believe it or not, i went camping. for three days in yosemite. this coming from the girl with an almost unhealthy attachment to the internet and her television. so let's just break this down into days to make things easier. oh yeah, and this is probably going to be a long entry so go get yourself a sandwich and a drink or something so you don't starve halfway through reading this.

day one:

first of all, i should say that i almost didn't go because i had been feeling really sick for the last couple of days. some weird sort of stomach flu or something. but i felt fine saturday morning so i decided to go although all throughout the trip i had bouts of stomach pains and nausea.

anyway, we (me, deb, jacq, david, mike, tim, steven, anthony) met up at david's house at around 930 am to start packing things into his pickup truck and into debra's minivan. those crazy kids drove the entire four hours up to yosemite and the entire four hours down from yosemite. they're super drivers. ooh, i think i forgot to thank them. oh, i'll see them again some time soon. anyway, we left around 1030 am and made it to yosemite at around 3 pm with only one pit stop for lunch. the way up the mountain was not fun. the roads were so windy that it made me sort of queasy. it didn't help that i wasn't feeling too well to begin with either. it was nice and scenic but i couldn't really enjoy that too much with the motion sickness rearing its ugly head.

so we made it up okay and once we got to our campsite, we just unloaded everything and set it all up. with very minimal help from me. hey, this was pretty much a first-time camping experience for me. the last time i went camping, i was around two years old so it doesn't count. anyway, we didn't really do much the first day except for set things up, sit around and talk, and walk through a short trail to a deserted meadow. it was pretty nice though. moving on....

day two:

sunday. didn't sleep very well because my stomach hurt like crazy the whole night. plus, i was sort of squished in my tent which consisted of david, debra, mike, jacq, and me. (the second tent was occupied by anthony and tim and the third tent by steven) but it was mostly my stomach that kept me awake. so when i woke up, i didn't feel too good. we all woke up pretty early - around 8 am - and sort of just sat around for a while. it took me a little bit to start feeling better again.

i definitely started feeling better when me, deb, and jacq ganged up and beat on mike and, later, tim. ;D it always seems to be the three of us versus the two of them. and it always seems to start with mike bugging debra and then the three girls retaliating. and then tim running in later to attempt to save mike. it was great. our tent was going crazy. one hell of a tussle. i remember body slamming mike several times (yeah, those 95 lbs make a difference when you throw them down with some force), mike pinning me (so inappropriate!), deb and jacq pinning mike (haha!) and tickling him, trying to lock tim out of the tent, tim getting into the tent, tim getting pinned by deb and mike getting pinned by jacq and me trying to decide which fight to join, tim getting so desperate for mike's help that he started calling for mike by his full name ("michael!! michael!!"), and me deb and jacq emerging victorious (as usual). although all five of us were exhausted by the end. and the whole time, david was in the tent just lying there and laughing at us (or crying out in pain when bodies landed on him).

so after that nice, mid-morning wrestle in the tent, we all changed our clothes and got ready to go to tuolomne (sp?) lake (or meadow or whatever). we all squished into debra's minivan and drove for over half an hour through some really windy roads to get to the lake. once we got there (gorgeous, gorgeous lake and scenery, by the way), the guys started pumping up some small rafts that they had brought along. they were so small! each raft could only carry two people, tops, and only barely. and there were only two oars so a couple of the rafts just relied on paddle power. at one point, i tried to get into a raft with jacq in it but somehow lost my balance and fell into the lake. sort of embarrassing. it was a nice, relaxing time at the lake though, otherwise. the raft that jacq and i were on as well as the one that steven was on drifted really really far away from shore. we didn't have any oars so jacq and steven had to start using their arms to try to paddle us back to shore while i just lay there and tanned and every once in a while complained that we were probably going to die out in the middle of the lake because we were stranded. but we eventually made it back (after i called out for david to help us since he was the one with the oars). hung out a little while longer. had lunch there. it was nice. that place was so gorgeous, it was almost surreal. i think i just liked it the best because it was the most relaxing. ;D

so anyway, after that, we all got up and left the lake. on our way back, we stopped at some field that had this huuuuuuuuuuge rock/hill thing in the middle that people felt an insane urge to climb. it was pretty damn steep. i had to rest a few times going up (not the last time that would happen ;)). but once we got to the top, it was pretty cool. took a lot of cute, funny pictures at the top. deb and jacq took some perspective pictures where it looks like david is holding the other guys in the palm of his hand. it's hilarious. ;D and now that i think about it, that climb actually wasn't that bad, especially compared to what we had to do today. still though... it was tough for a little while.

so then after that, we all piled back into the car to go back to the campsite. but on the way, we had a little incident. me, jacq, mike, and tim were all squished in the back in that order from left to right. jacq and mike started a little fight (actually, i don't remember how it started or if it even started with them) and then i joined in and then tim (i keep typing "time") joined in and then, before you know it, i accidentally hit tim in the face. i tried to block one of his punches, but my left arm went too far and two of my fingernails smacked tim right below his right eye. oh man... it was bad. skin broke. you can still see the marks on his face. and you probably will for quite a while. i may have even scarred him. gah. i felt really really bad. still do. but i guess we all have our bruises and marks from battling so much now. debra has a huuuuge bruise on the outer part of her left thigh after the morning wrestle, courtesy of mike throwing himself down on her. i have quite a few bruises as well, and i know jacq probably does too (as well as some pretty bad mosquito bites).

well, we eventually got back to our campsite. tim's face looked even worse. i felt really bad. then everyone started drinking at night around the campfire. everyone except me because i didn't think it would be a good idea with my stomach aches. jacq only drank a little bit though. mike and steven probably drank the most. but steven seemed okay. well...not really. just more okay than mike. deb turned pretty red, as usual, but it didn't really matter since it was dark and we couldn't really tell unless we shined a flashlight in her face. unfortunately, the alcohol got to her and she threw up in our tent (but in a bag, thankfully) which prompted david to throw up as he was trying to throw away debra's vomit. it almost started a chain reaction as mike started feeling a bit vomitous himself (i don't think vomitous is a word, but oh well).

i actually missed this whole incident though since jacq and i were at the bathroom brushing our teeth. and a little before that, we had gone to throw away some trash at the dumpster and decided to stop in the middle of the road to look at some stars. that was one of the best parts of camping - getting to see so many stars at once. and while we were looking up, we got to see a couple shooting stars!! it was so awesome. actually, jacq saw one first and then i saw one soon after but we both missed seeing the other's shooting stars. but still, it was amazing since i really didn't expect to be able to see them so early during the night. and then just seeing all those stars... that was pretty. :)

anyway, we got back to the campsite and told everyone but no one really seemed impressed. hmph. whatever. we saw shooting stars!! so mike, david, and deb went to sleep first and the rest of us stayed outside just chatting around the campfire till around midnight when jacq and i headed back to our tent to go to sleep. end day two.

day three:

monday. as usual, i woke up feeling not to so good again. i slept a little better that night because i was so tired and i had a bit more space, but my stomach still bothered me a little bit during the night. mike said that everyone in the tent snored that night, but i refuse to believe that. i do NOT snore. i know this for a fact! i may have done some heavy breathing, but i don't snore!! i know it!! i'm incapable of snoring!! well...maybe not, but you know what i mean. psh, whatever, i don't snore. mike was hearing things. anyway, i did start feeling a little better a little faster than the morning before. jacq and i woke up even earlier than the day before; we woke up at around 7 am. steven was already outside because he's crazy and automatically wakes up at 6 am for no reason. sat around for a little while.

then, once everyone (slowly) got up, we sat around a little more and then started packing up our things. that took a good hour or so to pack everything up, load the cars, and clean up our campsite. and then it was off to vernal falls - my doom.

now when jacquelyn said that vernal falls was one of the "easier" trails, i don't really know what i was expecting but i certainly was NOT expecting the actual trail that we had to go up. it was a one and a half mile hike up the side of this huuuuge waterfall. and the trail was just insanely steep. there was nothing easy about it. if this was one of the easier trails, i would have just flung myself off the side of the trail if we had gone on any of the other ones. i wanted to die the whole way up. i was just so not in shape. plus the altitude was killing me. i dragged the group behind but i didn't care because i was just so winded the whole time. old people were passing me but i didn't care either; i still wanted to take a break like, every five minutes. and it REALLY got steep towards the top. good thing none of us have a fear of heights because, daaaaamn, that was high up and steep as hell. i guess it maybe took us an hour or so to get all the way to the top because it was slow going what with the steepness, the people traffic, and my frequent complaining for breaks.

but the top was, indeed, gorgeous. it was a cool waterfall and it felt nice to be at the top, finally. we just chilled there for a little bit and went wading above the little lake at the top of vernal falls. watched people try to slide down the rock into the lake, but fail miserably and crash into an unsuspecting rock and keel over in pain. it was nice and relaxing at the top. took me a while to catch my breath back. all i wanted to do was just lie there and rest with my feet in the cool, refreshing water.

but, alas, we had to go back down. getting back was definitely easier and faster than going up though. it still hurt though and i still complained for breaks. all of our legs were shaking from having to go down such steepness. but, we did eventually make it and made our slow way back to the shuttle stop so that we could get back to the cars.

okay, side note: i'm getting really tired of this entry and i highly doubt anyone has made it this far, so i will try and wrap up now. so we got down vernall falls (gorgeous, gorgeous), go back to the cars, ate a bunch of food like savages because we were so hungry and didn't pack any lunch, and then set off for home around 4 pm. on the way home, i realized that i had forgotten my camera at the very top of vernal falls where i had set it down on a log and was very upset with myself that i had lost the entire day's worth of film. argh. i didn't even care about the camera - it's just the film that i miss. sigh. at least it was just today though. and besides, deb, mike, and jacq took enough pictures for me to enjoy. although, i really wish i could have enjoyed them on MY camera. :( blah, anyway, made it back around 830 pm where we stopped at kfc, got some food, brought it back to deb's place, and ate. then, from deb's place, i gathered all my things and went home where the first thing i did was go online. did a few things, then took a nice, loooong shower to wash off three days worth of dirt, ash, smoke, and more dirt. bleeeech...we were all pretty disgusting. going camping has never made me more grateful to see my toilet and shower.

and now i am all clean and fresh and developing carpal tunnel's syndrome from blogging for the past hour. i am going to post this and then go to sleep because i am beat. go to sleep in my nice, warm, soft bed.... mmmmm.....

oh, but i do want to say one last thing: i had fun. :) lots and lots of fun. thanks to deb and david for driving and planning. what would we do without them? and while camping in yosemite was definitely quite an experience, it was more the company than the location that made this little trip so darn fun. ;)