More of a Very Good Thing!!

The second day got off to a much better start. There is a lot to be said about waking up in a nice warm cozy bed, or at least a dry sleeping bag that is on a dry air mattress. We luckily had the opportunity to dry the sleeping bags the day before, once the weather started to cooperate with our wishes. Not that we were necessarily in a bad mood the morning before but it is a lot less work to get yourself into a positive mindset when you are not wet and cold. So this morning was much more amiable than the one previous.

We started off our day with a champion’s breakfast. Eggs, bacon and hash browns all cooked over a warming morning fire, all consumed while sitting on dry camping chairs. We were off to a good start. The breakfast provided us with the energy that we needed to take us through a day of surfing, the Vitamin water hydrated us before another day of beer consumption and the “Anaconda” playing in the back ground got us in the right mindset to party! Our day actually started when I decided to fire up the speakers from inside Shannon and I’s tent, sending out the intention for everyone to take a deep breath and get ready to go hard for our second day of surfing….and I do not think that I need to tell you which song was the one being played as I was sending this message to our fellow campers J.

We were in no real hurry to get to the beach. We spent a considerable amount of time letting our morning fire run its course, relaxing and enjoying the freedom that we felt with a day of nothing but fun ahead of us. Those are some of the finest moments of life. The feeling of relaxation mixed with excitement that you have when you are on vacation with nothing else to do but think about what type of fun you intend to have next. You have your whole day ahead of you and the opportunities are endless. Even if you have a plan in mind you never really know what other sort of excitement you might attract into your reality along the way. How great of a feeling is it when you have nothing but awesomeness in your daily forecast?! I will tell you it feels amazing!!

Once the fire was no more, everyone went into action with the same relaxed energy that has been with us most of the morning. The surf boards were piled up and tied down, the snacks were being packed and the coolers were being filled. All the items on the “great day checklist” were accounted for, so we were on our way!

The weather once again was amazing! As I mentioned before there is an understanding that most every day in Westport starts off overcast and foggy. Sometimes it burns off quickly, other times not so quick and other times not at all. On this day we were pleased to see if slowly breaking to the point of complete clearing once we reached the beach. The parking lot had a different look than it had the previous day, and I would suspect that the current weather conditions had a lot to do with this being the situation. We looped around once with no luck so we decided to drop off the gear at the closest point to the beach and then have our friend go and park. While he was doing this, a spot opened up that we could not get to without looping all the way around one more time because of the one way nature of the lot itself. To make sure the spot was still available once the car was able to make it back to the spot we had another friend go and stand in the spot in order to save it. A person standing in a parking spot would be a useful deterrent to stop someone else from taking that spot, or at least one would think. Well on this occasion this was not the case. A family in a large truck decided it was a good spot for them to park so they started backing up right into our friend!! If our friend didn’t get out of the way the guy would have backed right over him!! We could not believe the audacity of this guy! We were beside ourselves that someone would do something so reckless without any warning. At the very least swear at us and tell us you don’t give a $$%$^& if we want to save the spot because you are taking it anyway. At least have the nerve for a verbal confrontation before you run him over!!

We found out later in an awkward turn of events that he did not see our friend at all and was very, very sorry for the incident. He even offered to move his car and let us take the spot. This all happened after our friend came back and told us what had happened and then we all started talking about how amazed we were of his demeanor and his boldness to threaten physical injury without any warning. This was then followed by many points and glares sent from our group to theirs. I stand by the fact that he was still very much in the wrong for being so unaware of his surroundings but he did not deserve the character abuse he was unknowingly receiving from our party. This is the trouble with jumping to conclusions when you do not know the other person’s reasons. Shannon and I once overheard a bartender at a wine tasting talking about some customers that she had that had used the vessel to dump out some of the wine they were tasting. We went on for probably a good ten minutes saying how ridiculous we thought that was, how bad could the wine possibly have been to waste it by dumping it out. We talked about how arrogant that person must have been and how we did not believe that anyone’s palate was so sophisticated that they could not possibly taste anymore of that wine, it was just too below them. We said a lot of things and made many assumptions that painted whoever this was in a worse and worse light. We then decided to ask the woman behind the bar what reason the person gave for pouring it out. She then surprised us by saying that it was because the glass had been filled too high and the person wanted to make sure they didn’t drink too much since they had to drive home. Imagine how silly we felt after all of the bashing we had been doing lol. It was a perfectly legitimate, not to mention exceedingly responsible, decision. In that particular situation, it would have been a poor decision not to pour it out. It was an important lesson in our lives. It brought to light the importance of asking questions and learning about the real situation before you start jumping to conclusions. It was a situation that humbled us and opened our eyes to the error of our ways. I truly believe that is has had an impact on how I have conducted myself going forward in life.

In the end we accepted the apology from the guy driving the truck, we said no to the parking spot he was offering, and another spot two cars down opened up so we were all able to benefit from being parked in an advantageous location. With that being taken care of we were off to the beach.

There is not much for me to say about the surfing itself. The description would have been very similar to the one that I gave for the day previous. The waves were still choppy, we still got pushed way down the beach by the current, it was still hard to get out past the breakers, and we still had an amazing time. We all caught some quality waves and we all felt like our skills improved by logging some more surfing experience.

Up on the beach we were up to our old tricks. Enjoying some craft beer, snacking on chips, and lunching on hot dogs grilled over our beach fire (that I once again started with my Old Spice body spray blow torch). I love cooking hot dogs on the beach after surfing. I get so freaking hungry that my usual two is just not enough for me. In fact I believe I had 4……and sadly, possibly 5…..on this occasion. The volume of hot dogs consumption correlates with the amount of shredding you do on your surfboard, it is a scientific fact. So just imagine how much shredding I was doing to earn myself 4 (or 5) Johnsonville Brats (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H_2mzLVa2o)!!

One funny story worth mentioning had to do with some of the dogs that were similarly enjoying their time on the beach. There are many, many dogs gallivanting along the beach. It is a great spot for friendly dogs to roam as their owners are out surfing. I like it…you have to be careful to not leave your food out…..but I enjoy seeing the dogs having the time of their lives!! This one particular dog, a small black Pug decided to pay us a visit. This little guy was very friendly and he even brought along his German Sheppard friend/bodyguard. It was very cute how this German Sheppard was looking out for his little buddy. The Pug stayed with us for some time, enjoying all the love he was receiving, but then it was time for him to move along. We said our goodbyes and saw him wander off. We didn’t pay too much attention to him since he was not our dog and therefore not really our responsibility. We later saw him going up the hill toward the parking lot. Not long after we saw his owner searching for him. We told her we saw him going up towards the parking lot. She did not seem pleased, whether she was not pleased with the dog or with us or a combination of both, is unclear. Our one friend went up to use the washroom and said she saw the woman angrily scanning the parking lot for her dog, she also said she thought she overheard the woman cursing us for telling her the dog had run up to the parking lot and now she couldn’t find it. She seemed to feel like we had sent her on a wild goose (pug??) chase. Minutes after our friend got back to us with the news we say the dog returning from the parking lot, down to the beach. We knew the woman was still up there searching but we did not feel like it was our duty to go up there to inform her of the new situation, especially after how ungrateful she seemed when we tried to help out the first time.

When she eventually returned to find her dog lying in the arm of her friend she was none too pleased lol. We were not close enough to hear what all went down at that point but I would imagine that dog got a good tongue lashing. Poor little guy, he was just exploring J.

I finished my last ride of the day at a decent time on this occasion. I did not want to interfere with the others intentions for the second straight day. We also had plans to check out the local winery (http://www.westportwinery.org/) on the way back to camp. We tried a number of their wines, and they were excellent! We particularly enjoyed the Bog Berry Blush — Cranberry Gewürztraminer, very tasty! There was also a particular beer that we wanted to try there but it had been so popular that they were completely sold out until the next batch was ready. We did not stick around too long since the wine was a bit more expensive than we were willing to pay knowing that we still had plenty of our own wine waiting for us back at the campsite. It was a good stop since one of our friends really needed to use the washroom. When she was in there we decided to do the old “move the car to a different spot to scare her” trick. It worked like a charm! I think it was especially successful since the campsite was within walking distance, so it was plausible that we would leave her there is we got tired of waiting for her. I don’t think she would have been very impressed if we did, but it was within the realm of possibility lol.

We did not stay long at the winery but we do have plans to include it in our next trip down there. They have live music on Friday nights between 5:30 and 7:30 and they also serve food at the time and could make for an enjoyable evening!!

Once we got back to our site we wasted no time creating another huge camp fire…we still had plenty of wood to burn and a limited amount of time to burn it! It was another great evening, good food was eaten, tasty drinks were consumed and enjoyable company was enjoyed. Those are some of the most relaxing nights. Your body is thankful for the rest after a long day of strenuous activity (surfing), your hungry has been satisfied with a nice big dinner, and then it’s time to curl up close to the warming fire with your favorite drink in hand, all while spending some quality time with the people you enjoy spending it with the most. That is called living the dream and fits right in with the name and spirit of this blog J.

The last morning is always a bit sad, and the weather resonated that feeling. It was raining once again, not as hard as it had on the first night but it was still noticeable. Packing up in the rain is not ideal since you will then be required to unpack everything, again, once you get home in order to dry everything that cannot be stored wet for risk of it molding. Luckily Shannon and I have my sister who still lives at home with my parents to help us out. We would have no place, other than in the middle of our apartment, to re-setup our tent to dry it. So she has now been our savior on such occasions and offers to do it for us since my parents have the space to do it. We are eternally grateful for it and we thank you!! It is also not fun to end your vacation from reality. Even if you love the job you are going back to, you still don’t want to see this segment of your life come to an end. But I have yet to find a way to stop if from coming to an end at some point so until I can do that, I must be brave and strong and deal with it the best that I can J.

Once we were all packed up we hit the road for a long drive home. We stopped once for a Jack-in-the-Box lunch which ended up being huge meals (http://www.jackinthebox.com/food/jacks-munchie-meals/hella-peno-burger-munchie-meal)! It consisted of a burger, a drink, curly fries, and two tacos. In my experience most meals use “or” not “and”. It’s normally fries “or” tacos, not fries “and” tacos…so we were surprised. It was not easy to finish but we did anyway J. I cannot say that we felt amazing after eating that much food…but it had been good at the time lol.

The trip was quick and easy and we were back at home to lounge our way through the rest of the evening in preparation for the new school year, not either of us have any invested interest in that but even still it does feel like a marked end to the summer and the beginning of a new time of your life. It was the end of an amazing summer, and the beginning of who knows what’s next!!