Playin Hooky This morning my friend, Linda, and I decided to take a short trip to the Azalea Nature Preserve (click here) north of Eureka. It's just what is sounds like, a protected area with every possible kind of azalea, in addition to tons of other gorgeous flowers and plants. She told me it was a guided tour, and this little tiny red flag sorta popped up in my mind. I don't do well in groups like that, they're way too organized for me and I can never keep my mouth shut. I also tend to be a bit judgmental looking at what I call "the Prius driving, LL Bean wearing, walking stick carrying" yuppies that seem to always be at these kinds of places. I knew I was in trouble right away when the woman who was one of the guides started quizzing us on what kinds of trees were in the area. When Linda said "redwoods" in response, at first she was ignored, then the woman gently chided her by saying that redwoods didn't grow this close to the coast. Oh, boy, was I in the wrong place!! But that wasn't the end of the classroom portion part of this day. The other guide, who had driven up in HIS Prius, wearing his Teva sandals with wool socks, started in with his talk. He had a handful of flowers, and proceeded to tell us about every single one, in great detail. One woman asked about a columbine she had that was purple and he replied, quite loftily, that it was NOT a native species, that it was "ornamental". His tone was one of utter disgust, I mean, "ornamental", truly repugnant!! Finally, after nearly an hour of talk, we split into two groups since it was such a large gathering, and off we went. Linda and I pulled up the rear, and no sooner did we start up the trail, and we stopped. Our guide, the woman, began pointing out every flower in the immediate area, talked about the leaves, the stems, on and on an on. I had my camera and was taking all kinds of pix, but I was the only one. Everyone else had binoculars and notepads. Another woman's cell phone rang and she got the nastiest looks, as though she'd violated some major rule of the land. I was getting more than antsy, and when that happens, well, I get a bit mouthy. I asked Linda, none too quietly, "How long are we gonna be here, I thought this was a tour, not a freakin lecture?" More than few people heard me, and I realized I was not going to be a very popular group member. They were also giving me dirty looks, since my camera makes all kinds of different sounds as I change the settings. God forbid I should make any noise, after all, we were in a NATURE PRESERVE!! About this time, Linda, who's usually the model of patience was getting a bit bored as well. We saw an opening in the group, and decided to make a break for it. But, we were thwarted, at that very moment, they moved forward and we were BLOCKED!! Oh no, now what??? But, I saw an opening, there was another path, and we escaped!! We took off up the path, followed by the woman with the cell phone and we were FREE!!! It turned into a pleasant enough time, but Linda was afraid we'd circle around and run into the GROUP, so we took a different path and ended up back on the road. It took us right back down to the parking lot. We got in her car and left, made our way down to Eureka, where we walked along the boardwalk and had lunch. It was a far more pleasant way to spend the day, believe me. I admit that I'm more than a little impatient with a certain kind of person, that I don't like much organization, that I can be way too judgmental, but sometimes people become caricatures of themselves. It's then I get pretty silly, way too vocal (who, me?? she asks innocently!!), and just need to leave. Sometimes playin hooky is the best thing to do!! 5/24/08