faster. Just don’t fall.

Tow Rope

These are like magic carpets, but a little more annoying. Instead of hopping onto a conveyor belt, there’s a rope being turned in a circle. You grab on, it drags you up, and you let go at the top. Again, these are found in basic areas. If you’ve got poles, hold them both in one hand, hold the rope with the other.

T-bar

Like a tow rope, but it’s raised off the ground and has bars shaped like an upside down T attached. You grab one of them at the bottom, get half under your butt, then hold onto the middle as it drags you up. If you’ve got poles, take em off and hold them in one hand. Each T can hold two people, one on either side. For the love of god, don’t try to sit down. It can pull you up the hill, but you’ve gotta work to keep upright. If you try and sit, you’ll fall backwards. If you’re riding a T-bar alone, it helps to have one hand holding the middle bar, and the other hand balancing out the other side of the T. T-bar’s are usually found on the lower mountain in easy areas, but they’re not uncommon at the very top for access to the hardest areas.

Poma Lift

Exactly like a T-bar, but instead of the T shape it’s just a bar with a plastic disk at the bottom. Unlike a T-bar, Poma’s are a single person lift; you just straddle it so that the disk is on your butt, and off you go. Yes, this means the middle bar looks incredibly phallic. That’s part of the fun. These are only found at the very top of the mountain, for access to the hardest areas. Like the T-bar, poles are held in one hand.

Chairlift

Ah, the classic. Chairlifts are the most common lift, and they come in many variations. Singles might as well be extinct; I’ve never actually seen a one person chairlift. Doubles are uncommon, and usually tend to be older and rickety. These days most chairlifts are triples, quads or six packs, although I hear eight person chairs are a thing in the Alps. Chairlifts range the entire mountain; look at the map and make sure you know you’re going to an area you can ski. For skiers, remove the straps on your poles, and hold them normally until you get the loading spot; once you’re ready to sit down, hold them in one hand. Snowboarders, remove one foot from your binding before getting in line. All chairlifts have either a safety bar or a windshield. Lower it once everyone’s sititng down, then just sit back and enjoy the view. No matter how tempted you are to check your phone, don’t do it unless you absolutely have to, and be very careful. If you drop something, you’re fucked. Don’t be concerned if the lift stops, that’s perfectly normal; someone might’ve fallen at the top or bottom, or needed help loading/unloading. Once you get to the top, everyone in the chair should communicate which way their going (to avoid getting in each others way), then raise the bar as you approach the top. When you reach the platform, stand up and push forwards.

If you don’t get off the chairlift in time, or fall down, don’t panic. There’s lift operators for a reason, and they’ll hit the emergency stop if someone falls in the unload area. Likewise, if you don’t make it off the chair in time, you’ll trip a wire as you go around and trigger an emergency stop, so that the liftie can help you down. Don’t just jump the few feet down, because then the liftie gets mad and you and also many people are skeptical about your sanity. Which I know. Because reasons.

Gondola

Finally, the mighty gondola. These bad boys are the comfiest ride, but also the most work to get on/off, so you’ll only ride a gondola to get from the base to the upper mountain. Before getting in line, remove your poles, skis, and snowboards. Carry them through the line. When it’s your turn to load, give your skis/snowboard to the liftie, who will load them onto the outside of the gondola you’re riding in; poles go into the gondola with you. Don’t be slow about it, cause the gondola won’t stop. Then everyone load in, have a seat, and enjoy a nice ride up in comfort and privacy. Check your phone, take pictures, look at the map, have a snack... you’ve got time, and you’re in a nice little bubble, so you don’t have to worry about losing anything. When you’re at the top, unload, grab your gear, and walk out of the way to put your skis/snowboard back on.

Step six: Everything else

Now for all the little details that’ll make the whole thing a lot easier for you!

Bring your own food if you’re on a really tight budget; ski lodges are like airports or theme parks. You’re a captive audience; everything is horribly overpriced. But if you do want a hot meal, tbh it’s usually worth it; ski lodge food is expensive, but they at least have the decency to make it good. Try to time your meals to be before or after the typical lunch rush; the lodges get horribly crowded around noon. ...Well, do that when the pandemics over; these days avoid the lodge like the plague. Because it is the plague. Your vehicle is your locker; bring your own lunch, and eat there.

Always have a spare pair of gloves/mitts in your boot bag. If you lose one, or one gets ruined somehow, you’ll be thanking yourself.

You should always have some essentials in your jacket pockets when skiing. All your stuff might be in your locker, but mountains almost always have multiple lodges, so you don’t want to be needing something when it’s an hour of lifts and skiing away. The universal necessities is some money (i find a 20$ bill is best), your phone, and a map if you don’t know the hill very well. If you use them, then extra hair ties, and a tampon and/or pad are also a good idea. Even if it’s not shark week. Doesn’t hurt to be paranoid. A protein bar or some sort of snack is also good, or gum/hard candies if you want. Also, in this day and age, have a mask in your pocket.

Weed is a traditional favourite of skiers and snowboarders everywhere; blazing is a popular way to pass the time on a chairlift. Just be careful not to drop anything, and you probably shouldn’t blaze it while skiing/snowboarding if you don’t have the skill and experience to safely do it while blazed. ...Oh and if it’s not legal where you are, you should probably pick a more subtle location.

In your boot bag, locker, or vehicle, it’s a good idea to have at least one bottle of water, some ibuprofen, blister packs, bandaids, and some normal socks, especially if you’re skiing. Ski boots are very uncomfortable footwear. You don’t really notice it on the hill, but after. My god, when you’re taking your boots off at the end of the day, it’s the most amazing feeling in the world. Being able to put on normal socks and shoes again is like a religious experience. Trust me. Normal socks. It’s so good.

Know the symptoms of frostbite! If your fingers or toes are numb and painful, it’s time to take a break and thaw. If it keeps happening, try getting heat packs; they’re little packets with chemicals in them, and as soon as you open the plastic wrap it starts a reaction that produces heat. It’s not hot enough to burn, and it’ll last all day. Keeps the fingers nice and toasty. They’re a skiing staple, you’ll love it.

If the group splits up, make sure you know where and when to meet up again. Don’t count on being able to text each other, cell service is not a guarantee. And if a member of the group isnt there at the end of the day, check with ski patrol; they might have been injured and wound up in medical.

If for whatever reason you can’t get back down the mountain on your own, head the nearest lift that goes to the base, and talk to the liftie. You can always ride the lifts down if you need to. There’s no shame.

If you’re riding up a lift and pass a tree completely covered in bras, panties, and those shitty plastic bead necklaces, don’t worry. Every good ski mountain has an underwear tree somewhere. It’s a time honored tradition. Respect the underwear tree.

If you’re skiing several days in a row, then taking care of your gear is top priority. As soon as you’re back home or in your hotel room, everything comes out of the boot bag and gets set out to dry over a heat vent. Boots too. Make sure to close all the buckles on your boots or they’ll be a bitch and a half to do up later. That step is extra important if you’re not skiing the next day; never leave your boots unbuckled.

Skiing is a very intense sport, and a good day of skiing is a serious workout. Plan your après ski. Hot tubs are perfect if you’ve got access to one; if not, take the longest, hottest shower you can stand. You need it; not only will it wash all that sweat off, but also it’ll make your life a little easier tomorrow. If you can get out of bed the next morning without groaning in agony, you probably weren’t skiing hard enough.

Finally, before going to a ski hill with chairlifts, please watch these two videos. It’s a two part review gleefully mocking a suspense/horror movie about three people getting stuck on a chairlift when a ski hill closes. To this day when me and my sibling are on a chairlift together and it stops, one of us will immediately declare that we’ll be trapped for a whole weekend, and the wolves are hunting us. It’s an extremely stupid movie, and an extremely funny review mocking it. The wolves are coming. Those notorious ski hill wolf packs.

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bethagain · 5 years ago

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Fic Meme

Thank you @fuckyeahisawthat for the tag! If anyone wants to read some stories, my AO3 is here.

Fandoms I’ve made fanworks for:

Star Wars Original Trilogy (21) Good Omens (13) Star Wars Sequel Trilogy (9) Mad Max (8) Sherlock (4) Winnie-the-Pooh - A. A. Milne (1) Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (1)

Number of fics: 55

Fics I spent more time on: Most of my stories get written in the space of a day or two, ideas tumbling out of my head onto the page. A few have taken a longer process. All the Right Reasons, backstory for Kylo Ren, went through multiple edits. Dark Chickens—a Star Wars crackfic that developed plot and ideas on Force philosophy—sat for over a year until I figured out how to get it right.

Fics I spent less time on: Most of them! I edit as I go along. Usually if a fic’s not done in about 48 hours, it’s destined for the WIP folder. Which is more like WIPS--works in perpetual stasis.

Longest fic: Well that’s interesting. I wouldn’t have thought so but my longest fic is also one of my oldest on A03. Dark Things is a Sherlock case-fic that took over my brain while I was trying to do NaNoWriMo that year.

I’m still blown away that someone offered to translate that one into Polish.

Shortest story: Campfire, a darkly silly little ficlet, 123 words, post-TFA and pre-TLJ. After that, It Isn’t London and Road Danger Reduction Plan are a couple of 221Bs from several years ago.

Most hits: Luminosity. Good Omens, Aziraphale and Crowley in northern Iceland, featuring the Northern Lights, a striking landscape, and hugs. More than 6,000 hits and over 900 kudos, which still blows my mind.

Most bookmarks: Also Luminosity, by a lot. After that, the Truth About Tatooine. It’s pretty boring being a teenager on Tatooine. And what do bored teenagers get up to?

Fic you want to rewrite or expand: Oh, someday I’m going to get back to Rebuilding, which is Luke Skywalker’s story after ROTJ. There’s a whole novel there, I just have to figure out how it goes.

Total words combined: 124,136. How ‘bout that.

Fav fic you wrote: Oh boy. I love them all. I think I might be most proud of Brunch at the Citadel, a post-Fury Road story about making the Citadel a home and featuring a wayward chicken. Probably has the tightest plot of any of my stories.

Share a bit of your WIP or idea if you have anything planned:

Over a year ago, I had an idea to write a Hallmark Channel style romance, just for the heck of it. I thought I could inject an extra level of silliness and come up with something really fun. The project’s been languishing thanks to writer’s block and also real life (hello pandemic), but here’s a teeny clip.

Windy woke to the text alert on her phone.

It took a few minutes to locate it among the tangled covers. When she did, she felt the rush of adrenaline that always came with a message from Spike.

It wasn’t healthy, the way she still got butterflies at the thought of him. Windy was a grown woman. She knew that going cold turkey was the only way to put a broken heart behind her.

But it wasn’t like she could avoid Spike, either. His skydiving company was just down the airfield from hers. Their pilots covered for each other’s sick days. They shared the same cleaning crew.

And she wasn’t going to stop going to the food truck in the parking lot, even though it was his favorite too. That truck had the best tacos in all of Tumbleweed, Arizona. No way she was giving them up.

Spike’s customers still stumbled into her place all the time, because people don’t read signs. “Maximum Altitude is over there at the other end of the parking lot,” she’d tell them with a smile, even though another piece chipped off of her heart each time she remembered she wasn’t welcome there, anymore.

Tagging: Anyone else who would like to do this! C’mon, share your stories!

#fic meme #writing life

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thegeminisage · 5 years ago

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the tornado story

ok so what happened was there was a tornado in georgia & i got a warning for it on my phone & i was like “lol thats weird who cares about a tornado in georgia we’re not in georgia” except a bit later like RIGHT after we left my brother’s house (he’s in greenwood & we were visiting for mom’s bday) my phone went FUCKING BANANAS lit up with warnings like “torando warning we’ve laid eyes on it take shelter NOW” thats just how fast the goddamn thing was

& my mom was like, it’s totally calm out here, it’s 70 frickin degrees, im still smoking, we already left (we were like...stopped at a gas station just a few blocks away), she wanted to go home, and i (having an anxiety disorder and having also seen twister) was like HAHA NO? & she was like “look if u dont want to drive let me drive” & i was like “u can drive but i am not going on a bigass long road with a tornado on the ground in the DARK i am staying here at this gas station & i will somehow find my own way home after there is no longer a tornado u can take my van but i am a grown adult i will not move my body” and she thought i was being STUPID and i had to like really start letting my panic slip thru to get her to believe i was serious AND THEN

my brother, a real g, called & he was like, my & SIL’s phones just went apeshit there’s a tornado come back to our house & wait it out and so that’s what we decided to do

except we’d spent all those precious minutes ARGUING about it.

i should note that like as soon as mom mentioned how still and calm the weather was it turned pleasantly breezy, and then windy, and then started to drizzle, then rain - it had been overcast all day ofc raining on & off but it like then it really started to RAIN rain

so we drive back to my brothers house, again only a few blocks away, and im like apologizing to my mom bc its her bday celebration & i know how bad she wants to go home etc etc etc and believe it or not lads

we fucking drove almost right through it

the rain was so thick and so fast that i could not see how to drive my van. i had my headlights on, my hazards on, my wipers going, etc - i’m no stranger to extremely heavy storms, i live in the southeast, i’ve been to florida, strong storms don’t scare me, but jesus FUCK...i cannot do justice to just how pants-shittingly terrifying it was to look out from the windshield and see nothing but this...horribly violent and turbulent grayish wall of water

and like the rain hitting the windows was DEAFENING but even through that you could hear the wind doing this weird...low...it sounds like a train and i only ever hear wind do that in hurricanes. sometimes you can almost feel it in the ground, that frequency - and you could hear not only the thunder rumbling but like things cracking and breaking - tree limbs, my best guess, we were lucky nothing hit the van

and i could feel the wind pulling at the car like i had to fight to keep it going straight and i want to emphasize again that i COULD NOT SEE i don’t mean low visibility or even extremely low visibility i mean i COULD NOT even a LITTLE bit see!! my van might as well have been in the bottom of a lake my windows might as well have been covered in blackout paint i mean there was NOTHING...i was inching along and every once in awhile caught sight of a landmark through a gap in the water or the silhouette of one when lightning flashed (which it did frequently)

and my mom thought i was overreacting the ENTIRE time. like my atheist ass was out here mentally reciting the lord’s prayer just to keep my mind on something so i didn’t go into a blind panic and she’s like “meh, weather” - we got back to my brother’s house and parked in front and she was like “eeeehhhhh idw get wet let’s wait it out in the car” & i was like (nicely) “are you fucking kidding me” so we went in but the little groove next to the sidewalk ur supposed to park in was just like FLOODED so when i stepped in it (not being able to see) i dead ass got soaked up to my ankle. i had to drive home in my socks. my shoe is still sodden

we stayed at my brother’s house a good 45 minutes but as it turned out i fucking DROVE through the worst of it lol also i kicked his butt at tetris while i was there he was really nice though like my mom wasn’t taking me seriously and i was trying to impress upon him that he nearly just lost both of his living family members 1996 style & he like turned on the ps4 while i was talking and put a controller in my hand and then before i knew it i was fine

anyway the tornado was supposed to head from greenwood straight over to clinton (where i live) which meant that it was supposed to run along most of the road i would have driven home on so we stayed there until it had passed even clinton, & called my aunt to make sure she was ok (she was fine)

and on the way home we passed like...so many places that were just. dark. like certain intersections (there’s no freeway out to greenwood unfortunately so u pass a few major intersections) they were just...off. the stores, the stoplights, everything. multiple times we saw two cars almost run into each other bc the stoplights werent working and nobody could agree on who had the right of way (if you didnt know, intersections w/ no power are supposed to work like 4-way stop signs). tree limbs & shit on the road, cars in ditches & police & ambulances out w/ flashing lights being the only light you COULD see at all aside from headlights, it was already COUNTRY dark out there so it was so spooky, and even on the way home it was still POURING and the wind fought with the car, we had a little lightning and thunder, it was fucking post-apocalyptic

but the creepiest part is to get home u have to cross a bridge over lake greenwood and its a bigass bridge and on one side of the bridge the power was on but on the other the whole lake (which is normally lit up and pretty) was just totally dark. and i dont mean. hard to see. i mean it was DARK. it was vantablack. u couldnt see the horzion unless lightning flashed. it was like the void

we have power off on the intersection closest to our house too but thankfully it’s on here...but it’s out in places all over town & there are tree limbs EVERYWHERE

we got home safe and sound (i had left my WINDOW open) & all the cats & the dog are OK, altho i know they had to be scared to death bc the dog hates storms and some of the cats do too. i dont normally mind them but that one really got me

and to think we talked all day about how nice it was that the high was 74 even in january. mother earth is trying to KILL us

#personal #i don't believe in reincarnation or anything right #but if i did i would suspect that whoever i was in my last life died in a tornado #im not scared of storms and im not scared of hurricanes and even turbulence on airplanes doesnt bug me #but say word one about a twister & we take it deadly serious in this house #i used to have recurring nightmares about tornadoes as a kid #if reincarnation is real past me DEFINITELY ate it in a twister #any no one has 2 read this it's long but jesus fuck

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lindoig7 · 4 years ago

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Thursday-Saturday, 20-22 August

Thursday

It was a wild old night, with the wind rocking the caravan and rattling our awning all night. It rained consistently almost all night and the rocking of the caravan and the pitter-pattering (and occasional hammering) on the roof made our warm comfy bed the very best and snuggliest place to be. Even when the awning crashed and banged and woke us up, the rain soon invoked the Sandman and we went straight back to sleep again.

We were awake a little earlier than usual, but enjoyed a lazy half-hour or so snoozing before our cuppa and puzzles in bed. Of course, by 7:30am, the Council workers were out in the rain, mowing the grass across the rampaging creek immediately behind the van. The whole area is virtually under water so how they avoided getting bogged is a complete mystery to us. The need to mow the area is just as mysterious because all they were doing was cutting the tops off the grass well away from the paths. It wasn’t as if the grass was encroaching on the paths or hiding any varmints that might leap out to devour any of the early morning walkers.

We did some supermarket shopping after breakfast, mainly for a few extra things we need to make some tomato relish and peach chilli chutney. We are getting low on our fancy home-made condiments so decided to make some more. But as usual, walking past the fridges at Woolworths is a risk. I spied a few likely-looking seafood bargains so now we need to find room for even more exotic delicacies!

We didn’t have much rain during the day, despite constant heavy black clouds but it was cold, bleak and windy all day and not at all nice outside. As a consequence, we spent almost all day inside doing odd jobs, more cryptic crosswords, kenkens, sudokus and other pleasurable time-fillers before we fired up the stove and got back into cooking even more wonderful concoctions.

We made a wonderful pasta dish based on the vongoles and prawns we picked up as bargains in the morning – an elaboration on something we have done a couple of times before – vongoles, prawns, bacon, oil, garlic, parsley, smoked paprika, white wine, lemon, salt and pepper – man, what a feast and we never managed to eat it all so I suspect a seafood omelette is in the immediate offing. Even as bloated as we were, the potential for a meal from the leftovers left our mouths watering!

Friday

There was plenty more heavy rain overnight, and wild, wild winds, but we woke to a weak wintry sun and enjoyed a great hot breakfast. (There seems to be a lot in my blog about food. Maybe because we eat extraordinarily well and just want to keep experimenting. We often (sometimes?) start with a recipe, but once the ‘start’ is dispensed with, the creative possibilities are endless and we try to make the most of any variations our imaginations evoke.)

We checked the weather over breakfast, expecting there to be rain everywhere as per the overnight forecast, but found that the Sale forecast looked surprisingly promising. We had planned another day of cooking, but in light of the forecast, we abandoned (deferred) that and set sail for Sale. Heather needed more yarn and some better scissors to we stopped at Spotlight on the way through Traralgon and stocked up there.

We wanted to explore the southern part of the Sale Common Wetland. We had walked around the middle section a week or two ago, but wanted to explore other parts of this very large wetland. Easier said than done! We parked near the Swing Bridge (that isn’t like any swing bridge I have seen before – more like an opening or lift bridge) and set off on the soggiest of soggy tracks. We noted that cars – obviously high clearance 4WDs – had used the track, but had bottomed out and some had become bogged. Multiple wheel-tracks ran in all directions in an attempt to avoid the worst of the deep ruts, but there is no way anything less than an amphibian would have gone through that day. The track was even a challenge for walkers. We had to pick our way through deep puddles and quagmires of mud, often abandoning the track for the waterlogged scrub to pass some of the worst sections. We walked half a kilometre or so but it was becoming increasingly difficult so we returned to the car and set off for other access routes. Sale was quite sunny, but still quite cool and very windy, but we returned to the walk we had done a week or two earlier and tried to get into the area from the north after our access from the south had been thwarted. We managed to get about 2.5 kilometres, partly along our previous route, before being confronted by water too deep to cross. We had already traversed a few shallow puddles, but it was just not feasible to go any further without our water-wings!

My diabetes(???) had given me the shakes before we got back to the car so we ate our lunch there and recovered my sugar balance. We still wanted to explore the northern area so went up to the much more populous and touristy lakes near the town. One of the lakes is Lake Guyatt and we had walked around that last time but the bigger Lake Guthridge was still to be conquered. We needed to find a toilet and the signs said there was one 5 minutes away in the Botanic Gardens or 15 minutes away where we had just come from. We opted for the Gardens – alas, NO TOILETS (of course!). Two kilometres later, we had almost circumnavigated the lake when we came upon the toilets advertised to be 15 minutes from our parking spot! Have I ever mentioned the obvious attempts by all State and local authorities in Gippsland to confuse the public with fake signage? I have got to the stage where I simply don’t believe any official signs anywhere in the area.

I had thought that it might be nice to circumnavigate the whole wetland area so we tried to do that, only to find that it was virtually impossible. I reckon it would take a drive of about 250 Km to do it given that we would have had to drive all the way to the coast, then east to find another way north, then all the way back to Sale. In our explorations, we found another huge contiguous part of the wetland on the other side of the road – presumably unprotected because it is not marked as such on the Council maps even though the main road is the only thing preventing the entire area being a single wetland. There are at least 2 rivers and 3 bridges linking the water on both sides of the road so it is virtually impossible to separate the RAMSAR area from the apparently unprotected section.

We found an alternative route back to Rosedale, avoiding a trip back into Sale – and thence home in time for a shower before Happy Hour. Topped up with fuel at Traralgon again on the way but we were still home again by about 5pm.

I had cooked a turmeric and fish meal on Tuesday/Wednesday – a little unusual given that the fish was marinated in the spices overnight, then only lightly cooked, but with additional veges and herbs added after the heat was removed just prior to serving. Just add rice. Very tasty and easy as anything to prepare.

Saturday

The Antarctic Blob is exerting its influence very strongly here today. Lots of wind and rain overnight, some quite heavy, but consistent all night. And today has been pretty wild too. The rain had come and gone, but has been a deluge at times with heaps of hail – literally heaps, with it covering everything and piling up against anything blocking its passage. It was banked up against the shrubbery outside the van for several hours before it finally melted – 6 degrees maximum here so it was very slow to melt.

It has felt really exciting at times in the van with so much wild weather outside and us safe and warm inside and enjoying the experience. We cooked our tomato relish in the morning and our peach and chile chutney in the afternoon. We had to do a quick supermarket run to buy some extra spices early in the afternoon and I dropped Heather off and drove around the block a couple of times and picked her up at the door again. This was to avoid her getting too wet in the rain, but the hail absolutely pelted down while I was driving around the block – the racket inside the car was horrendous – exciting, but a little scary too.

We had a fairly unsatisfactory Zoom session in the afternoon – the bandwidth here is a real problem, but at least we spent half an hour or so in contact with some of the kids.

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riding-alpacas · 5 years ago

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Tierra del Fuego

My route through Patagonia leads me from south to north - starting in the southernmost city of the world: Ushuaia. As usual in South America there are some debates if this is really the southernmost city, given that there are a few more towns and villages further south in Chile. Population wise it certainly is one of the bigger southernmost places.

I didn't have the highest expectations when I came here. Ushuaia is clearly a very busy, touristy place in summer. Lots of cruise ships stop here and it is also the starting point for Antarctica expeditions. I considered doing one of those as well, but when I researched the cost and what kind of trip it would be, I backed off. They are ridiculously expensive and pretty much all of them are targeting a more senior audience. If Antartica still exists when I'm 60, I might consider it again at that age.

Closer to Straya than to Canada

On my first day there was only a limited amount of people in the hostel. Well, that's what I thought. It turned out that during the day almost nobody was in the hostel ever. In the mornings and evenings though the place was buzzing. In one of the Backpacker groups on Facebook I found Corinna who also just arrived in Ushuaia and was looking for hiking buddies. During the following days we spent the majority of our time together as we got along really well. It's a shame that we have very different plans for our time after Ushuaia, but we figured that we might meet again in Central America.

The first hike we attempted was the one to Laguna Esmeralda. It gave me a first taste of the landscape so far south on our wonderful planet. If I'd have to describe it with one word it would definitely be rugged. There is something quite harsh but beautiful about the environment here - which makes sense, given that we had hardly more than 15 degrees during the day and it's basically winter down here most of the time. The tree line is super low (500m or so), the brownish colour above it is quite unique and the mountain peaks are just spectacular. And best of all, it's all pretty much untouched.

Felt a bit like Lord of the Rings

The hike itself was a lot of fun but not only due to the beautiful surroundings. It was muddy like hell. Parts of it led through peat bogs which I never hiked through before. First we both tried to avoid getting into the mud as much as possible by doing ridiculous detours (we actually almost got lost on the first 500m in) but for me at least the tolerance limit got lower pretty quick. My boots were waterproof and in my hostel they had boot brush cleaners anyway. Walking through peat bogs was pretty weird at first. They have a spongy, springy texture and no matter how dry they look, once you step on it you basically press out a lot of water. The lake itself was pretty nice. Many of the lakes I saw in Canada had the same blue, milky colour but that doesn't make it any less beautiful. Unfortunately I wasn't super lucky with the weather during the whole week but again: It's still just beautiful being out there in the spectacular outdoors of the Land of Fire.

A little bit of mud

Mystic

Next day was rest day. And rest day usually means checking out town and its museums. The first museum I tried was an old prison that Ushuaia is famous for. They've split it up into multiple sections, grouped by topic. I was very disappointed. Firstly, it was totally overpriced and secondly it was just... random. I expected some sort of golden thread when walking through the different prison cells but it felt just like a random collection of stuff. And it wasn't even good stuff. I was hoping to learn a little bit about the history of Ushuaia, the indigenous people who lived here etc. but it was very underwhelming. On the way to the city I had a quick look at a "museum" about the Islas Malvinas which was a huge flop, too so I almost skipped the last museum I had in mind. But thankfully I didn't because that one was finally a good one. Historia Fueguina tells four storylines that are related to Ushuaia’s history:

The indigenous people

One of the first European expeditions

The prison

An unbelievable rescue story about Ernest Shackleton and the Endurance

You wander from section to section, each one consisting of life-sized historic figures while listening to the story on the free audio guides. Most of the exhibits can be entered and you can pose for pictures. It was quite quirky but very educational and a lot of fun. Spoiler: Most indigenous people are now eradicated because the Europeans brought diseases and bullets when they discovered gold in the area. Same shit, different country.

Almost as comfy as my hostel beds

Next thing I did was a little hike up to the local glacier in town: Glaciar Martial. I did this one by myself because I really wanted to start it early and Corinna didn't want to pay for the taxi. It's very popular and I wanted to avoid the crowds. Surprisingly life generally starts late here, mostly around 10am. For this one I left the hostel at 8 and was on my way up at 8:30. And I am very happy about my decision because I had the whole trek for myself. Initially I felt a bit meh about this hike. Most photos in the web are quite underwhelming and the start of the hike is basically just walking along a ski slope. Luckily one of my room mates told me about some side trails and that the hike generally is actually quite nice. I'm glad I listened to him. At the beginning I walked along a beautiful creek with some of the clearest water on earth. After getting to a little viewing area, I continued up to the actual glacier. It became quite steep here, but it also wasn't a particularly long section. At the top I had a wonderful view of Ushuaia and the Beagle Channel. I found a beautiful section where lots of small streams of water merged and just rested here for about 45 mins to soak in the view and some of the sun when it showed itself for a few seconds.

If I remember correctly this was also the very first time that I was making full use of my layering system. I started with my insulated jacket as it was pretty cold in the morning. Halfway through I added my windbreaker as it became quite windy above the tree line. On the way down it gradually became warmer but it also started raining, so I removed both jackets and changed into my rain jacket. Yes, you truly need a good layering system when in Patagonia.

Ushuaia and the Beagle Channel

More Lord of the Rings

The next day was the highlight of my time in Ushuaia. Corinna, the couple that she shared her Airbnb with and I rented a car and we made our way to the Tierra del Fuego National Park. Corinna and I had a crack at the Cerro Guanaco Trail which literally took our breath away. The hike starts at a glacial lake, then turns into a forrest and climbs up pretty steeply. After a while we reached a little viewpoint before going through some muddy terrain again. With the tree line behind us, we were now in pretty exposed and rugged territory and the trail became extremely steep. But we continued, slowly and steadily until we reached the top and a jaw-dropping view to all sides. We could see Ushuaia and the Beagle Channel in the distance, the glacial lake with some impressive mountains below us, ragged cliffs right next to us. It was just spectacular and very close to what I had in mind when thinking about Patagonia.

Ragged

My favourite view so far

Corinna and I

Beagle Channel

After our return we continued to explore the southern part of the National Park, took some dorky pictures at some touristy signs and returned back to Ushuaia. By the way: If I wouldn't know that the water is freezing cold down here I would just love to jump into all the little lakes and inlets here. The water is crystal clear and when the sun comes out and you actually feel a bit warm it is just too inviting...

The end of the road

Second best thing to do with these water conditions

Jump in!

What stroke us the most during our time down here was the very limited amount of wildlife on land. We saw a couple of brumbies (or whatever they call them here), some birds and a few flies, but that was basically it. No guanacos, no armadillos, not even a bloody worm or ant. I actually digged a little hole at one point to see if there is anything hidden in the soil but there wasn't anything. Corinna and I started building a theory that everything we saw was just fake and we were actually in some sort of TV show. I hope you are all very entertained by now!

The last activity I did was a rather disappointing one. Corinna had now left town and I decided to do a little trip to an island full of penguins and a cruise along the beagle channel on my last day. Little Penguins are quite common in Australia and I already saw a lot of them in Melbourne and on Phillip Island. I was hoping that the species they have here in Ushuaia would be a bit more different, but it turned out that the Magellanic Penguins (by far the biggest group of penguins here) are very, very similar. I also saw Gentoo Penguins and a King Penguin though, which was pretty cool. After spending about an hour on the island and some other random stuff on the way there (trees that were shaped by the wind, a museum about marine mammal skeletons (creepy (especially when they showed us the fresh carcasses (let's just add more brackets because I can)))) we started our cruise. And the cruise was just 100% meh. Towards the end we stopped at the famous lighthouse and at a few rocks with sea lion colonies but I guess I'm just too used to these animals so that in hindsights I'm a little angry with myself spending so much money on that activity.

Looks like it's a bit windy out here

The lady was very excited about skinning this skull

Gentoo Penguins

Spot the king!

Look at this ugly fella

That was my adventure at the end of the world. I started making some good friends and it was a great start to get to know Patagonia. Next up is El Chalten, the hiking capital of Argentina. Apparently they have really bad internet there, so it might get a little quiet here. Apart from that I also managed to get sick (Coronavirus?), so I'll probably have to rest a bit in the next few days.

I might meet Jean (who I met in the hostel) again in Bariloche

#argentina #ushuaia #tierra del fuego

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weracetogether · 5 years ago

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The Thunder Rolls and the Lightning Strikes...Riding RAGBRAI Day 1

Day 1 of riding... across a state... with a bunch of strangers (and a surprisingly large number of Pensacola Friends)... When you are not used to sleeping in a tent, on an air mattress, it takes a couple days to adjust. Night 1 in the tent was not great. I was startled awake in the evening by a fun fireworks show at Council Bluffs RAGBRAI. I was startled awake in the morning by a massive thunderstorm. Day 1 is really the best day for inclement weather. Everyone is usually at their best and most rested. Spirits, energy, and patience is all very high. We meandered around the campsite, a harsh "field" the night before that had become a slick mud pit with the rain. Clay-based mud seemed to stick to everything, steal cleat covers (Kevin), and cake on the bottom of cycling shoes. Seriously, we scraped and wiped and cleaned our shoe bottoms for 40 minutes BEFORE we could start to actually clip into our pedals. With the majority of the storm passed, we took off. There was still rain, but the majority of the lightning seemed to be gone. It was supposed to be a 60 mile day with the optional 20 mile gravel loop. SIDE NOTE: I'm going to say "supposed to be" a lot, because our mileage records seemed to be in direct conflict with what we expected EACH day. This was our plan for day 1. Ride the first part of the day, including the gravel loop on our gravel tires. Take the time after the loop to change to our road tires, and push out the rest of the day with ease. For various reasons, the main one being Teresa's bike is able to have a rear rack and panniers (saddle bags), she was the pack mule for the week, so she happily carried everything except my snacks... who am I kidding, she carried my snacks too. Roads were slick so we did see some people loose control and crash hard throughout the morning. We took it easy and chipped away at the mileage before the Gravel Loop. We don't really consider ourselves Gravel riders, but we had trained for a couple months on the closest terrain we could find, at home, in Florida. There were differences.

Pre-gravel beef jerky snack and selfie/groupie.

We pulled up to a couple of guys looking out over the loose gravel rocks on the far side of the railroad tracks in Underwood, IA. It was overcast. I rolled up with apprehension. Teresa was SUPER excited. One guy was saying to the other guy, "I don't know, man." The other guy, wise beyond his bearded years says, and I quote, "Look, ask yourself this...in 10 years are you going to regret NOT doing this?" Apparently, the hesitant dude wasn't that committed, because shortly after Teresa and I started, only the bearded guy passed us. We rode for 3/4 of a mile before we hit the first hill. We knew the loop added some significant elevation, but weren't worried before hand. I slowly climbed that first hill, crested the top, and went barrelling down the other side. HOLY F*!KING SHIT. I literally thought I was going to die. LITERALLY. I came to a stop 1/4 of the way up the next hill, white as the gravel, breathing hard, and cussing like a sailor. Teresa came up beside me grinning like a Cheshire cat as I'm spewing expletives. "There's no F'ing way we're doing this. We're going to die. This is a bad f'ing idea. Shit...." It went on for a couple of minutes. Teresa was visibly disappointed at the possibility of skipping the gravel loop, so I committed to the next hill. We slowly climbed again, crested the top, and went down the other side with me on my brakes with that earlier bearded guy's words rattling around in my head, "...in 10 years are you going to regret NOT doing this?" I need new rear brakes on my road bike, now. To be fair, Teresa checking on me after that hill and I was of the mood - now is NOT the time to try to talk to me. So we kept going. Up slow, down slow - repeat. My mood improved the further we got. Teresa pointed out that she wasn't sure there would be patches for the loop. We later saw signs that implied otherwise, which further improved my mood.

The earned PATCH

We hit the mid-town for the loop, McClelland, just before another storm hit, but they had patches, food, shelter, and good news. It was only 4 miles back to the main route (pavement)! We actually waited for a train to pass before we could venture back onto the payment. But it was worth it. We made the loop uninjured and without bike issues so it was a win. Ultimately, I am glad we did it, but maintain it was BAD idea. We made it back to Underwood, and started changing tires for the remaining 50 miles left in the day. In the middle of a rainy (and now windy) Monday in a small town in Iowa, Bill found us. It's so much fun to have a familiar face in a crowd of strangers.

We actually caught up with Bill (again) and Laura multiple times on Day 1! I think this was Neola or Midden.

Avoca, I needed this.

From Underwood to Marne was kind of miserable because of the constant head-wind, but we did it. We stopped for beer, food (Mr. Porkchop), cinnamon rolls, and pie repeatedly along the way. I was especially excited about water slides in the City of Avoca, of which, video exists. ;)

More pork chop, now... please.

Teresa looked like she was carrying an octopus with the gravel tires sticking up on top of her rear rack. EVERYONE noticed and commented how bad-ass she was to do the loop. They were right. (I didn't garner as much attention).

To Teresa, by many: You did the gravel loop? And then changed your tires? Bad-ass! (or Awesome!) (or Hardcore!) (or Impressive).

Marne was also a pass-through city in 2001. I'm glad they kept the sign/photo op for 2019.

We made it to Marne, IA. This was the last town before our end-point for day one. We were about 10 miles from our tent and food and anything else that wasn't a bike saddle. We walked up the mountain into Marne and surveyed the Roadhouse Bar and Grill and party. Good times, but we really wanted to be done for the day, so with another piece of pie we headed back to our bikes. Now is probably a good time to let you in on a little secret. I, Patrick, have a hard time enjoying being on a bike. It baffles both myself and Teresa that I enjoy RAGBRAI so much. With that being said, at this point in our day one, I was over it. I HATE riding in wind. Period. And for the last 50 miles we'd been riding in a steady, signification head-wind, climbing up hill after hill. Seriously. Miserable. No more patience. No more understanding. No more compassion. How Teresa didn't kill me is still a mystery. I picked up my bike and started pushing it toward the main road when I hear Teresa say, "My bike's not rolling." ME -- "Is it operator error or mechanical?" - crickets....I'm sure a venomous stare was boring a hole in my head. We continued down the hill toward the main road. She didn't say anything else so I assumed it was operator error. I hopped on my bike and merged into bike traffic in time to look back and see Teresa try to follow and hop off her bike. "My bike's not rolling. It's not operator error - asshat." Broken spoke. Nice. We headed back up to Marne and met the traveling bike mechanics at Bike World. They were very quick and friendly which always helps. We actually ended up being on a first name basis with them as the week progressed - because Karma I guess. So far as I can remember, it was smooth sailing into Atlantic RAGBRAI.

If you are able, please help us support the Navy SEAL Foundation.

Patrick's Donation Page for Tampa BayFrogman Swim 2020

Patrick & Teresa are actively raising money for the Navy Seal Foundation. Supporting the Navy Seal Foundation-Frogman Swim

We've been blogging for a while now. If you enjoyed this one, you may enjoy others. Look though the Blog Archive on the right, for more of our experiences and random thoughts.

Thank you for your ongoing support of our adventures.

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bigtinyworldtravel · 5 years ago

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We are back in the world of internet, so we’re catching up with some of our African adventures!

We started our worldwide trek with two weeks in the beautiful city of Cape Town, South Africa. With a photogenic curving coastline and a variety of activities to offer – from penguins and wine to hiking and history – we were excited for this first stop in a new continent.

One of the main attractions we were looking forward to was ascending the centerpiece of the city: Table Mountain. We were there long enough to climb it twice, and each was a unique experience. Which method would you prefer?

About Table Mountain

It’s impossible to miss the massive granite table that dominates the Cape Town cityscape. It was formed millions of years ago (it’s older than the Himalayas) and flattened by glaciers during the Ice Age, and it now stands as an alluring geological wonder to tourists and local hikers, alike. It rises over a kilometer above the city below, so the views are spectacular.

But most stunning of all is the blanket of clouds that almost always shroud the summit – nicknamed the “tablecloth.” These perpetual clouds never seem to clear, particularly throughout the summer months. Cool, moist air is blown in from the coast, only to be slammed against Table Mountain’s cliff face, forced upwards, and condensed.

This can obviously prove to be a barrier to views of the distant city from the top, but it’s also a beautiful phenomenon when photographed from below. And if the blanket is thin on the day you summit, you might be fortunate enough to catch some magical breaks of the ground below – as we did.

Approaching the national park, I was blown away by the sheer beauty of the mountain looming over us – the dark granite draped with stark white cloud in front of sapphire blue skies. Passing the neighborhood just below the main entrance, I wondered what it might be like to wake up to this scene in my backyard every day.

Hiking

There are a few paths that ascend this popular point (including some smaller paths that take you up the backside from the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens). One takes you directly up the slope under the cableway. This one is steep and not for the faint of heart, though it is somewhat shorter.

We opted, instead, for the more popular Platteklip Gorge route. This zigzags up the side of the mountain via multiple switchbacks, the views increasingly better the higher you get. This route was suggested by our Couchsurfing host, who told us to drive past the main cableway parking lot to the secondary one about another kilometer or so down the road.

The trail itself is fairly straightforward, though it does branch off into other paths that circle the mountain (I’ll come back to this in a bit). We stuck to the left; we were determined to summit.

The gorge is a wonderful path to hike, and we took so many pictures. I was also fascinated by the swift-moving clouds overhead. We filmed the mesmerizing motion, and Aaron recorded a time lapse as we rested. The path provided quite the workout in between, and it was welcome exercise after having been so stationary over the last month prior to our departure.

Now, the beautiful tablecloth we admired below quickly became a dense fog obscuring our path. It got dark, and it got cold. But by this point, we had worked up quite a sweat, so the moisture was a welcome cool-down. It was also windy. We dared a few pictures of our little travel kitties, but we had to keep a really tight grip on them so they wouldn’t blow away!

We saw fewer people on the trail the higher we climbed, and we saw more coming back down in the opposite direction. About two hours in, we were pretty exhausted, and those returning reported at least another hour to the top. We could no longer see the city behind us, and other hikers were coming down with pretty wet hair. On top of it all, the cableway was closed due to the wind, so every meter up would be one we’d have to hike back down.

Figuring we’d put in our time and we wouldn’t gain anything more by continuing, we decided to call it a day.

We reemerged from the damp shroud, and could appreciate the clearing view the rest of the way down. When we came once more to the fork in the trail, curiosity won out, and we chose to explore this alternate path.. just around the next bend.. and the next (this happens sometimes).

While the views of Cape Town didn’t change much, we were able to see more of the tablecloth overhead by venturing out of the gorge and beyond the corner of the cliff face. We marveled at the beauty all around us, and we took more pictures.

We could have followed this new trail back down to the road from there, but then we’d have a short hike along the road back to our car. The trail was more scenic, so we simply backtracked. Tired but refreshed, we resolved to leave the possibility of returning for another try on a later date (the beauty of staying longer in one place!).

We were fortunate enough to have that opportunity on our last day in Cape Town.

The Cableway

Our second day on the mountain was similar to our first: sunny skies with a cloudy summit. We could have hiked again – tried once more to reach the top – but we wanted a different experience this time. We wanted to check out the ever popular cableway ride to the summit. It being our last day in Cape Town, we hoped the gondola would be open and that despite the clouds, we might see a little bit of what lay below.

Fortune was with us. While the cableway had been closed quite a bit the past few days (mostly due to weather, which is quite common – be sure to check the status before your visit), it was running. We still fretted that we wouldn’t see much once we got to the top, but it was our last day, so we didn’t have much of a choice.

The clouds must have scared away much of the crowds, as we didn’t have any wait to board the large gondola. An elevator takes you up from the main parking lot to the boarding platform. From there, each of the two oscillating cableway cars hold about 65 passengers.

Aaron and I hopped onboard and quickly jockeyed for the best photographic position. We’ve ridden gondolas before, so we knew the game. Was it better to photograph and film the cliff-face ascent or the expanding cityscape below? Or would one of the sides afford the best views? We could always try for a different position on the way back down for an alternate angle, but there were no guarantees we’d get a spot we wanted.

But then something brilliant happened.

We were told to move away from the walls, to let go of any metal handrails. As the car jerked into motion, the entire floor began to rotate. That’s right: much like the Seattle Space Needle, everyone onboard had equal opportunity to see complete 360 views. This tiny bit of ingenuity was simply delightful!

The first half of the ride was fascinating – individual cars and buildings rapidly shrinking while the overall city expanded below us – but it was the second half that made the experience memorable.

As we neared the cliff, the cable became almost vertical. I felt we could have reached out and touched the wall of granite before us, and the ground was so far below, I was overcome by a mild sense of vertigo. Word of advice: if you are severely afraid of heights, don’t look down! Just when I thought we couldn’t climb any higher, we rose still.

Eventually, we docked at a dizzying height, though the ground disappeared in a haze of cloud. We’d made it to the summit – finally!

Covered in a dense fog, the summit area was like a scene out of Silent Hill. Hazy outlines meandered the several educational wildlife loops while others crowded the lookout points hoping to steal a glance of the view far below.

I was transfixed by the eeriness of our surroundings (I love a good foggy scene), but I was ecstatic when the clouds actually did periodically part. We attempted to perfectly time a couple of quick selfies, and I more successfully captured the distant corner of the table amidst the clouds. The spotty views made photography a game, and I thought the views were made all the more spectacular with the spotty cloud cover. A clear day would have been so ordinary!

We took a break from the misty air to warm up with some curry at the summit cafe. It was surprisingly packed inside, though I suppose nicer weather would have drawn more people outside to the patio.

Before we reentered the loading dock for the descent, I wanted one last look from the observation deck in the same building (they have a wifi lounge there, too!). I’m so thankful we made the detour. This side offered a different view of the bay, including departing and arriving gondolas. It was from here that the distance to the ground became truly apparent.

The return trip wasn’t quite as shocking as the ascent, but it was still enjoyable. Once more, we gently spun around as we rejoined the ants over a kilometer below us.

Safety

Both methods for reaching the top of Table Mountain are memorable and exciting. But whichever you choose, I want to make clear some safety concerns.

There has been a growing number of incidents at this popular tourist destination of individuals being mugged for their valuable belongings. Oftentimes, these involve knives and violent attacks; hikers have been hurt – even during the day. This is tragic and upsetting, particularly because Table Mountain is such a beautiful park to visit; anyone should feel safe hiking her trails.

Signs are posted to travel with others. Even if you are an experienced hiker, you should never hike the area alone. Unlike usual precautions that urge activities with others, this isn’t in case you fall and hurt yourself. This is to keep yourself from being targeted. Thieves are more likely to approach individuals than groups. Just having a friend with you could save your life.

We felt pretty safe when we hiked the gorge trail; here were many other hikers around. However, there was one moment when a group of younger men seemed to be looking a bit too intently at our cameras. Needless to say, we moved on quickly.

Which brings up another good point: travel only with what you need. We know now that we brought far too much camera gear with us that day. And we probably should have kept it hidden more than we did. We fortunately didn’t run into any problems in the park, but our bags were stolen later that day out of our car. While having the gear on us didn’t necessarily make us targets at Table Mountain, we wouldn’t have had as much to lose had we left more back at our lodging.

The cableway area is heavily trafficked, and there was a decent security presence there. We were surrounded by lots of visitors at all times, so we never felt unsafe. Regardless, we brought only absolute minimal gear on our second visit.

If something does happen, don’t resist. No inanimate object is worth getting hurt over. But don’t let unfortunate incidents dissuade you from visiting this beautiful city or keep you from experiencing the magic of this “new wonder of nature.”

Comparison

If I had to choose the hike or the cableway, I’m not sure which would prevail! Honestly, I enjoyed both experiences for different reasons. I would have liked to actually get to the top with the hike, but it wasn’t in the cards for us. Would we have enjoyed it more on a clear day?

Even with the clouds, the cableway was magical. The blanket cleared enough for us to see the views, and the presence of clouds actually improved the scenery. The ascent was more dramatic than the descent, but both were memorable.

If you’re an avid hiker, grab some friends and take to the gorge. If you want to see the views without the sweat, check out the cableway. If we had it to do over, I think we would ride the cableway up and then hike down to get the best of both worlds.

Which mode would you choose?

Disclaimer: Tickets to ride the cableway to the top of Table Mountain were provided to us free of charge by Cape Town Tourism. We thank them as this enabled us to experience this beautiful site in a unique way, but as always, our experiences and opinions of the service are entirely our own.

If you like this post, please help us grow by liking it and sharing it on social media. We also welcome your comments below – we would love to hear from you!

Don’t miss out on new posts! Follow our blog for new posts every week.

We had the opportunity to both #hike and take the #cableway to the top of #TableMountain. Read our comparison here! #lovecapetown #coupletravel We are back in the world of internet, so we're catching up with some of our African adventures!

#cableway #Cape Town #Gondola #hiking #south africa #Table Mountain #Travel #travel couple

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ohmytheon · 7 years ago

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title: On the Rainbow Road

pairing: Bakugou/Uraraka

summary: Uraraka is trying to get over her motion sickness while playing video games; Bakugou just wants to come in first like he does at everything else.

notes: Thank you to thesvenmachine on the Kacchako Discord for sending me this idea and coming up with a few pointers! I chose Mario Kart because I've been playing it with my little cousin almost every day and it's instilling Baku Rage in me. I'm so tired of getting beat by an eight year-old.

Game night started out simple enough.

It was Kaminari’s fault, which was basically the default for every ridiculous thing that happened in the dorms. Bakugou was almost certain of it. Even if it seemed like someone else started something, it could always be traced back to Kaminari. The sparky, little shit had a way of integrating his dumb face into everything and he was better at starting things than most people realized.

This time, it was due to an argument between him and Jirou about who was better at a certain video game. No one knew what the game was until Kaminari dragged his entire gaming console out of his dorm and plugged it into the television in the common room area. It was so he and Jirou could play together and determine who the true champion was, seeing as how there had been a crack down on boys and girls going to each other’s dorms.

(This was the one time Kaminari was not to blame, as Bakugou was positive that Kaminari was trying to use the game in order to win Jirou over. He had a sneaking suspicion that it was just due to Mineta being a stupid shit. The only other people he could think of was Deku and Uraraka since Deku was always mooning over her, but the idea of that happening made Bakugou want to blow something up. It was gross.)

What started out as Kaminari and Jirou playing what turned out to be some version of Mario Kart with a few people watching ended up turning into an all out tournament between the entire class, but it wasn’t just some fun thing that everybody participated in every Thursday night. No, it was much more than that.

It was brutal. It was war .

Kirishima brought out his controllers so that more people could play at a time, transforming the two person game into a four person battle royale. People were knocked out of the running with blue and red shells left and right. Curses were thrown towards fellow classmates, their families, and future children. Food was thrown. People stopped speaking to each other for at least ten minutes sometimes. Iida had actually rage quit after Ashido had repeatedly wrecked him and caused him to get last place multiple times.

Though he didn’t play nearly as often as some of the others, Bakugou always won every time he did. He’d snag a controller after someone was kicked out and demolish the competition. The first time he’d wiped everyone at the game, they’d all been shocked. Bakugou knew that he didn’t look like the kind of kid that spent time locked in his room playing video games, but it really did help with his hand-eye coordination. Besides that, he liked the brief adrenaline boost that racing games gave him and he liked to win.

It took an almost embarrassing amount of time to notice that one person never participated in the games. Sitting on the sidelines like a cheerleader was Uraraka. She’d perch on the arm of the couch next to Asui or Deku or on the floor next to Kaminari or Ashido, but she never took the controllers. They were offered to her, of course, but she would always pass, claiming that she’d maybe join the next game or someone else really wanted to play. It was unusual for Uraraka, who he knew threw herself into everything.

She liked to win too. She might not have been as good as him at things, but she wasn’t the type of person that passed up on things. It was suspicious behavior that only he seemed to mark or notice. Not that he cared about it, of course. It was just...curious.

After a particularly vicious Mario Kart tournament that ended with Kirishima as the winner and Sero throwing his controller at him (so close to first), everyone meandered off to bed so that they wouldn’t completely regret school the next morning. Bakugou had been about to crash when he decided that he wanted a glass of water. On his way to the kitchen though, he heard the telltale noises of the video game that they’d been playing all night. At first, he’d thought it might be in his head since they’d been going at it hard for a few hours, but no, it was on.

Someone was still playing.

He had to pass the common room area in order to get to the kitchen, so curiosity got the better of him and he looked over in the direction of the television. There, sitting on the couch by herself, the bright glow of the tv causing her to look like nothing more than a dark shadow, was unmistakably Uraraka. He could pick her profile out a hundred meters away. Not that it meant anything. She just had a specific body frame.

Even though he’d come out here to get a glass of water, Bakugou stopped to watch her. So she wouldn’t play with everyone else but she would play on her own? Did she think she was too good for everyone? Maybe she was really embarrassed by how bad she was. Gods knew Aoyama shouldn’t play Mario Kart in public. He was fucking awful.

However, after watching her play a few rounds, Bakugou noticed something peculiar. She took breaks. Not odd in itself, but she took them often. After playing a whole round, she paused the game and then held her head. It was the universal sign of a headache or just not feeling well. Still, she took a deep breath and started again, this time lasting a little longer. It reminded him…

It reminded him of when she used her quirk on herself for too long. From what he remembered, if she used her quirk on herself or too much, it made her extremely nauseous. He’d learned that knowing his classmates’ quirks, along with their strengths and weaknesses, came in handy during class lessons so that he could get a better grade. He could admit to having been curious about hers since they’d fought in their first sports festival. The girl had created a meteor shower over him and then passed the fuck out. It kind of left an impression.

Apparently one of her other weaknesses was Mario Kart.

“What the hell are you doing, Round Face?” Bakugou demanded.

Uraraka jumped so badly on the couch that she never went down, having activated her quirk on herself and floating to the ceiling. “Oh my god, Bakugou! You scared me half the death!” She still had a hold of the controller, which was plugged in to charge after a night of use, so she carefully pulled herself back down and deactivated her quirk to plop back down on the couch.

Bakugou made his way over there and jumped over the back of it to sit next to her, ignoring what she’d said since she had clearly ignored his question. “You’ll play by yourself but not with everyone else?” He folded his arms and leaned back against the couch. “Even I play with the others. I thought you were Little Miss Team Player?”

“N-no!” Uraraka blushed, the pink of her cheeks standing out despite the glow of the television washing her out. “I mean, yes, I am!” She gripped the controller tightly and looked down at it. “I’m not… I’m not good at video games.”

That made Bakugou snort. “Oh, so you just suck and you’re embarrassed.”

“It’s not that!” Uraraka insisted angrily.

“Oh really?” Bakugou countered. “Then what is it, weak ass?”

Uraraka’s face was screwed up in determination as she glared at him, inches away from his face, but then it faded into embarrassment and she looked away from him again. “I get...kind of sick when I play some video games.” He didn’t say anything in response to that, which prompted a girl like Uraraka into explaining herself further. She just had to get her point across so she didn’t look too bad. She really did think about what others thought of her too much. “It’s kind of like if I use my quirk too much! I start to feel dizzy or nauseous. Not all video games do it, but this one really gets the best of me. All those windy roads and the bright graphics and explosions…”

“So you just play it by yourself after everyone leaves as punishment?” Bakugou asked.

“As training!” Uraraka corrected, so sincerely that Bakugou couldn’t even laugh at her outright. “The more I practice, the longer I can play without getting sick. Then I’ll be able to play with everyone!”

She really was staying out here every Thursday after everyone went to bed playing this dumb game on her own so that she’d get better at handling her queasiness and be able to join the Mario Kart tournament. She was pushing herself to her limit over a video game. It was so like her that Bakugou didn’t even know what to say. It was so absurd and stupid that she was getting this worked up over a game.

Then again, he remembered all the times he’d rage quit and throw the controllers when he was first learning how to play and the computer beat him. He could only imagine having to go through that while feeling like tossing his cookies. It did not make for a pleasant experience.

Despite the looming threat of being puked on, Bakugou picked up the second controller. “Well, you’re not going to get better by competing only against a computer.”

“Oh, you don’t have to!” Uraraka exclaimed. “I don’t mind. I’m not that good yet.”

“I know I don’t have to,” Bakugou responded as he set up the next race. She raised her eyebrows. Before she could even say anything about that, he continued, “I’ve creamed everyone else in this game except for you, so I’ve gotta mark you off my list.”

Uraraka’s eyebrows dropped and she sighed as if she’d expected him to say something like that, but then she twisted her lips as a look of intense concentration came over her face and she nodded her head once. She was ready -- or as ready as she could be. He could feel her taking deep breaths next to him, preparing herself for the race. He chose a long course, which would push her more. He could tell she was uneasy about it, but she said nothing as the game loaded.

“Scared?” he asked her, glancing at her out of the corner of his eyes.

Uraraka smirked at him. “You wish.”

It should not have done anything for him, but it did and he turned his attention back to the screen. Nope, he was not going to get distracted. He was going to demolish her.

The first game went clearly in his favor. She came in fifth while he was in first by a longshot. However, she didn’t stop to get sick or anything and she even looked like she was enjoying herself. The second game he could tell that she was starting to struggle. She’d bit her lip, squirm in her seat, and take deep breaths. But when he asked her if she was done, in a not-so-kind tone, she’d shoved him with her arm and told him to start the next race.

They were in the middle of the third game, on the second loop out of three, when Uraraka’s character hit one of the clear mystery boxes. She had a bad habit of going for them and somehow either missing them or a computer taking it right in front of her. “Oh, a red shell! What if I just--?”

“I swear to god, Uraraka, if you hit me--”

Uraraka pressed the button anyways. Somehow, the red shell avoided two computer characters and hit his, sending Yoshi spiraling in the air and flopping down on the ground. It cost him first place and he swore. “Damnit, that cost me half my coins!” He pressed hard on the accelerator button, as if it would help him go faster. Next to him, all Uraraka did was giggle. Her character didn’t catch up with his but still. It pissed him off. Why couldn’t she have hit any of the other racers?

Through either sheer determination or dumb luck, Uraraka managed to work herself up to second place with Bakugou in her sight. They were on the third lap though and nearing the finish line. There was no way she could catch up with him now, even if she hit all the speed boosters. He snagged a mystery item box, getting a banana, which he threw back at her. She dodged it just barely and caught an item box by accident.

When it finally chose what it would give her, Bakugou shot her a glare. “Don’t you fucking dare.”

“What?” Uraraka asked innocently. “What does a blue shell do?”

“You better not--”

She most definitely did, pressing the button to release the blue shell. It hit his character, sending him flying, and he watched in horror as Uraraka’s character sped past him right over the finish line. The shell had struck his character at just the right moment, keeping him from winning and forcing him into a measly place. As soon as her victory was announced, Uraraka dropped her controller and jumped up on the couch, cheering for herself obnoxiously.

“Get the fuck down, you idiot!” Bakugou growled, grabbing the bottom of her tank top and jerking down on her hard. She went tumbling on the couch on her back and her feet hit him in the legs. Before he could shove her away though, she took one look at the television screen and then bolted into the kitchen. He could hear her gagging over the sink, but she didn’t puke. He heard the sink running and then she came back with a glass of water.

A little pale in the face, Uraraka sheepishly told him, “Sorry, I held off for as long as I could,” before sitting back down on the couch.

“Fucking gross,” Bakugou said.

“I think it’s because I immerse myself too much in the game,” Uraraka said as she sunk back into the couch. She watched the replay of their last game with heavy lids, clutching the glass of water against her chest. “But you were right. It was better playing against someone. I could distract myself.”

“You knew what that blue shell did,” Bakugou accused.

Uraraka smiled up at him, like some sort of angel. “Did I?” Maybe it was more like a devil.

Standing up, Bakugou pointed a finger at her. “You better be ready for next week. I’m going to kick your ass.”

“I look forward to it,” Uraraka replied and he knew that she meant it. The challenge was set and neither one of them would back down. The fact that it was implied that they wouldn’t be playing with everyone else but only with each other after everyone left didn’t need to be said. He rather liked this one-on-one thing. Not because it was with her or anything, but because no one was hovering around him being irritating. Well, as long as Uraraka didn’t start floating at least. That was for another time if she really wanted to try something difficult.

#katsuki bakugou #ochako uraraka #kacchako #bakuraka #bnha #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #anime #kacchako fanfic #kacchako mario kart #the things of songs

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beyondlimitsonfoot · 6 years ago

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**Originally hiked: October 18, 2018**

Trail Data

Mileage: 9.9 miles Elevation Gain: 2,100 feet Location: Angeles National Forest Type: Out-and-back Difficulty: Moderate

What to Expect in this Guide

Aside from the road being closed to the trailhead we planned on doing, we ended up doing a tougher hike and a little bit longer.

As those of you know who usually read my posts, I have areas to which you can get a lot of more information about the hike we did. All in all, I put this area on here so that you can forward over to whichever area you would like to know more about.

Background – If you’re interested a little more about the area and some facts about the hike.

Map & Directions – See our hike on the map and directions on how to get to the trailhead below.

Weather – Definitely something you need to check before you go out on the trail.

Adventure Pass – Just a quick rundown of what pass you will need before you head out on the trail. *Pass is required to hike in this area.

Trail Camp & Water – The area has a trail camp with a water source nearby.

Maps, Books and Gear Recommendations – A great source for what maps or books to have before going out.

Hike Stats – I like to know points of interest on the trail, here are some for you to follow along when you go for the hike.

My Ramblings – This is my favorite part mostly because the pictures. Check this section out of my recollection of the hike and some photos.

Background

Mt. Hawkins sits in the Angeles National Forest (covering around 700,000 acres just outside of Los Angeles). Much of the trail from Islip Saddle up to Mt. Hawkins (8,850 ft.) is via the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail). Islip Saddle has a parking lot across the street from the trailhead.

Some nearby notable peaks that can be done in conjunction are Mount Islip, South Mount Hawkins, Middle Hawkins and Throop Peak. Have any of you done this hike with multiple peaks in the area? Let me know how in the comments below.

Map & Directions

To get to the trailhead:

Trailhead is at Islip Saddle, mile marker 64.1 on the Angeles Crest Highway. The drive is about an hour/an hour and a half away from the Los Angeles area. From downtown LA, take 110 North and merge onto I-5 North. About 7 miles later, take CA-2 N (Angeles Crest Highway) toward Glendale. Merge onto CA-2 E/I-210 E. In .4 miles take CA-2 toward La Canada Flintridge. Turn left onto Angeles Crest Hwy and drive 39.6 miles until you see a parking lot on the left at Islip Saddle. The trailhead is directly across the street.

Weather

Mt. Hawkins ~8,041 ft –> Weather.gov

Throop Peak ~ 9,138 ft –> mountain-forecast.com

Adventure Pass

There are no permits required to hike this trail.

To park your vehicle in this area, you will however need an Adventure Pass. To obtain an Adventure pass find the closest Forest Service location or go to any major sporting goods store. The fees are $5 per day or $30 annual. If you’d like to know more about the pass, read on the Forest Service Recreation Passes & Permits Website.

The Shell Station right off I-210 and CA-2 exit sells the Adventure Pass.

Trail Camp & Water

Little Jimmy Trail Camp/Little Jimmy Springs

Along this trail the only established trail camp is Little Jimmy Trail Camp. If you feel like an extra night in the area, Little Jimmy sits just 2 miles off Angeles Crest Highway. There are 16 established first-come, first-serve sites with fire rings. The campground includes vault toilets, backcountry ovens and bear boxes. The place is very popular with Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, the two times I hiked in this area in the fall we passed by a few groups of scouts.

Angeles National Forest: Little Jimmy Trail Camp Information

Little Jimmy Springs is about a .2 miles walk away from the campground. The water usually runs year round and is super cold. This is a great spot to take a break quickly and fill up with water if you are running low on a longer hike. Always make sure you take enough water either way. We took about 3 liters of water each for 9 mile hike.

Maps, Books and Gear Recommendations

Topographic Map of Area: Trail Map Angeles High Country Map Book of Hikes in the Area: Trails of the Angeles: 100 Hikes in the San Gabriels

Gear Recommendations:

Obviously this isn’t everything I take on our hikes, check out What’s in My Backpack? for a compilation of some of the gear I have now. Some of the items I would recommend for this hike, especially colder weather:

Hiking Poles: BLACK DIAMOND Alpine Carbon Cork Trekking Poles

Headband: Adidas Woman’s Tech Headband

Fleece Gloves: Columbia Sportswear Women’s Thermarator Glove

Down Jacket: Patagonia Down Sweater

Wind Breaker: REI Co-op Rainier Rain Jacket

Some food we took on the hike:

Protein: Starkist Salmon Creations Lemon & Dill and Tuna Creations Thai Chili Style

Mayonnaise for our tuna and salmon packets: Hellmann’s Food Real-Vraie Mayonnaise – We bought a pack of 75 so that every time we go we can just pick a couple out from our hiking food bin

Soup: Lipton Soup Secrets – Chicken Noodle Soup Mix with Diced White Chicken Meat

Bars: CLIF Bar Chocolate Chip and Crunchy Peanut Butter

Bananas mmmmm

*FYI the salmon and tuna packets, Lipton soup, CLIF bars are all available at local supermarkets. I usually just buy on amazon in bulk since we go a lot and have hiking food bin. What do you keep in your hiking food bin?

Interested in gear and food ideas? See posts below for more.

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Hike Stats

Trailhead 0 miles 6,800 feet Little Jimmy Trail Camp 2.1 miles 7,450 feet Little Jimmy Springs 2.3 miles 7,500 feet Windy Gap 2.4 miles 7,588 feet Mt. South Hawkins Turnoff 4.0 miles 8,390 feet Mt. Hawkins Turnoff 4.6 miles 8,730 feet Mt. Hawkins Summit 4.8 miles 8,850 feet

My Ramblings

I used to just write this portion of the blog, but decided since I do so much research why not create some guides of the information that I gather before I go out for these hikes. Should I put my ramblings and photos first or should I keep them here at the end? You guys let me know.

Alright, let’s move on and talk about this hike. My sister and I haven’t been on a hike alone in a while; we’ve been with groups, but alone I think our last hike together was Peanut Lake, back in 2016. Is that right? I think so. Either way I was blessed to have a hike together with my sister alone in our backyard mountains up in the San Gabriel’s.

We awoke early and left the house by 6:00am. We were not much more than 10 minutes into the drive when I had to turn around to pick up the water bladder (Osprey Hydraulics Reservoir – 3 L). If we were already to far into the drive we would have just picked up 3 L of water at the store nearby. This wasn’t the only thing we forgot on the hike, just wait for it.

Arriving to the Trailhead

After exiting I-210 road to Angeles Crest highway, I remember I left my annual Adventure Pass in my car back at home. So another thing I forgot, we stopped at the Shell station to pick a day pass up ($5.00). As we were driving to go do Mt. Baden-Powell from Dawson Saddle, we arrived at a Road that was closed at Islip Saddle. Not sure how we could have avoided not knowing, but they do post road closures on the county or forest websites. Plan B, open my Angeles High Country Trail Map and find a new hike.

There are a few options at Islip Saddle, so we geared up and decided to go hike Mt. Hawkins. I remember doing it a long time ago by myself, but thought it would be nice to check out the trail again with my sister and it was a little harder hike than we had planned, huge plus there we wanted a good workout. We started up the trail around 9:00am which would give us ample time to take our time up the mountain and hang out at the top.

The first mile or two was more vertical than the rest of the trail. We passed a lot of Boys & Girls Scout groups on our way up, probably stayed at Little Jimmy Trail Camp as it’s popular for the Scout groups to camp there on weekends. Little Jimmy Camp is only about 2 miles up the trail and the trail flattens out on this portion of the hike. We continued up towards Windy Gap making good time; Windy Gap sits at about 7,588 feet and offers 360 degree views of the surround mountains and valleys. Here there are a few options, you could turn back, head up to Mt. Islip, head towards Crystal Lake Campground or head on the Mt. Hawkins Ridge Trail to summit Mt. Hawkins or even further to Throop, Burnham and Baden-Powell.

Summiting Mt. Hawkins

Our choice was to hike up to Mt. Hawkins which would make for a 2,050 foot climb total; I liked the sound of that. 11:30am we reached the summit of Mt. Hawkins. We almost missed the turnoff; stay alert there is no sign for the turnoff to Mt. Hawkins. I’m glad I was taking note of the mileage on the Garmin. Did you know Mt. Hawkins is in the 11th highest peak in the San Gabriel’s? We didn’t make the top 10 list, but that’s ok it’s a peak above 8,000 feet very good training hike for the bigger mountains. I believe I just made a challenge for myself to knock off the top 10 in the San Gabriel’s. What those are I’ll probably post later as I already have the 10,000 Feet Peaks in Southern California Challenge ahead of me.

Had to put on some warmer clothes as we were going to hang out on Mt. Hawkins for a little. We wanted to make some soup and when I opened my bag I realized that I did not pack a fuel canister into my jetboil. I usually keep one in there but since our last trip to Havasupai Falls we flew, I took it out and never put a new one in when I got back home. Are you surprised yet? That’s 3 things and counting so far that were forgotten on this hike. Instead of a warm Lipton Soup Secrets we ended up having a couple mozzarella sticks and the Starkist Creations Lemon Dill and Thai Chili Style.

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Down we went around 12:30pm so that we could hit the Newcomb’s Ranch for a snack before heading back home. We didn’t pass too many people on the way down except a couple who was doing one night up at Baden-Powell. About 1 mile from the trailhead my knee began to hurt, thanks to my sister who brought a brace I made it down in one piece. It looks like I forgot one other thing, that makes for 4 things we forgot on this hike. I should be wearing a brace every time I hike anyway so that will be added to my hiking checklist as a permanent item.

Reaching the Cars

It was about 2:30pm when we reached the cars and we changed quickly and headed down the mountain to go grab a quick bite to eat. Newcomb’s Ranch closes pretty early, so this is the first time I could actually sit inside and have a nice relaxing refreshing drink and a snack. Usually we get here as they are closing or already closed. My sister and I love these kinds of places; little gems hidden up in the mountains. Lots of motorcyclists like to end up here on their rides on the Angeles Crest Highway; we even saw some bicyclists who were brave enough to do that long ride in.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the write-up. What is the most common thing that you think most hikers (newbies or avid) forget on hikes? Let me know in the comments below. If you’ve done this hike before go ahead and comment below and let me know your experiences; I hope we can share more on here together.

Happy Adventures,

Annette – Beyond Limits on Foot

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Mt. Hawkins (8,850') in the Angeles National Forest. From Islip Saddle, 9.6 miles round trip, 2050' elevation gain. 11th highest peak in the San Gabriels. **Originally hiked: October 18, 2018** Trail Data

#Angeles National Forest #Hike #hiking #Mountains #mt. hawkins #National Forest #nature #optoutside #Outdoors #peaks #san gabriel #San Gabriel Mountains #Southern California #Wilderness

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tomhollandarling · 7 years ago

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Star What? Part Two

Summary: There’s a few complications with finishing a chemistry worksheet. That being Peter’s internship, and oh yeah, a stolen truck. Part Two of Star What?

Part One

Masterlist

Word Count: 2260

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

A/N: Hey! Finally back with part two. Sorry it took a while to update! AP classes have me swamped. Don’t take APUSH, it’s a trap. ALSO: sorry if the perspective switch is kinda confusing. I didn’t want the whole story to be from the reader’s perspective since I did start part one being Peter’s. I think it makes it interesting. Hope you guys like it! I’m definitely going to continue writing this. (ALSO I FOUND THIS CUTE GIF AND IT GOES WITH THE BEGINNING OF PART TWO KINDA)

4:48pm

As soon as Peter picked up on the unusual amount of sirens due to his heightened senses, he knew something was up from where he was situated: the ledge of someone’s fire escape, eating a sandwich with his mask half off.

Discarding his food, Peter pulled it down to fully cover his exposed features, hiding his identity. Taking one last moment to admire the setting sun of New York, he quickly began to swing from concrete rooftop to rooftop, paralleling the skyline on his way as the city slowly fell into evening’s grasp.

---

It was nearing five and Peter still hadn’t texted you the address to his apartment complex or even contacted you. Just meeting him and all, you were hesitant to text multiple times. You didn’t want to annoy him or come off as rude and you’d already texted him earlier. Although, being a student in NYC, students got together at each other’s apartments all the time to work on projects even if they weren’t super close. It was no big deal. Maybe you could just finish the questions on your own. Yeah, yeah. I’ll do that if I don’t get a reply by 6.

But, Peter had mentioned an internship so that could have occupied his time more than usual? Where does he intern though? Either way, you decided to not let it bother you, instead turning to make home on the plush couch in your living room. You knew Peter was a good student, or at least that what was what your peers said. He’d have a good reason.

To your left was a window looking out at the city buildings and streets. Your mom was working late tonight and your dad was on a business trip so you had the whole apartment to yourself. Always working. You sighed. The faint sound of traffic carried upwards into the area, more sirens than usual going off around the block. Typical New York crime on a Monday night. You mentally rolled your eyes.

Snuggling up with a thick maroon knit blanket and a mug of tea, you turned on the news to learn what the commotion was about.

5:02pm

“Just around the 12th avenue bridge multiple vehicles have been involved in an accident regarding a stolen Stark Industries transportation semi that has been hijacked by unknown personnel. Police and officials are doing their best to keep the situation contained. We at 7News advice you to stay inside and off the streets as the individuals inside the vehicle are heavily armed and have already injured 6 civilians…”

Dang, that sounds bad. What the hell is in that vehicle that they wanted? You wondered.

---

Shit. I was supposed to have (Y/n) over.

Peter barely had time to think as he was in the midst of running across a street that was packed with ongoing traffic, let alone send you a text. Angry drivers and taxis honked their horns, shouting and making rude gestures as they had to slam their brakes in order not to hit the masked teen. He was, after all, jaywalking in the middle of the street. Probably not the smartest move but...I could’ve stopped one if I had to. A wave of satisfaction washed over Peter as he realized his strength again: it never got old. Wait, I can stop a car. I can actually stop a moving car with my bare hands. He smiled under the suit.

Peter sprinted down 12th avenue’s sidewalk and up towards the bridge, the scene of the crash just ahead. Red and blue lights surrounded the accident and detour signs had been placed around the stretch of road. He rushed over, analyzing the area. Ambulances were already stationed and medics had started to help the victims. Three cars were involved in the crash he noticed. Allegedly the stolen Stark Industries truck had been tailgating, urging the car on as a means to get away faster. That’s what caused the crash.

“He started ramming into my bumper and at this point I was gettin’ pretty mad, you know, so I rolled down my window, makin’ a gesture, which I know I shouldn’t a’made, but you gotta understand he was ramming my back! An’ that’s when I felt somthin’ hit my hand.”

One of the victims was explaining how the crash started, showing Peter his hand as a medic finished wrapping it, the white fabric already a bit stained with crimson. “An’ then I span out of control. Thought I was gonna land in the lake.” He noted.

“I can’t move it now. I can move my arm, but not my hand.” He said, alarming Peter. “They don’t know what hit me.” The man continued, referring to the medics. “No evidence of a bullet. They think it’s gonna be paralyzed for a while.” He rambled on.

Peter stood there at the sidelines of the crash. He couldn’t muster up an idea. “That’s really weird. There’s nothing to prove what hit you? Nothing in your hand?”

“Goose egg, son.” The man sighed, completely unfazed about a teenager in a spandex suit interviewing him. Police started to make their way over to the man as they needed statements. Before they could ask Peter what he was doing there, he quietly excused himself and casually walked away towards the crash.

Taking the chance to explore the site, Peter slipped under the police tape and behind the crushed cars unnoticed, looking for something. Anything. There’s gotta be something. Come on.

He shuffled around pieces of broken glass and shredded metal and peered through the car windows. Peter didn’t know what they he was looking for but how on earth could something leave no evidence? Especially since it was something that was shot at someone, he assumed.

Peter was just about to give up searching around the crash to pursue looking for the runaway truck until something got caught in his peripheral vision. He turned on his heels, jogging over to the one of the totaled cars. This must be that guy’s car. Peter observed, referring to the man he was just talking to, as the bumper was crushed inwards and some of the tires were torn off. The drivers side mirror was missing from the vehicle but it wasn’t due to the fact that the car had rolled. It looked as if something had blown it off.

Where’s the mirror? Peter squatted down, running his fingers over where the mirror would be and scanning the car’s surroundings.

Peter closed his eyes, visualizing what could have happened. He walked over to where the tire skids were burned into the asphalt in a wavelike pattern, assuming they were from the car’s.

“..An’ then I span out of control. Thought I was gonna land in the lake.” Peter recalled.

The lake.

Okay okay. You got this Peter. You’re the Spider-man. He pumped himself up, deciding to go down into the water as he made his way over to the guard rails. He peered side to side, checking if anyone was watching. The crash blocked him from view to his right and there wasn’t any movement to his left. All clear.

Peter gingerly stepped up onto the railing, still holding on, and swung himself over to the other side. He glanced down at the rushing water. The breeze started to pick up, sending chills down Peter’s spine. He tightened his grip on the rusted guard rails.

Shooting a web, he attached it to the side of the bridge’s concrete, pulling on it to test the strength. Slowly, he inched his other hand away from the rail and put his trust into the web. He started lowering himself down at a reluctant pace. Checking the durability once more, Peter tugged at the web. You’re fine. It’s fine. People hang over the side of bridges all the time.

Descending downwards he was halfway there when his phone started buzzing uncontrollably, making him jolt in surprise.

What the?

---

5:20pm

Taking a sip of your tea you noticed that your phone lit up. Hoping it was from Peter, you urgently grabbed it. Just another news notification.

Still nestled in a blanket on the couch, you were getting impatient. 5:22 is close enough to 6 right? Yeah, okay. I’m just gonna call him. You decided. Internships don’t go this late. Not for students.

You found his contact and pressed call, holding up the phone to your ear waiting for an answer. It only took 7 rings for him to pick up.

You heard Peter clear his throat. “H-hey.” He spoke.

“Uh, hey.” You started, unsure of how to start the conversation. “So, it’s um past five. Weren’t we gonna finish the chem paper?”

“Oh. Sorry about that I got held up at the..the internship. Yeah the internship.” The sound of wind filled the phone, making it hard to hear him. Where is he?

“Where are you?”

“What do you mean? I’m at the internship. Avenger’s tower.” He sounded nervous.

“Are you outside or something? It sounds windy--wait Avengers Tower?”

“YeAH.” His voice quickly went up in a frenzy and you heard some muffled movement.

“Peter? You okay?”

“Yeah yeah! I’m good. Just slipped. I’m...outside on one of the balconies.”

Avengers Tower? Peter Parker interns at Avengers Tower? No wonder he has no time. To your surprise, anger wasn’t what filled you, it was concern. How does he manage all his homework and the internship? Even you weren’t finished with all your work, being in advanced classes just like Peter, the teachers piled it on every night. It was hard to imagine how much he must have.

“Okay, well I can finish the questions then if you’re still there. Who do you intern for?”

You heard some more movement on the line. “Peter?”

“Yeah.” He let out a deep breath of relief.

“I asked who you intern for.” You repeated.

“Uh. Tony Stark.”

“Woah seriously? That’s so cool!! What do you do?”

He seemed really distracted by something. “I can explain to you tomorrow?”

“Oh. Okay, sure. That works.” You put your attention towards the tv, bringing your knees up to your chest.

“...As the chase continues, NYPD have sent out backup towards the situation…” The screen panned an aerial view of the crash.

“Wow. Have you heard about the crash?” You asked, following along on the news story.

He coughed in surprise at your comment “Y-yeah. Why do you ask?”

“Well, you’re at Avengers Tower so I don’t know, I guess you might know more than me or the news right? There’s a runaway Stark truck.” You laughed a little, trying to cheer the situation up. He seemed uncomfortable.

“Oh, heh. Yeah…” Peter trailed off. “I heard-”

Suddenly his voice disappeared and you heard a weird crash. “Hello?” No answer. “Hello? Peter?” You called. The phone call beeped and ended. Well okay then.

“That was weird.” You commented to yourself, staring at the black screen.

---

“Peter, you’re an idiot. An actual idiot.” He said to himself, watching his phone fall down into the lake, sending ripples outwards once it hit the surface.

Just as Peter was lowering himself down towards the water you had called him...and he answered...as he was hanging halfway down the side of a bridge with nothing but a spider web for support.

“Why would you answer? You could have called back? YOU ALMOST FELL.” Peter continued scolding himself, webbing the tear in the web rope again for extra measure. It had ripped as he was declining towards the lake and of course he’d botched his words.

”YeAH.” He mocked himself, remembering the conversation and how just as the web snapped half-way he sorta fell. “You know it’s fine. Just tell (Y/n) that you’re Spider-man and this all would have gone well.”

“Oh hey, (Y/n)! Whats up? Yeah me too. Nothing much, just chilling. Hanging on a web halfway down a bridge over a lake trying to find a car mirror.”

He tilted his head back in frustration. He’d have to explain what happened to you tomorrow. “Yeah I tripped on the balcony at Avengers Tower and then I dropped my phone off the ledge.” Peter rolled his eyes. “Ned’s gonna get a kick out of this.”

Peter finally made it to the water. A determined red and blue reflection stared back at him. Alright. Back to business.

---

6:12pm

You decided to finish the chemistry worksheet since Peter was still busy with his internship. Retrieving your chem binder, you flipped through the pocket to find the lab papers, clicking your mechanical pencil you began the questions. They weren’t difficult at all, there was just quite a handful of them. Also, being invested in the story on the news didn’t help either as it distracted you. Emergency notifications kept popping up on your phone involving the incident and you were still tuned into 7News.

“..Just in: Officials have reported that the hijacked Stark Industries semi has crashed into one of New York’s finest jewelry shops and stole some of the merchandise. As of right now, we do not know how this relates to the heist. Luckily, with the help of Spider-man, police are closing in on the scene.”

Diamonds? Really? What does that have to do with anything? You sighed and returned to finish the assignments, still wrapped in the blanket that hung around your waist, hoping the situation would be resolved.

After a while, you finally clocked out around 11 and trudged off to your room, forgetting the day’s troubles when your head hit the pillow.

Part One Part Three

Masterlist

#peter parker #peter parker x reader #peter parker x you #peter parker fic #spiderman #spiderman homecoming fic #fanfiction #peter parker fanfiction #tom holland #tom holland x you #tom holland x reader #series #writing #spiderman x reader #spiderman x you

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