things i learned from camping. bear grylls, watch out!

1. it takes very little time to get used to not having a cell phone or blackberry.

2. headlamps, while very dorky looking, are very handy tools.

3. on any given night, through all the smog, the typical angeleno will look up and see 5, maybe 10, stars. there are actually many, many more stars in the sky.

4. the largest tree in the world is named general sherman and lives in the sequoia national park. it is not the tallest nor the widest but somehow still qualifies as the largest (by volume). also apparently it is dead at the top so it doesn't grow taller but can still grow wider. i think the tree has some kind of magical properties or there is some kind of funny math going on.

5. caves are kind of weird. cave tour guides are weirder.

6. bears like to eat brats and drink diet coke and beer (bud light). bears do not like to eat iceberg lettuce and sprite. i know this because a bear brushed by the side of my tent and whispered thank you after devouring the above remnants from our cooler. ok, not really, but a bear did really brush by the side of my tent. at that moment, i was reminded of the old adage, you don't have to outrun the bear, you just have to outrun your slowest friend because i already had my shoes ready to go and one of said slow friends was still snoring inside the tent.

7. not all of camping is "roughing it." sometimes camping can consist of sitting at the lodge eating cheetohs and ice cream sandwiches.

Mood Music

If playlists were based on current mood, this would be mine:

Looking For A New Job - Fat Prop
Shut Up - Black Eyed Peas
I'm So Confused - Jonathan Richman
Where Am I Going - Dusty Sprinfield
Shhh - Chumbawamba
It's Your Birthday and You're Still Stupid - Bob Lyons
Because I'm Awesome - The Dollyrots
Let's Get Out Of This Country - Camera Obscura
The Weekend - The Weekend
But Seriously, Folks - Joe Walsh

For forearms

I have a sneaking suspicion that Popeye didn't get those crazy muscle-y forearms from eating spinach alone. I am skeptical because I went rock climbing the other day and my forearms were burning. Burning! I could feel my forearms growing bigger as I pulled my post-holiday weight enhanced body up with each rock hold. When I was done, I swear there was a noticeable increase in the size of each forearm. And that was due to just one night for about an hour. Popeye was a sailor and I'm sure he had to climb up and down as well as lift heavy things like anchors all day long.

Also, spinach is supposed to be a great source of iron. But I looked up the nutritional content and as it turns out, the iron in spinach is poorly absorbed by the body unless it is consumed with calcium. And although iron is also purportedly high in calcium, the oxalate content in spinach binds with said calcium decreasing its absorption! (another fun fact - oxalate is one of a number of factors that contribute to gout and kidney stones)* So by eating spinach, Popeye was not really receiving much iron or calcium at all. He was, however, getting a fair dose of vitamin A, which means Popeye should have had great vision, but instead he constantly had one squinty eye. "I yam what I yam" = what a scam!!

*All spinach facts taken from Wikipedia. If they are inaccurate, I absolve myself from blame.

Editor's note: this entry was originally supposed to be about the awesomeness of rock climbing and scaling up walls like a monkey but somehow, I got sidetracked by the whole Popeye/spinach trickery. Not quite as awesome.