This. Weekend. Was. Awesome! Derrick's boss is on vacation, so he actually had the whole weekend off. So, after seeing some pretty pictures posted by classmates that went on a trip last week, I decided at the last minute to check on hiking at Quartz Mountain way out in southwest OK. I wanted to camp, but considering I have absolutely zero winter camping gear and not too much money with which to buy it right now, I found instead that the lodge there has pretty damn cheap rates in the winter. Score!
We set out Saturday with a mind to go through Chickasha to see Mom, but she was gone so we just ate Roy's instead. For those of you not from Chickasha...my god. Roy's is the shiz. Lots of people go to Jake's Rib when they're in Chickentown--its bigger, fancier (not fancy mind you, it is Chickasha after all), and you get a SHIT ton of food. But, it is nothing compared to little Roy's over on East side. My poor African, when we were getting out of the car, assumed it would be like most of the small towns we visit on our weekend trips and said "Wanna bet there won't be any black people in there besides me?" I had to say, oh hon, this place is owned by a black family and its on the black side of town. Chickasha has plenty of African-Americans, we just (sadly) are very segregated and pretty much all of them live east of 4th street. It has to be interesting coming from a place where there are pretty much no whites and then moving to Oklahoma. Anyway, lunch was delicious, he loved it, they were very sweet to us as always, and good times were had. We even had enough to pack for a hiking snack later that day, as seen here:
Then, on to Quartz Mountain! I took the scenic route through Anadarko, showing him how depressing that town is, got to see Gotebo and teach him how to say it with the correct Okie accent, then past that to areas of the state I've never been. The giant town of Hobart was fun, with its big time stores like Sonic and the like. Then we started to see actual mountains! I didn't realize these were part of the Wichita mountain range, that I'm so used to climbing down in Lawton. 550 million years old! That's why they're not so tall, the Rocky Mountains are only 70 million years old--lots less erosion time. Geology!
Anyway, we were very pleased by the scenery, and drove through admiring everything before checking into our adorable hotel room. Second story balcony overlooking the lake! Rustic wood bedframe! Super comfy down comforter and pillows! HOT TUB! Indoor pool! Fireplace in the lobby! We were smitten. We will be back to stay more than one night, fo sho.
So, off we went to our first trail, where we hiked our first mountain straight up to the top. It kicked our ass, but I was proud of myself for my chunky ass keeping pace with his skinny ass.
After we found a group of deer, ate our Roy's snack, and took a walk along the beach, where we noticed that the fish kill warning was very true. There has been a large algae bloom killing off large numbers of them. Derrick was sad that they weren't getting eaten. Then, when we were set to walk out on the dock, what did we notice but a giganto catfish floating a bit offshore! So, he decided we needed to make steps and go "catch" it. Done.
We went back to the hotel, and had an amazing dinner with drinks in front of the fireplace. The staff thought we were a little strange for wanting to eat at the coffee table by the fire, but they found Derrick pretty hilarious and humored us. We talked past, present, and future, and relaxed for a time. Then went, rather tipsy and far too full, to swim in the indoor heated pool and lounge in the hot tub. Despite the inevitable nausea, it still was relaxing and felt great.
The next day we had a great breakfast at the hotel (thanks to our server for not charging us for half the shit we ordered and then offering us more for free--dude got a great tip), made a bacon sandwich for another hiking snack, and checked out. Then we went back to the beach and climbed the rocks there and sat watching the waves, the birds, and the sun until we were about ready to nap. Said bye to our poor catfish that was still sitting untouched on the beach (those are the most well fed birds ever). Then went and climbed Baldy Point. It was a bit scarier than the other mountain; the rocks were much bigger and a lot of them were wet from runoff. But, it was beautiful, and we stumbled upon a geocache! It was pretty awesome to read through the logbook, look through the container and choose what to take (D took a little toy skateboard), and then look through our bag for what to leave (an emergency blanket from Mom--D included a lil note that said "Stay warm! <3 Lynsie and Derrick, thanks Malea!"). We've decided to look more into geocaching, we could do it easily on our weekend trips. When we had almost reached the summit of ole Baldy Derrick stumbled and put his hand right onto a cactus. It hurt my stomach to see all those gigantic thorns coming out of his hand. I think if it would have been me I would have looked at my hand and immediately puked.
Then we headed back home and Mom made us dinner and watched part of a Rupaul's Dragrace marathon with us. Good times, he wasn't even scared away by the plethora of cats surrounding him. Or the barky pushy little jerk dogs. Ha!
Then back home to rent and watch Dredd, and pass out early with my muscles already getting sore from hiking 2 mountains.
I added a couple new sections to my "Life" section over there. Since we go hiking so much I like to remember the last place we went. And, I'm constantly trying to learn new words--especially in Ewe, Derrick's first language. But I also occasionally learn some Mandarin from Hongwei or Nepali from Arjun, or even some Ga or Twi--two other Ghanaian languages that D knows fairly well. It helps to write out the things I learn, otherwise they'll just slip away from me. So, the last, that amuses me, is the word for flipflops--chale wote (pronounced like cha-lay woh-tay). Chale is a word people call each other, like bro or man. Wote means let's go. So, its literally "man, let's go!" Which is an awesome word for flipflops. My other favorite is mede ku ku (pronounced like muh duh kookoo), which is literally kind of like "I beg you" but really just means please. Say it. Its fun.
Life is amazing. Really. Beyond just my life with D and my family and friends, I feel really good about work and school for the first time in months. I was going back and forth trying to decide if I actually have the passion I really need to do this for a living and to finish my thesis, and I've realized that it doesn't matter. I want to try to see this PhD through to the end, but I don't feel trapped into it anymore. I felt for a time that I had committed to this and I would foolish if I needed or wanted to quit. Now, it is my curiosity driving me forward. Can I do this? Will my project be fruitful? It is just my wonder keeping me in it, which is awesome. It is no longer the thought of what anyone will think of me if I fail. Because even if I do, people will still love me, I won't be any less smart, and my life will still be amazing. I don't need a lot of money or prestige, but if I get it, hey! That'll be awesome! If not, Derrick and I can still go hiking and still go have a nice dinner with my mom. And I'll be fine.
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