I was up bright and early at 5:00 on Thursday morning. I went to the store and got food for the dogs, cooked food for the dogs so Greg wouldn't have to (he'd been having a migraine and felt like crap), packed my stuff, cleaned the kitchen, started the dishwasher, threw in a load of dishes and headed out. Then I stopped at Walmart to get a cheapie cooler and some snacks for the car. You'd be so proud of me. I got only healthy stuff like baby carrots, triscuits, string cheese, and rice cakes. Of course I didn't eat any of it all weekend, but my intentions were good!
Once I got all the crap I needed, I picked Maiden up at Marmalade's house at 10:00. We decided to head out Highway 26 and stop in Seaside and Cannon Beach and pick up boxes as we drove south to Pacific City (which is outside of Tillamook for all you out of town readers. For all you out of state readers, Tillamook is on the Oregon Coast. South of Cannon Beach. And Seaside). We also had to stop on the way at Michael's and get a new log book for Maiden and a Jamba Juice for the road, of course.
The first box we went in search of is in the Saddle Mountain State Natural Area, which is on the way to Seaside. I'd never been here before. There is this winding one-lane road that has lots of dips, potholes, and sheer drop-offs on both sides of the road with no guardrails for seven loooong miles. Uphill. Both ways. Okay, not really, but it felt like it sometimes. So we drove and drove and drove, and finally found the picnic area. Then we went to the rock where the box was hidden. This is my first glimpse of the rock:
Ack! So somehow, and I still haven't figured out how this happened, Maiden gets me to climb up to the top and look for the box while she waited at the bottom and yelled suggestions at me. After much poking around and getting dirt all over me, I finally discovered it hiding under a fern where it should be. Maiden did have to go back to the car to get the clues that she forgot to bring out with us, which gave me time to appreciate the view from the top of this huge rock.
Here's what Maiden was doing while I was poking around for the box.
Once the box was uncovered, I threw my stuff down to her along with the contents of the box and she stamped us in.
After stamping us in, she came and threw the box back up to me. Unfortunately she throws like a girl, so the box ended up in a fern halfway down the rock and right next to THIS:
I swear she did it on purpose because she knows I hate snakes. That damned snake came out of nowhere to block me from getting the baggie to put it back. I only screamed a little when I saw it. And when its tounge flicked out at me. And when Maiden threw a rock at it and it slithered my way. The worst part was that when it finally went away I had to step where it had been to retrieve the bag of box guts and I couldn't see where he went. Eeeeeeewwwwwww. He could have popped back up and wrapped his snakey little body around my ankle. It gives me the willies just thinking about it. I finally retrieved the box stuff, put the box where it belonged and got the hell off that rock.
No more snakes were seen that day...THANK GOD! It does make a good story now, though. And it inspired my new traveller "Snakes on the Trail" which you can only get when you are boxing with me and we come across a snake.
More about the trip later....
4 comments:
One snake too many. I would have left. Maiden would have to put the box back or it could have stayed on the picnic table. I'm surprised that you had brains about you to even take the picture of the snake. I would have thrown the letterbox at him!
I would have stamped in at the top of the rock and put the box back...
HA! Just kidding, Maiden.
Marmie Pie
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