Paint and Pixels

Backpacking- just like the good ole days!

This last weekend, my Dad and I decided to attempt to venture to our long-time favorite backpacking destination- the remote Anglemyer Lake. While backpacking has always been fun in itself, we decided to add to our adventure by bringing Rocket along. I knew that the 3 to 4 mile hike up the mountain to the lake would be a challenge for Rocket (and possibly me as well), but I never doubted that he would be able to make it. This little boy has enough bottled up energy to make it up any mountain and back. However, the challenge is a matter of convincing him that it is in his best interest to do so. We figured out that the key to getting Rocket up the mountain was to provide a constant stream of questions regarding Power Rangers, Ninja Turtles, and Spider Man that he could readily answer while hiking. So we made it. Then it rained... and rained... and rained. And the camping stove didn’t work, which meant we spent the weekend huddled inside a soggy tent with nothing to eat except Ritz crackers and pudding. I found the circumstances to be pretty disappointing. But did any of that discourage Rocket? No. None of that bothered him at all. Is it because he is just such an easy going guy that things like that don’t seem to bother him? No. It’s because he doesn’t know what things he should get mad about and which things he shouldn’t. He got mad, angry and frustrated, yes he did plenty of that; just about the WRONG things.
One thing that really got to Rocket was a little unidentified personality disorder that my dad has. We’ve know about it for a while, but it seems to present itself more often when we’re camping. You see, my dad has a sort of “tick”, where whenever the words “blue sky” or “smoke” are mentioned, he has an involuntary uncontrollable reaction that causes him to spontaneously begin singing a Willy Nelson song. My family has always been pretty sensitive and tolerant of his condition, but Rocket, on the other hand, wasn’t as understanding and became very very angry with my dad’s behavior.
Another thing that ticked Rocket off was being asked the same question twice. It made him feel as if we hadn’t listened to his answer the first time. For example, we accidentally asked him what his favorite Power Ranger was twice. In reality we knew it was the red ranger, but we just wanted to hear him tell us one more time. Instead, though, we heard him rant and rave about how we should already know that.
The third (but certainly not final) thing that sent rocket “over the edge” was being asked to look at the view. It was a beautiful view- one of the prettiest I’ve ever seen. Who wouldn’t want to look at it? But apparently Rocket thinks that “look at the view” means “go jump off that cliff”, and being asked to do that was out of the question for him and really ticket him off. He thought we were literally trying to send him over the edge, and he made it clear that he did not want to die. In fact, he threatened to eat ALL of the Ritz crackers to get revenge, which was a big deal since it was one of the only edible things we had. After Dad and I finished looking at the view, Rocket was missing. We eventually found him hiding in some bushes munching on the crackers… and scowling.
All in all, everyone had a few complaints about the trip. I was mad because it rained constantly and because we couldn’t cook some of the tastiest fish on earth. Rocket was unhappy because he hates Willy Nelson, shouldn’t have to repeat himself, and doesn’t want to die. How about you Dad? Did you have a good time??? Oh and... how was my use of the word "literal"???