Nevada City: The Disneyland of the New Millenium

At first I was a bit scared to write about my past weekend in Nevada City, CA. As I don't want it to be overrun by extreme athletes, drunks and masochists. Then I realized how many people actually read this, and most of them were with me this past weekend, so I think the residents of Nevada City, Grass Valley and the other outlying areas of Nevada County, CA nestled in the Sierra foothills can rest easy.

My weekend officially started as I hopped in my friend KM's honda, that we like to call the Blue Lobster. The reason for this escapes me at this moment. KM and I were joined by her boyfriend DK and our friend PSAB. I should write a whole posting about PSAB sometime as he is w/o a doubt the quip master of all the world. He makes me laugh like no other.

Once we left El Cerrito. Don't ask, that's where we got picked up. Something about KM and DK's love for all things East Bay. Traffic on 80 wasn't great. But it was better than I've seen and we made decent time. That is until we hit In 'n' Out, the Wine and Spirits store of Vacaville and Walmart. At the wine and spirits store we bought a handle of Vodka, and various mixers. From there it was off to Wal-Mart to get KM some kind of tester thingy that tells her if she should eat fruit snacks, so she doesn't die. After DK showed off his impeccable parking abilities, which forced a parking security guard into a game of chicken, which the parking lot attendant lost I ventured into the behemoth store that we have Sam Walton to thank. Did I have to buy anything? Nope. Did I? Yes. 5 coozies featuring different logos and pictures. But what was my main goal of entering this store? That's easy. Drinking alcohol illegaly in front of and under the noses of every Walmart customer and employee. Mission Accomplished. Thank you to the manufacturer's of In 'n' Out's' white and red palm tree beverage cup.

From there it tends to get blurry as over the next 1.5 to 2 hours. KM, PSAB, and myself drank vodka. By the time we reached the Ralph's grocery store where we were to meet SZ we had drank half the handle. The ride up was characterized mostly by us singling along loudly to the likes of ToTo, Elton John, Fischerspooner, Franz Ferdinand, Air among others. We headed into the Grocery Store, and that's where I realized I may have overserved KM. She was talking a mile a minute and running into things. As we waited for SZ. I thought there might be a good chance we get in a fight with the locals as she was getting a little mouthy. SZ showed up and we were off to ST's Dad's house. And the weekend truly started.

The rest of the night was characterized by many a round of Weltball. I'd love to go into the rules of this fabulous game however, we haven't patened it yet. So until then it's a secret. I can tell you these little tidbits though:
a) It involves ping pong balls and paddles
b) It is highly addictive in a scratching yourself with a compass sort of way
c) It is called "Tits o'Fire" in Seattle.

That's all for now I'm sure I'll delve into more details in the future. If anyone is interested I will be introducing this game to the fine people of the Central Oregon Coast this weekend. Can't wait. It's always interesting to find out which of your friends embrace this game and which ones are compltetly horrified by it. I think this is a great judgement of character or stupidity. Maybe both.

The next day with temps heading to the mid 90s we headed for a semi-nude beach along the South Fork of the Yuba River. I say semi-nude because there were a bunch of nude people and 11 of us who weren't. And of the nudies, there were upwards of 12 or 14 dudes, and three girls(one of which was covering her boobs the whole time, so it's hard for me to count that). The dudes ranged anywhere in age from 25 to 176(I'm not joking, one guy had a cane and fanny pack and the skin of a rhino and looked like Robert E. Lee. I wouldn't be suprised if he had been panning for gold in those hills since the mid 19th century). The river was amazingly refreshing and absolutely beautiful. After a few hours we headed back to the party compound for some rounds of Extreme Bocce Ball. A much better version of that old Italian Man game which has taken over this country in the past few years. This version is characterized by a wheelbarrow full of beer, an ever-changing course, exploding dry-ice bombs, wearing other people's underwear, talking in British accents, calling a lot people douchebag or buttface, the ever-growing chance of exploding a propane tank with a bocceball, beerbitches, no clear winner and more dry-ice bombs. Obviously a very fun game.

The rest of the night was filled with a ton of awesome grilled food and overcooked asparagus, really horrible Karaoke, save for PSAB who saved the day again with his wonderful Modest Mouse and Radiohead renditions, Bongos, more Weltball and more Dry Ice Bombs.

Sunday, we had a quick very nice brunch at ST's mom's house and then were off back to the city. I spent the rest of the day recuperating and watching an awesome Cubs - Cardinals game.

I'd like to give a shout-out to the Oakland A's who have come back a long way to be tied for first for the Wild Card with the Twinkies.

'til next time

Currently Listening To: Big Sur by the Thrills