I woke up last Friday with my left eye looking beet red. It looked like half my face was stoned. Since I didn’t wake and half bake that morning, I knew something was amiss. I spent the morning looking up symptoms of pink eye and was horrified by these pictures of irritated eyes oozing elmer’s glue. Good God.  I spent the next couple hours washing my hands, burning my pillow sheets and debating whether or not to quarantine myself, fearing of spreading an epidemic. My pal Evan B Harris was booked to play a show at the Columbia Gorge Winery that weekend, which included some camping, so I decided to throw caution to the wind, stock up on some hand sanitizer and head to the hills. I just had to be careful not to poke other people in the eyes and to be wary of unprotected butterfly kissing. Glad I ended up going because the pink eye ended up being nothing but a temporary allergic reaction that just made me look creepy and contagious for a day or two. 

The winery was beautifully located amongst sweeping hills and had an impressive view of Mt Hood. It was an amazing place to walk around and camping was pretty fun during the daytime… but seriously faltered when the sun went down. There ended up being no bonfire for some god forsaken reason so everyone just sat around in the dark and listened to music. It’s a good thing the only food I brought were smores and bratwursts to cook over a non-existent fire. Needless to say, my tent echoed with the throngs of an empty and angry stomach that night. At least the marshmallows made a comfy pillow… a pillow of disappointment and unfulfilled tastiness. But all things considered, it was a good escape out of the city.