See "Will" Run

Calaveras Big Trees State Park is one of my favorite places and camping there this weekend was a blast. Seventeen of us on a two hour road trip to the solitude of the forest for a weekend of friendship, wine, and hiking.

On Saturday, we took the South Grove Trail, a five mile hike with a 400 ft. change in elevation to see the largest tree in the forest. Don’t let that 400 ft. change in elevation fool you, our trail ascended and descended more times than a politician of questionable morals pants.

It probably wouldn’t have been as hard had my friend Mary and I not been running part of the time. The men grew tired of waiting for the other campers in our group to arrive, so they left Mary and me on a bench with a Walkie Talkie to wait for them.

After about fifteen minutes, they called us on the Walkie Talkie us to say that they had taken a wrong turn, go figure, but ended up finding our fellow campers. They instructed Mary and me to go across the bridge instead of turning left as they had and that they would backtrack the ½ mile or so to the bridge. “Roger that.” Mary and I exchanged glances “so who’s the leader now?” I mocked. From that moment on it became a footrace to stay ahead of them.

“Ahh maniacal Caren, I LIKE HER” said Mary. “Take deep breathes to send the oxygen all the way to the bottom of your lungs” she coached as I struggled with the high altitude running. Whenever we could hear their voices we would immediately pick up our pace and run. At every signpost they would call us on the Walkie Talkie for a location check. They just couldn’t believe that we were on the same trail and that they couldn’t catch us.

We made it to Agassiz, the biggest tree in the forest just minutes before they arrived. They were certain that we had found a shortcut. But there was no shortcut, only the iron will of two determined competitors. It is true that “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will. “ -Mahatma Gandhi

Today, my ankles are asking my “Will” “did you think you were some kind Billy Goat who could stand on the side of a mountain?” Ouch, ouch, ouch, but so worth it!

Your Hidden Talent

Laughter was what our 3-day girlfriend cruise to Ensenada was all about, that and friendship. We laughed so much our stomachs hurt like we’d done 1000 crunches or what we think that might feel like of course none of us really know.

I brought along a “Chat Pack” of cards with questions to use to spark conversations. We also copied some questions off our Southwest free drink coupons like “What is your pet peeve? The back of the card suggested after people answered to start doing their pet peeve.

We discovered that we hate it when people are late, say “where are you at?” bite their nails, act mean and five other things I can’t remember. It never failed to get a laugh when any one of us started to do something from the list or pointed out a nail bitter in the crowd.

Another question was “What is one thing that you can do that no one else here can do?” We had one person who could tie a cherry stem with her tongue, I blog, one claimed to be the fastest at teeth flossing, another had the private number of a celebrity that she could call to party with (hint initials K.R.). It sparked a lot of entertaining conversations.

Laughter IS the best medicine (that and white wine). Laugh till it hurts is a good motto, but we didn’t stop there. Children laugh all the time, adults wait for something funny to happen. Let’s change that!

Make me laugh, tell me your hidden talent.