A manly weekend vacation.
Went camping and to a concert over the weekend with my girlfriend and one of her friends (a guy and a second-degree black belt in some form of karate). She'd never been camping before but I had faith in her, and she made me proud.
I took some inspiration from articles on the Hall. The day before we left I marinated our steak (thin ribeyes, I don't fuck around when it comes to beef) in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and lots of chili powder, and prepared a rub of chili powder, crushed red pepper flakes, fresh crushed garlic, and kosher salt. The plan was to stick them right on the hot coals. We have a gas grill here (my dad doesn't want to deal with the hassle, and I can't talk him into getting a real grill) so I was excited to stick some meat over a real flame.
We left early in the morning from her house, picked up her friend, and went to pick up a few last minute things. Four hours later we got to the camp site, at which point the guy we were with started a roaring fire with flint and steel. This kind of reminded me of my days in scouting when all the troop leaders would struggle to get a fire going using all kinds of expensive processed fire starting products, and the two of us started a roaring fire with fucking flint and steel. A few hours of carrying gigantic logs and hatcheting them into pieces later and we had enough fuel for the next two days.
By then we had a nice fire going and it was getting to be dinner time. We didn't have a bed of coals to cook on, so I skewered the steaks onto spears and stuck them right in the fire using one of the logs as a shelf. They fell into the ashes a couple times, which gave them a nice seasoning. Then we ate them right off the spears. Holy shit! All three of us agreed it was one of the best meals we'd ever had, and definitely the best steak we'd ever had. Good flavor, good amount of heat, and falling apart.
The concert was Dave Matthews Band. Not what I would choose to go see but I wore my Iron Maiden t-shirt to make up for it. It was wall-to-wall people. We had lawn tickets. That was actually pretty fun because of all the people around. Between the drunks, stoners, and the crazy dancing around us it was pretty fucking amusing.
So I went to the bathroom and as I was wading through the crowd I heard someone yell "Iron Maiden!". I look over and these two really hot chicks are checking me out and giving me a real seductive smile. Besides them I had chicks rubbing and bumping up against me all night. They don't do that shit accidentally. This confirmed what I had known all along, nothing is manlier than wearing an Iron Maiden t-shirt, the media bullshit about women preferring skinny guys is a load of horse shit, women will always go for real men like me, and none of them can compare to my girlfriend.
Speaking of my girlfriend, I don't think there's a woman around for miles that I'd rather go camping with. That's a generalization, but suffice it to say that she is in no way one of those sissy girls who's afraid to get dirty. She wasn't afraid to blow the ashes off of her steak and take a big bite of it. That's a big fucking deal up here in NY.
Good getaway driver too. When we got to the park, the parking lots were pretty full, so she made our own parking spot by DRIVING THROUGH A FUCKING DITCH. Fucking awesome. The next guy who tried to do that and pull in next to us completely fucked up the bumper of his overpriced gas guzzler, and then got bitched out by the cop who didn't notice us doing the exact same thing. Everyone else there waited three hours on average to get out of the park, and she had us out of there in fifteen minutes. It was enough to excuse her previous encounters with snowbanks. It's like I'm dating my own "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong".
I know camping isn't a big deal for most around here, but I haven't been camping in years and it's the most fun I've had in a really long time. It's kind of funny, because when I'm surrounded by modern technology I always wish I had the next best thing, and when I'm out camping and got shit I enjoy myself more than ever.
UPDATE: The sweetheart has run off into the wilderness of the Nam. Good riddance.
I took some inspiration from articles on the Hall. The day before we left I marinated our steak (thin ribeyes, I don't fuck around when it comes to beef) in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and lots of chili powder, and prepared a rub of chili powder, crushed red pepper flakes, fresh crushed garlic, and kosher salt. The plan was to stick them right on the hot coals. We have a gas grill here (my dad doesn't want to deal with the hassle, and I can't talk him into getting a real grill) so I was excited to stick some meat over a real flame.
We left early in the morning from her house, picked up her friend, and went to pick up a few last minute things. Four hours later we got to the camp site, at which point the guy we were with started a roaring fire with flint and steel. This kind of reminded me of my days in scouting when all the troop leaders would struggle to get a fire going using all kinds of expensive processed fire starting products, and the two of us started a roaring fire with fucking flint and steel. A few hours of carrying gigantic logs and hatcheting them into pieces later and we had enough fuel for the next two days.
By then we had a nice fire going and it was getting to be dinner time. We didn't have a bed of coals to cook on, so I skewered the steaks onto spears and stuck them right in the fire using one of the logs as a shelf. They fell into the ashes a couple times, which gave them a nice seasoning. Then we ate them right off the spears. Holy shit! All three of us agreed it was one of the best meals we'd ever had, and definitely the best steak we'd ever had. Good flavor, good amount of heat, and falling apart.
The concert was Dave Matthews Band. Not what I would choose to go see but I wore my Iron Maiden t-shirt to make up for it. It was wall-to-wall people. We had lawn tickets. That was actually pretty fun because of all the people around. Between the drunks, stoners, and the crazy dancing around us it was pretty fucking amusing.
So I went to the bathroom and as I was wading through the crowd I heard someone yell "Iron Maiden!". I look over and these two really hot chicks are checking me out and giving me a real seductive smile. Besides them I had chicks rubbing and bumping up against me all night. They don't do that shit accidentally. This confirmed what I had known all along, nothing is manlier than wearing an Iron Maiden t-shirt, the media bullshit about women preferring skinny guys is a load of horse shit, women will always go for real men like me, and none of them can compare to my girlfriend.
Speaking of my girlfriend, I don't think there's a woman around for miles that I'd rather go camping with. That's a generalization, but suffice it to say that she is in no way one of those sissy girls who's afraid to get dirty. She wasn't afraid to blow the ashes off of her steak and take a big bite of it. That's a big fucking deal up here in NY.
Good getaway driver too. When we got to the park, the parking lots were pretty full, so she made our own parking spot by DRIVING THROUGH A FUCKING DITCH. Fucking awesome. The next guy who tried to do that and pull in next to us completely fucked up the bumper of his overpriced gas guzzler, and then got bitched out by the cop who didn't notice us doing the exact same thing. Everyone else there waited three hours on average to get out of the park, and she had us out of there in fifteen minutes. It was enough to excuse her previous encounters with snowbanks. It's like I'm dating my own "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong".
I know camping isn't a big deal for most around here, but I haven't been camping in years and it's the most fun I've had in a really long time. It's kind of funny, because when I'm surrounded by modern technology I always wish I had the next best thing, and when I'm out camping and got shit I enjoy myself more than ever.
UPDATE: The sweetheart has run off into the wilderness of the Nam. Good riddance.
posted by General Septem at 6/23/2008 08:19:00 PM
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