This weekend we drove to Padre Island National Seashore to go camping. This may not sound stupendous, perhaps like a nice weekend out of the city. You might say, “Oh, camping! I love camping!” You would say this because you are the type of person whose parents probably took them camping every summer at least once. You would say this because you have been hiking and maybe fishing. Maybe you spent a summer at camp and did outdoors things. Or you dated that guy who took you to the cool parties in the woods where all the kids went “camping” aka drinking beer and getting high.
For me, however, the concept of camping is entirely foreign. I never spent more than a week at camp and it was gymnastics camp. My parents took us to Civil War and Independence War battlefields, and we stayed all together in one room in a cheap hotel because my mom was not going to trek three kids to the bathroom in the woods in the middle of the night one after the other. As my friend J’s mom so eloquently puts it, “My idea of camping is a Holiday Inn without a bar.” Agreed, fully and completely. This is why I love visiting them in Las Vegas.
At any rate, I have been wanting to go out into the nature for some unknown reason, and the nature is almost always too far away for a single day and too remote for even the lowest Motel 6. Nature seemingly requires camping. I picked the ocean side of nature, rationalizing that soon it will be too crowded with people escaping to the beach for a weekend. I miss the ocean, having now lived out of Los Angeles for three years in places that are tauntingly close to the coast but not quite close enough. The ocean keeps me sane–it is a predictable and soothing force with substantial motion and a distinctive smell that reminds me of being 7, eating toasted marshmallows after a long day splashing, swimming, playing in the tidepools. Do not tell me that Town Lake is a good substitute; it is not and you know it.
It took us a long time to get out of Austin, but the drive there was beautiful farm country. While we knew there would be a lot of cows, we were unaware of the amount of corn growing, though with ethanol prices being what they are, not surprised.  We were perplexed by the very declarative “Maintain Your Vehicle” signs and that Lockhart is the “Barbecue Capital of Texas”, when nearly every town seems to claim that title as well. We arrived at the Seashore well after dark, located the Malaquite Beach campground, and parked the car. We set up the tent. Actually, I set up the tent. No, really! I’ve set up the tent before, arugably under better conditions at Burning Man, in full daylight. We blew up the air mattress, got the pillows and the blankets settled, and lay down without really knowing what time it was. (Yes, of course I brought an air mattress and pillows. Did you really think I was going to sleep on the ground?)
We could hear the ocean from the tent area and see it from the nearby picnic table, so we knew it was close. However, nature being that close means… Nature is loud. Incredibly loud. What were we thinking camping next to the giant ocean with its giant waves crashing on the shore? And then, it got windy. Very windy. Soon the tent, which we had decided not to anchor since it hadn’t been windy during setup, was starting to pick up like a kite. After it flapped around for awhile, B anchored the tent and duct taped the jingly zippers. Neither of us got very much sleep. I am apparently not the first person to make this mistake, as I have now read half a dozen accounts of wind-related tent trauma. The next morning someone told us it is windy until nearly July at that beach. Consider yourself forewarned.

When we woke up in the morning, we saw that we were 200 feet from the ocean. And the beach was covered in a foot of seaweed from the water to the dune. Our weekend plan of chairs in the sand with an umbrella and books were entirely dashed at that point.

We decide to take a drive on the beach–I’m glad we bought that truck! We drove out as far as we could, watching the birds pick over the seaweed (Pelican & Breakfast), which covered the 5 miles of the beach we did see and the 58 miles we didn’t. I tried taking photos, but it was too windy to get out and too bumpy on the sand while driving. After a nap back in the tent, we decided to head back to Austin, stopping for shrimp at Snoopy’s Pier along the way, with a plan to go kayaking the next day.

And then I got food poisoning.

Look, I physically got in the car, drove to the nature, stayed in a tent for a night, and survived. Let’s call it a successful camping trip, however it all transpired.

Back from NY late last night after a successful conference. It feels good to leave on a high note. Made limited use of brain today–breakfast, convention hotline, lunch with M. & B., long nap, dinner.

Spent 4 hours today manning the convention hotline, answering questions about how to choose delegates, where the convention is, and incredibly detailed and sometimes difficult to answer problems in a district. Many Texans spent a good portion of today sitting inside, waiting because the process wasn’t clear or the process was clear and someone was stalling. Results are being turned in, though. So many participating in the process despite the last decade of growing distrust and distinterest in national level politics is inspiring.
Greatly enjoyed the friendly stoner waitstaff at the seafood restaurant inside Whole Foods after 4 days of NY waitstaffs’ icy rudeness. So good to be home. B. had a great idea after dinner for a SXSW workshop. He keeps impressing me with his creative ideas for how to reach out and gather together like-minded people based on topics he’s interested or an expert in. I feel fallow lately, as though I’ve blown through all my great ideas and there’s nothing I’m interested in pursuing. Symptom of not doing the kind of work I need/want to be doing or just the opposite?

• Picked up sign at 1211 Ave of Americas. Kinkos appears to be a front — workers in purple shirts asking customers if they need any help, but when customers say yes, the worker walks away to do something else entirely unrelated and to ask another customer if they’ve been helped yet. Sign is in good shape, but takes 15 minutes to get for no apparent reason.
• Stopped to get OJ and pastry, spilled OJ all over myself in a fit of “I’m not cool enough to not live in NYC.” Point proven.
• Dropped everything off & changed. Went to pick up shirt at dry cleaners and snacks for hotel room. Love the Amish Market down the street though it’s not exactly ordnung. Bought apples, granola, chocolate, and my favorite tea, which isn’t being sold in Austin any more.
• Met C. for lunch at a place called The Crooked Knife, which pretended to be an English pub, only it served salad. I’ve never been to an English pub that had an unfried vegetable.
• Met K. at 401 Projects to see Baryshnikov dance photos/coffee afterwards. Photos were excellent except for the 2 “recapturing the heyday of 70s video art” red pieces. Love the piece above and this, which I’d pair with a photo I have of jellyfish at Monterey Bay Aquarium like this. Not as connected to the people I knew in my 20s as K. is to them now–interesting to see them through her eyes, which didn’t experience them in the “young & stupid” years. Keep forgetting that people are still going to Burning Man en masse.
• Raced to get ready for the cocktail party. I’m always so nervous before these events–what if no one comes to the party? After enough parties, I should be over that by now, but no.
• Dinner with the entire team after with a sweet goodbye toast from my boss and her boss and tasty blood orange fizzy drink. I hope we’re done with the goodbye dinners, because I don’t think I can take another one without getting publicly sentimental/sad. Return to the hotel to find it infested with 14 year old Canadian kids on a school trip. I took that trip when I was 14. I am sentimental, while also knowing I better get some sleep tonight. Tomorrow comes earlier and earlier.

In New York. For some reason coming to New York does not inspire me. The city overwhelms with all of its tall buildings and short people. Are there really this many short people in the world or just a concentration of them here? Disappointed that none of the new podcasts or music I’ve downloaded lately made it onto the iPod for the flight. Just as well since I slept for a good portion of it anyway. Narrowly avoided conversation with “Overly Friendly Dude” across the aisle.
Wanted to run, but mistimed lunch. Walked 20 blocks between hotel (not as shabby as I remembered it, but not particularly flash) and B&H Photo to buy a tripod and then back again. Inexpensive but not cheap tripod acquired. Purpose of tripod is to take HDR photos. Not that many tripods come in sizes tall enough to reach my eye level. The short people continue their dominance!

Tonight will be the only night both in schedule and weather to take the photos. Had considered going to the Metropolitan Opera to see Tristan and Isolde, but it’s 5 hours long and I spent that long sitting down on the plane already. Instead, I thought I’d photo Times Square–classic/iconic/done already/whatever. There’s a model to work from and I can know if I’m doing it right. Still, it’s 40 degrees and I’ve no mittens. I don’t think I can blame that on short people. I might try anyway.
“It starts up in our bedrooms after the war…” (Stars)

Some future package tour ideas:

• Take a cruise–a pirate cruise. Be an authentic pirate, plundering the seas and taking hostages for ransom. (Cruiseline not responsible if you are taken hostage.)
• Rent a Model T from the 1920s and drive around as if it is the 1920s–wear the clothes, speak the lingo, do the jitterbug, be the Great Gatsby until the stock crash and you have to walk home.

There is a Tyson Chicken commercial where the daughter stands up on a chair and tells her mom thanks for feeding them this great antibiotic-free chicken that shows she cares. Then the dad stands up on the chair and says, “When you’re not here, I make them frozen waffles.”

That was my family growing up.

1. Watched elephants dance in Sri Lanka
2. Annually asked everyone at Thanksgiving dinner what they are most grateful for
3. Seen the hall that inspired the dining room in Harry Potter films
4. Moved so many times I’ve lost count
5. Danced at an underground nightclub in Moscow after dinner and vodka shots at a Georgian restaurant
6. Had a relationship with an older man while in college
7. Gotten married in Vegas (to the man I wish I had had an affair with in college)
8. Learned French
9. Run a Race for the Cure event
10. Partied with a rock band