Random Acts of Weather, Pinterest and Bras

Let me preface this post with this information: While most of you may think me superbly insane for my previous post, I want to thank those of you who know me and appreciate my musings. With that being said, onward and upward!

This weather, let me just say, is clearly more mental than I and my 500 closest friends. Last week…beautiful 70-80 range….this week…..lows in the 30’s -40’s, highs in the 60’s, low 70’s??? WHAT THE HELL???? Can we get a little bit of consistency?!?!  Aparently, the answer is NO. So, on I go, not knowing when to pack up the sweaters and coats…..My house will remain in constant chaos. Why? Because of the weather. That’s why. Not really, but, it makes me feel better to have SOMETHING to blame other than my crazy life.

Pausing this blog for the daily ritual of waking children and fighting my way to the school bus. Will return. 6:26 am.

Resuming blog. 8:06 am.

Pinterest has decided to suck me in. I am not super happy about this, however, I will deal. I mean, it does spark my creativity occasionally. I am also wondering this….should we be flattered, or offended when someone repin’s our pins? Occasionally, it’s a little of both. Flattery and offense. I have nothing left to say about this.

Moving on to my next topic. Would YOU give someone the bra off your back?!?! That’s quite a bit more personal than the shirt off your back. Well, my dear reader or readers, or cyberspace…..I did it. I gave someone the bra literally off my back. I saw that this person was in need and I was more than happy to lend my bra to the cause. I have to say….it takes a great deal of bravery to literally take off your bra and hand it to someone, but even more bravery to accept a bra from someone else. Kudos to you my bra-challenged comrade. Kudos to you. In the end, I came away feeling like a good person. Now, answer the question….WOULD YOU?

That is all. I have no more words left in my scattered brain this morning. Actually, that’s a lie. I have plenty of them, just none that would make sense in a blog post.

Later Taters,

~Lou~

Our Friday the 13th Weekend Kiptopeke Experience

We arrived at Lodge 7 on Friday, April 13, 2012.

Just around the circle bend there is abandoned cabin #10.  Amazingly creepy, falling apart, carpenter bee infested, dead vine covered, dilapidated cabin of wonder, complete with a grape Fanta can in the basement. (Dunh, Dunh, Dunh…) (Side note: Pretty sure this is where Jason Voorhees hides out on Park grounds.)

We decided to take a nice, leisurely hike along the trail. Our excursion began on the Wren Trail. We extended our hike along the Baywoods Trail making sure to hit each creeptacular spot along the way. It started with the cobweb covered tree on the way to the Butterfly Garden. I should have known better, I should have known to turn around and cancel said hike, but no, there were pictures that NEEDED to be taken, so, on we trudged.

Upon entering the Butterfly Garden that was just newly sprouting it’s colorful blooms, we were greeted by Navajo Bright Red Sage. Lovely, I thought to myself. The further into the garden we go, the more I notice that this is not only a flower garden, but also an herb garden. Do you know who uses these herbs that are growing abundantly in this Butterfly Garden that so desperately needs flowers for the Butterflies? Witches, that’s who. The herbs we found were hyssop, bergamot, goldenrod, mountain mint and of course sage. Then we see the Devil’s Walking Stick…..this is not taking a better turn at all.

Still walking.

Along the way, I and my beautiful comrades are searching for amazing photo ops. We managed to find butterflies, weird trees, spikey, thorny plants, and a few bizarre clearings. With the help of Chelsea, I managed to evade an attack of epic proportions by a neon green silk worm swinging in the middle of the trail aiming right for my forehead, you know, the spot right between your eyes? Crisis averted and I emerged unscathed.

Then….Judy found it, the jackpot of all jackpots!!! Judy had found Peter Cottontail’s nest! Complete with jelly bean eggs of course! After the moment of lighthearted happiness, we noticed that this small piece of joy was nestled among hundreds of HUGE Devil’s Walking Sticks.

Now, I have failed to mention to you all that we have consistently heard rustling of leaves and there were never any animals present. No birds, no lizards, no snakes, no squirrels, nothing. These rustlings became more and more frequent the further down the trail we traveled. (These noises have been determined to be evil, minion Gnomes.)

Pushing forward.

We come to a boardwalk and hike it out to the beach. It was beautiful. On our way back up, I spotted a hula hoop tree. Amazing. Adored it. Then, a dirty, nasty, smelly, gross, greyed out, disgusting sock was spied by Chelsea. GROSS…why? Why would there be a lone sock here in the middle of the woods, hanging on a tree branch?


Moving along. 

We came to a T in the trail that had what appeared to be horns stuck not too far off the trail. We snapped a shot, not giving it much thought, and took the trail “less traveled.”

Said trail less traveled began with a picture of what appeared to be a grave marker, interesting. We continued hiking along the trail less traveled and discovered that this was quite the pain. There were tree root stairs that steeply led down the embankment to a bridge…..it was the Bridge to Terribithia!!! WOO HOO!! Another score in our book! We traveled this bridge and came out in the desert, complete with Momma and baby cacti. We found strange small baby purple corn growing on trees, a split tree that closely resembled a loaf of bread, a small, spikey weapon of some sort, and upon further exploration of said desert, Chelsea discovered a large, spiral dug hole that closely resembled a cave in the sand. After a momentary lapse of judgment and throwing a rather large pine cone down into this “cave” we proceeded to RUN, not walk, back to the bridge and the safety of the unexplained noises in the woods of the Baywoods Trail.

We came to a clearing, once we had a moment to catch our breath and really take in the scene, we realized that we had stumbled on the ritual circle of "The Kiptopeke Witch”. 


This was awesome. We had uncovered something BIG here, something HUGE, something NO ONE had mentioned before. WE found it. You know why? ‘Cuz we’re awesome. That’s why…..

We needed to rest. We sat at a precariously placed picnic table, that was close to a small shelter. We drank some water and chatted about our experience for a while.  We began our journey back to the cabin when Chelsea noticed that there was a sticker man made completely of apple bar code stickers…..curious……there was a long bar type structure right behind this little sticker man (we affectionately refer to him as Sid, the sacrificial multi-apple produce sticker man.). (In the photos, you will not be able to see the bar, but if you look just over Chelsea's shoulder, you can see the small square that I am referring to.) There is a small square that resembles a TV screen at the end of this bar. THIS IS THE SPOT! This is where the evil little Gnomes make their sacrifices and video it for later posting on You-Tube. It is all starting to come together now….the lightly thought of horns and spikey weapon in the desert are some of the Gnome-Warrior weapons used to take down the evil nasty ones that leave their dirty socks in the woods on poor, unsuspecting tree limbs. The Gnomes use these weapons to torture the individuals, and then take them to the sacrificial table, record the sacrifice, explaining each detail so that EVERYONE has a how-to. They praise Sid, the sacrificial multi-apple produce sticker man, leave an offering for The Kiptopeke Witch, and head on their merry way to the grave marker. They pull up the grave marker, take it with them and the body to the spiral tunnel that was dug in the desert in preparation of this event, stuff the body down the hole, cover it up, and place the marker, so they know where the freshest sacrifice has been buried.

After filling in the gaps and holes in our hiking adventure that day, we proceeded back to the lodge along the trail. We found the Joshua Tree, the Rock of Gibraltar, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and an old abandoned motor court sign…..WHAT IS THIS? Old neon, rusted holes, entire light packs fallen out on the ground……this sign that says “Tourinn’s Motor Court”….what IS this place? What has happened here? What was here before? What do they mean by “Free TV”? All questions, I hope to answer on my next journey to Kiptopeke State Park……..Until we meet again fair campground, until we meet again.

DISCLAIMER: Many, many other things occurred during this weekend of fun extravaganza. This story was to inform you of the MOST bizarre part of the trip. We met up with a Park Ranger at the Bay and searched for all kinds of fun creatures living in and around the jetties, Logan changed his name to Myaaa (pronounced MEEYAA), we found countless treasures on the beach, I discovered quartz crystals, we ate delicious food (hot dogs, hamburgers, baked beans, potato salad, pasta, smore’s pancakes, had lunch at a wonderful local restraunt, Sting Ray’s) drank wonderful beer, laughed (a lot), talked, played corn hole, sang, danced, watched birds flying in and out of their nests that they built in the eaves of the Lodge, Pearl cut her foot on a shell and almost needed stiches (Dad says it was her offering to The Kiptopeke Witch), John went fishing, Shelby waiting for a butterfly to land on her for over an hour, Emma got her hair curled, and managed to watch horror movies (BIG SHOCKER), Mom and Dad had a relaxing time (I hope) Jen and James laughed and loved the entire time, Judy was a sweet angel as always, Chelsea and I got to spend some great quality time together, which was awesome, Rob and Stacy came to visit us for an afternoon/evening of hilarity…they came bearing the gifts of beer, watermelon and corn! All in all, the trip was amazing, relaxing, wonderful, happy and a great bonding time for all. My most sincere thanks go out to my Sister and Brother for gifting us this vacation with family and dear, treasured friends. This was a much needed break from reality after this year of turmoil, and heartache that we have endured. This trip was just as amazing as last year. I can’t wait to see if we plan it again for next year!!!!