Little Known Facts

First things first - the yurt? It was freaking awesome.
Why?
Well, 1) see below (and below right to see bunk beds)

2) A yurt is not a tent. It has a floor.

3) There was a ton of room to put our stuff - and a table!

4) It's not a tent. 

5) Beds.

6) Electricity (that we didn't really use much)

7) Mostly reasons 2 and 4

8) We had a little yard and our own bathrooms  - even if they were port-a-potties, we only shared them with our two neighbor cabins:

Did you know that Deep Creek Lake is kinda in the mountains?

And did you know that means it doesn't get hot?

And there were like no bugs?

Yeah, I didn't know that either. 

But OMG IT WAS AWESOME.
I'm not going to lie, I got a little worried the first night there. It was straight chilly out and there might have been some maneuvering for the one single blanket we brought with us. I was pretty sure I was going to add a nice sweatshirt to my wardrobe from the closest souvenir shop. Preferably with little bears on it.

Speaking of BEARS.

We didn't see any - which was awesome.

But our cabin neighbors did share this little ditty (thankfully while we were packing to leave) - these two middle age guys come to Deep Creek Lake every year with their sons to celebrate Father's Day. Two years ago one night they had returned later in the night to their tent after fishing. While they were filleting the fish, one of the guys asked the other to grab something. When he grabbed the light, looking for the item, it shined on two. fucking. bears. Just hanging out. About 10 feet from them. Just like, "Hey guys, what kind of fish did you get today? Oh, yeah? That's cool."

Pretty much a real life OMGWTFBEAR.

Needless to say, they decided moving forward a cabin was the way to go.

The bears were a constant topic of conversation throughout the trip.

Like when we went on a hike.

Hoping our gang colors will show the bears who's the boss of these here woods. 

I was pretty convinced every noise was a bear. Other than that, and popping a squat only to have Mr. Perfect immediately shout-whisper, "People! PEOPLE!"

I naturally was caught between thinking he was totally messing with me and OMGWTFPEOPLE.

Guess what?

There were totally people. 

At least I had only dropped trou?

Moving on...

According to the park brochure, we picked the most scenic trail possible for our hike on Saturday. Across the ridge... incredible vistas... and mostly bullshit.

Seriously. The hike was awesome, but it ended at a cell phone tower. 

No view.

Total bummer. 

Luckily we found (and by found I mean followed a sign to) a scenic viewpoint.

And if you zoomed the camera all they out and peered between the gap in the trees, you could see the surrounding beautifulness. 

Here's a view of where we hiked to - right in the middle beneath the tallest tower.

Man, the lake was so gorgeous.
Reminded me a lot of where we went after my cousin Meg's wedding last July. Pretty lake, in the mountains, surrounded by woods. Also had momentary flashes of Dirty Dancing.

Sunday we ended up taking another hike to Swallow Falls. Awesome.

Check out this sassy tree growing in the middle of the small falls.

Sass.

More gorgeousness.

We didn't join in the fun, but it was pretty entertaining to watch the guys try to get up the nerve to jump on in.

The trip was totally fabulous. The entire time we were there, we were talking about how much fun it would be to come back again on our own. With friends. With family. Any time. 

The only downside to this trip is, in my opinion, the drive. 

We had aimed at leaving around 1p.m. on Friday.

We got on the road around 3:30. 

Which in these parts is essentially traffic death. 

We got stuck in a stretch of 5MPH/stopped traffic almost immediately. And, of course, a shirtless redneck in a massive truck was honking at us. 

Honking at us. 

In bumper to bumper traffic.

Because we should have....been speeding every time there was a half car length of space that opened up in front of us to slam on the breaks again? Annoying. 

The other odd aspect of the drive in Maryland?

All the damned things you have to share the road with!

1) Cyclists. Standard. 

2) Pedestrians. Got it.

3) Horses. Ok. Makes sense...

4) Deer. Really.
Really? Share the Road with them? Not just watch out, but share? As Mr. Perfect put it, do they have a deer-only lane?

Something else we learned on the drive.
There are a shitload of deer-bear fights in Maryland.

RRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrroarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! DEERBEARFIGHT!

The Coffee Was Bad, But...

I am at a conference for work this morning.
Before we were even half through the first speaker, I could spot a woman across the room sleeping.
Blatently.
With her head leaning against the wall.

Stay classy, conferences.

... and Bears, Oh My! No, Really, and Freakin' Bears??

When I got Mr. Perfect a camping trip for his birthday, I found a compromise between camping in a tent and a cabin with running water and electricity (readily available in the DC region).

It's a yurt.

I'm in a yurt, motherfucker!

Totally.

So we leave tomorrow for Deep Creek Lake, and honestly, I couldn't be more excited.

Well, until I went back to the state's website to get some more info on the yurt and saw a warning about bears.

Bears.

Real bears.

Bears that, presumably, want to eat me.

At least there won't be tornadoes???

Anyway, I'm ready for this. I am super nostalgic for my high school summers. It seemed like every other night we were gathering at the (only) grocery store, picking out brats and chips and heading to the lake to cook out, sit around the bonfire, and smoke cloves.

Hell yes I said cloves!

Duh, we were in high school!

So even though I have a quite massive yard - DC-wise or not - it still doesn't compare to sitting around a fire, roasting up some wieners, toasting some marshmallows, and drinking some PBR.

In my wisdom, I have replaced cloves with beer.

Here's to camping in yurts with NO bears.

Just Ugh.

I'm 27.
I graduated in a class with less than 50.
There were about 200 in the school.
Two of my high school classmates are widows.

Widows.

Widows.

Not even close 30 years old, and widows.

One has two kids.

It's so difficult for me to even comprehend.

Juiced

When we were in Cayman, one of the girls was lamenting the fact that there aren't adult beverage juice boxes - I think it came out of a conversation about wine in box. 

I immediately thought about the small cube of sangria from Target chillin' out in the fridge back at home. 

And suddenly realized, oh. my. god. They have a small pour hole. That STRAWS WOULD FIT IN PERFECTLY!

But.. I had no clue if they were any good.

So as soon as I got home...

 I found out they were DELICIOUS!

And suddenly had a vision of my future - "No kids, that's Mommy's juice box!"

Grand Cayman

Grand Cayman was fabulous.
Easy trip from D.C. - a quick flight to Miami followed by an even quicker flight to Grand Cayman.

We got to the hotel and promptly (ate then..) got to the beach.
That night was the rehearsal dinner for our friends' wedding. The location was spectacular - a restaurant that had a private dining area that jutted out over the water.

To the right of our table, there were divers. At night.
WHAT WERE THEY LOOKING FOR??
Only logical answer?
Treasure.

On the short drive from the airport to the hotel I saw chickens, cows and other random livestock just hanging out.

Doing their thing.

Hey chicken.

The next day we decided to walk into town. On the way we stopped by a large store that only sold Haviana flip flops. Impressive.

And some folks selling fresh fish.

After a lunch at Hard Rock (don't hate) we headed back for the wedding.
And found a telephone booth in the hotel lobby.

The wedding was so perfect. The weather was great, the view was spectacular, and oddly enough - even the random people walking by in swimsuits just added to the whole scene.

Oh, in addition to chickens, there are also a ton of little lizards!
(this is the most random, poorly edited post... )

Hey, Handsome!

awww

Are the flowers perfection?

I love this photo. Shortly after I took it, a pirate ship sailed by behind them.
Not kidding.
A goddamn pirate ship, in the sunset, while the couple is taking wedding photos, on the beach. YES!

I had to snap a photo of the random-awkward people who floated around in the water watching the entire ceremony. It was annoying at first, but then just funny.

Again. Flowers = amazing. The bridesmaids dresses were pretty much that color of green.

yeah.

Yup.

After the reception (which featured some of the best speeches I have ever heard at a wedding. Ok, THE best speeches), we all head out for some drinks.

And just a reminder folks:

The most loved part of the trip: Beergaritas.
A margarita with a Corona in it.
I'm going to go ahead and say that I actually didn't love these as much as most of the party - they made me yearn for summer beers...

The trip was great, the island was beautiful, the wedding was perfect, and hanging out with a big group of friends (massive beach volleyball was played - and yes, I brought it) was totally awesome. 

Highlights

My 5 day adventure in babysitting is coming to an end.
I'm relieved and sad (but mostly exhausted) at the same time.

The kids were awesome, so fun, funny and usually not as cranky as Aunt Erin!

While there were a few winning moments from the trip (C giving me a passive-aggressive note, 'Reenie calling Erin's baby Jax "CHUBBY!" and telling me the day after seeing him that she loves me and she loves that Chubby Baby! 'Reenie deciding the crease of Jax's CHUBBY! leg looked like a bottom. Annnnd a "ba-gina.") the clear winner was Maddie.

My first night alone with the kids, Maddie came in my room around 3 a.m. and told me in the saddest voice ever, "The pee got out! The pee got out all over my bed!"

And that kids, is how you spin an episode of bedwetting. The pee did it, not you.

Love. Those. Kids.

So thankful to the friends and fam that helped out - especially Erin (and the CHUBBY BABY!) and Tab for making the drive.

Good Sign

I am taking the fact I walked out of my office building and directly into a clean and cool cab as a very good sign about the rest of my trip.

KC!

So There Was This

yup.