4th of July Weekend, Pt. 1

Phew! I just got back from my trip this morning. What a crazy weekend up there. It was pretty packed with tourists but it is such a small town so it's hard to blend in. I still couldn't get my long lens out without drawing attention to myself. It is so obtrusive and hard to conceal. I drove in A LOT of circles and thought for certain people could tell I was spying on someone. I get really paranoid when I'm up there. For good reason, I suppose. I only bring cash and rarely, if ever interact with anyone for any reason. I always get gas before getting there or after leaving. I brought plenty of energy bars with me for food but I did needed coffee for the overnights so I stopped into this tiny coffee shop there. I started to wonder if he ever goes in there because it's right across the street. Then, I discovered this empty house right across from his condo with a circular drive that has part of it hidden fromthe street and a little small brush that I could get into and be concealed. It's the perfect view of his balcony but could not see much inside other than lights going on and going off throughout the evenings. I just crawled up in there the first evening I stayed and stayedput the whole night until very early morning. It was so scary when it was dark. Silent and pitch black. I didn't use a light because I did not want todraw attention to the fact I was hiding in the woods at night. Oh, and I couldn't get cell phone reception so there was no point in trying to use my phone either. I just laid there for a long time checking through the telephoto lens here and there to be sure I wasn't missing something. It was quiet for a long time. I was restless a lot. The sound of snapping branches woke me up at one point out of a half sleep and scared me to death. I was literally shaking because it sounded like something or someone coming up the hill towards me. I tried to adjust my eyes to see better but it was still so pitch dark. Myeye sight is really good but I coud not see one damn thing - not even an outline of the trees around me. Then, I refocused my eyes only to see tiny bright eyes starting at me from all around me. I laid in my position perfectly still for a long long time. I couldn't tell how many there were but maybe half a dozen, if I had to guess. They were all blinking and just starting at me! Then, a few of the pairs of eyes disappear and turn into these flashes of little white stripes where the eyes were. They looked fluffy to me and I could finally see that they were little baby skunks! Knowing that made me even more anxious but I stayed put. What if I was right int heir den or something? What if the mama came back and attacked me?! I remember thinking that this is one of those momentsthat I swear I'll remember for years. I stayed in the same spot for most of the night but peed a few times off in the back near the car. At one pointI tried to venture off near the ocean foot but almost stepped right off a cliff. I won't do that again. I will draw out a map of the layout so you can get a sense of where I was in relation to the highway, my dad's house, and the ocean. I'll post more later once I've gotten some rest and processed the film...