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Home again, home again - the short form.
Feb. 15th, 2010 10:23 pmMy kingdom should probably deport me or something. I spent most of my war doing the Citizen of the Known World thing, camped in Atenveldt territory with four Outlanders and an Atenveldter. Didn't get over to the West Kingdom party 'cause y'all were at court or something when I hiked all the way over there. In the dark. And two feet of snow. Uphill both ways. (At least I had Li and Yagyu-dono escorting me. The block was virtually deserted.) By the time court did let out, there was no way I was leaving camp Saturday night. I was too exhausted.
I checked the NWS website and determined that the dire predictions of snow in the Grapevine had been revised to a 10% chance of precipitation, with the Doppler radar to prove it, so I left the Bay Area after work and made it to Indio in time to grab a motel room for the night, then made it to site by Wednesday afternoon. Ryoshi-dono helped me get set up. Aside from some intermittent rain that I drove through, and some sprinkles when I arrived, weather was fine the rest of the event.
LOVE the new Kelty Mistral 0 degree bag. I was toasty warm every night.
Had a total of twelve people show up for taiko over three days, and another four turn up for the "First Contact", so I'm pleased with that. Ujimoto-dono and Sadanori-dono are trying to convince me to go out to Albuquerque over Memorial Day and teach at Grand Outlandish. Must consult a calendar and see whether it's feasible. I DO need to get back east this spring and see my folks.
The Thursday night New Year party was intimate and laid back. On Friday night, I was returning to camp from the privy at the head of the block when I ran into Braun (?) and Ludmilla from the Barony of the Far West - who were looking for us. I brought them back to hang out with us (Li, Yagyu, Ryoshi and myself). They went totally overboard with the omiyage: a big jug of very good sake which we were told was "holy water" because monks aren't supposed to drink alcohol. I'll have to dig the box out when I unpack, scan it and see if![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sengokudaimyo or crimsongriffin can identify it. There was also a package of green tea cake and a packet of genmaicha (both of which got broken out for breakfast yesterday). We shared out both their sake and some of the Kurosawa kimoto I'd brought. Conversation was a bit stilted due to mutual language limitations, but it was still nice to have them come by.
Yagyu's lady, Hatshepsut, day-tripped with their six month old daughter, a couple of days. Salina is a complete charmer and handled her first war pretty well.
Shopping coups: a pair of European latchet shoes and a very nicely coopered and finished wooden bucket, plus two pairs of stockings. That's it. We did tend to do dinners at the food court.
Did some hurdy gurdy laps with George. People still seem to enjoy it. I got a few tips from merchants, including a strand of coral that will need to be re-strung on something nicer. The new shoes are a good fit, the nailed sole gives me better traction and they only want insoles to be perfect.
Since Li had to fly home Sunday night, I tore down Sunday, followed the boys back to Phoenix, then we (Li, Yagyu, Hatshepsut and the baby) all stopped for Mexican food. Li flew home. I started driving west and stopped for the night in Indio again.
I don't have a single photo of the war. Not one. I just don't get into taking pictures at events. However, when I had stopped in Indio on the way down, I had seen this large map in the motel lobby and thought, "Hey, the Salton Sea isn't that far away. Or Joshua Tree, for that matter." Neither of which I'd ever been to, and both of whichdidjiman had come back from with interesting pictures.
Raw photo dumps are up, I'll pick through them later and post the Flickr links tomorrow.
EDIT: Can't sleep, may as well write it while it's mostly in my head.
Anyway, I woke up stoopid early this morning, drove south of Indio until I saw water off to my right and pulled over on Desert Beach Drive.
In the predawn light, the place was alive with waterfowl, particularly gulls and pelicans - and the smell of dead fish and salt.
The beach itself was crunchy underfoot with salt deposits and fish bones. I walked down the beach for a bit, and shot some photos as the sun came up. Then I headed back north to I-10 and east until I found the exit for Joshua Tree National Park.
It was only about 8 AM when I paid my fee at the teeny visitor's center. The ranger behind the counter went a little bonkers with her highlighter. Oh, no, don't go out to 29 Palms, you'll miss all the best stuff.I took her advice and drove north and eastward instead. "Best stuff" consisted of cholla cactus, huge boulders and, of course, Joshua Trees.
Though the vista from the top of Keys View was pretty spectacular. And cold.
.
I checked the NWS website and determined that the dire predictions of snow in the Grapevine had been revised to a 10% chance of precipitation, with the Doppler radar to prove it, so I left the Bay Area after work and made it to Indio in time to grab a motel room for the night, then made it to site by Wednesday afternoon. Ryoshi-dono helped me get set up. Aside from some intermittent rain that I drove through, and some sprinkles when I arrived, weather was fine the rest of the event.
LOVE the new Kelty Mistral 0 degree bag. I was toasty warm every night.
Had a total of twelve people show up for taiko over three days, and another four turn up for the "First Contact", so I'm pleased with that. Ujimoto-dono and Sadanori-dono are trying to convince me to go out to Albuquerque over Memorial Day and teach at Grand Outlandish. Must consult a calendar and see whether it's feasible. I DO need to get back east this spring and see my folks.
The Thursday night New Year party was intimate and laid back. On Friday night, I was returning to camp from the privy at the head of the block when I ran into Braun (?) and Ludmilla from the Barony of the Far West - who were looking for us. I brought them back to hang out with us (Li, Yagyu, Ryoshi and myself). They went totally overboard with the omiyage: a big jug of very good sake which we were told was "holy water" because monks aren't supposed to drink alcohol. I'll have to dig the box out when I unpack, scan it and see if
sengokudaimyo or crimsongriffin can identify it. There was also a package of green tea cake and a packet of genmaicha (both of which got broken out for breakfast yesterday). We shared out both their sake and some of the Kurosawa kimoto I'd brought. Conversation was a bit stilted due to mutual language limitations, but it was still nice to have them come by. Yagyu's lady, Hatshepsut, day-tripped with their six month old daughter, a couple of days. Salina is a complete charmer and handled her first war pretty well.
Shopping coups: a pair of European latchet shoes and a very nicely coopered and finished wooden bucket, plus two pairs of stockings. That's it. We did tend to do dinners at the food court.
Did some hurdy gurdy laps with George. People still seem to enjoy it. I got a few tips from merchants, including a strand of coral that will need to be re-strung on something nicer. The new shoes are a good fit, the nailed sole gives me better traction and they only want insoles to be perfect.
Since Li had to fly home Sunday night, I tore down Sunday, followed the boys back to Phoenix, then we (Li, Yagyu, Hatshepsut and the baby) all stopped for Mexican food. Li flew home. I started driving west and stopped for the night in Indio again.
I don't have a single photo of the war. Not one. I just don't get into taking pictures at events. However, when I had stopped in Indio on the way down, I had seen this large map in the motel lobby and thought, "Hey, the Salton Sea isn't that far away. Or Joshua Tree, for that matter." Neither of which I'd ever been to, and both of which
didjiman had come back from with interesting pictures. Raw photo dumps are up, I'll pick through them later and post the Flickr links tomorrow.
EDIT: Can't sleep, may as well write it while it's mostly in my head.
Anyway, I woke up stoopid early this morning, drove south of Indio until I saw water off to my right and pulled over on Desert Beach Drive.
In the predawn light, the place was alive with waterfowl, particularly gulls and pelicans - and the smell of dead fish and salt.
The beach itself was crunchy underfoot with salt deposits and fish bones. I walked down the beach for a bit, and shot some photos as the sun came up. Then I headed back north to I-10 and east until I found the exit for Joshua Tree National Park.
It was only about 8 AM when I paid my fee at the teeny visitor's center. The ranger behind the counter went a little bonkers with her highlighter. Oh, no, don't go out to 29 Palms, you'll miss all the best stuff.I took her advice and drove north and eastward instead. "Best stuff" consisted of cholla cactus, huge boulders and, of course, Joshua Trees.
Though the vista from the top of Keys View was pretty spectacular. And cold.. Got an omelette at the Denny's in Yucca Valley, then started heading home.
