This
past weekend, 18 of us went up on the VERY FOIST KFC. KFC was a thing I came up with when we were planning our Kwan Family Cruise. It has since become the motif for our family outings. It seems that the rule is: if the activity does not start with a C, and therefore does not fit in with KFC, we cannot do said activity. But luckily we were able to equate a Mammoth hiking trip to camping - See? C? Camping! Clever!
Anyway, it was a really fun time. Those who went included (deep breath): Razor Ramon, The Debster, Prisoner Tribbiani, Cat, MEG, Rionheart, Em, Agent J, K-mart, S-Dawg, R-man, Agent K, Charmin, Tony Toni Tone, Samantha Wu, Faux-hawk Ernie, Timotei, and yours truly. All of us packed together like sardines in a two bathroom townhouse; we slept whereever we could find floor space. Just about everyone went up Friday morning, but Timoeti and I had to work a half-day and left in the afternoon, in traffic, and didn't meet up with everyone till 10:00pm.When we arrived, we found everyone playing different kinds of games. We simply folded ourselves into the mix and joined the fun.
The
next morning, The Debster made us french toast and after several hours of trying to get everyone out of the townhouse, we departed for a hike. The plan was to hit two landmarks: The Devil's Post Pile and Rainbow Falls. After Razor Ramon bought us shuttle tickets to the hiking trail, we journeyed not more than 10 minutes to the first stop.The Devil's Post Pile
is a lavalic rock formation that's... er... rocky. It's got these cool, tall rock columns; almost like corduroy pants. Then there are a ton of rocks below with chipmunks that like to do the nasty. It's mating season; you can't blame them. We also hiked to the top of the columny rocks and found a pretty spectacular view of a giant hill with trees. And off to the left, a burned down charred forest.Then,
since the initial hike was so simple, we were primed for the 2 1/2 mile hike to Rainbow Falls. With a small group, the hike would have been a piece of shamuka. But we had Em in tow and we were concerned she needed much water and many breaks, so we stopped every few yards. But she was a trooper and trekked along really well. Never did I hear her complain. The hike was entirely on a sandy road, so that meant dust kicked up with every step. By the time we were able to blow our noses in Kleenex, I swear an entire beach fell out of our nostrils; like sand through an hourglass, so are the mucus of our lives.
Our entire hike lasted 4 hours total. I don't remember it really being that long, but it was. And we happened to hike during the hottest part of the day. There was shade scattered throughout, but when we got to charred Fern Gully, there was not an escape from the sun in sight. But we marched on. We got to Rainbow Falls and took pictures galore. It's a giant waterfall with an everlasting rainbow stretching across it. It's quite beautiful. We did take our time enjoying the area, but we were starving and desperately wanted to head back.
Razor Ramon and The Debster had made some sandwiches for us and we scarfed them down back at the car.
With
so many people back at the house and only two bathrooms, patience became a virtue. There was hot water for two people at a time, so I didn't get to take a shower until about 5 hours after the hike. My neck was caked in sand and dirt and what had to be 40% horse manure. But I had my hot water.We left the following day. Car rides go quickly when you have a DVD player in the car. But all in all, it was a damn fun time. I love spending time with the family. We really know how to occupy time with games galore. This KFC was definitely a huge hit, even though it was so short, but we are already busy planning the next one: Kwan Family Chill and Kwan Family Casino. I'd better get cracking on some matching shirts!
Finger-licking good times,
Ricky
