Camping and Growing Old

Happy Memorial Day!

Last weekend a small group of us went hiking and camping up north near Oguz. We camped near a little vacation place along a stream at the base of the mountains. Charlie attempted to take a group of five us on a day hike up to the top of one of the mountains, but we took the wrong ridge and didn’t even come close. We climbed up some pretty steep stuff, so on the way back down we could literally slide on the loose leaves and mud (it poured for an hour each night) which was really fun. It was a really fun weekend minus the rain (we had to buy big tarps to cover us and sleep on) and a ton of ants found our campsite and decided to hang out with us.

It was a pretty low key week in Lankaran after that. One of my buddies loaned me ‘Flight of the Conchords’ DVDs, so we watched that all week. Really funny and weird stuff. We have had sunny days with temperatures in the mid-80’s, so it has been great. A group of friends came down this past weekend for my birthday, so that was fun. We made a massive pot of Mac&Cheese from my supply from my parents for dinner Friday and grilled out beef kabobs on my bday. The weekend was filled with a lot of ladder golf and general stupidity. It was a good way to welcome my 32^nd year to town!

Now I’m just at home relaxing and trying to recover from a couple of late nights. I see a nap in my hammock in my immediate future.

In my last news I have a new addiction. Rikki George lent me the complete ‘Invader Zim’ cartoon collection. It was a Nickelodeon cartoon for three years around 2001 and is freakin hilarious. It’s basically just a bunch of yelling and screaming and I can’t stop watching it or talking like the main characters. I’m not sure if I’m going insane from being gone from the US for almost two years now, turning 31, or if its just the next step in my fun life…

Pictures are of: the gang cooking hot dogs, me, Charlie and Bethany, Charlie preparing to lead out expedition, Magda and Ina with water balloons, Ben and me cutting up the 16 pounds of meat for kabobs, Rikki George presenting me with my cake she and Bethany made, Tom and me after our cake food fight, and me, Joyce, and Bethany