Animal-Animal
"Warthog!"
"Mahi Mahi!" came the quickly shouted reply. I
barely had time to bellow out "Platypus!" before
being clobbered with a rolled-up newspaper.
To an outsider, the scene must have resembled a
bizarre zoological auction. But in reality, it was
a group of creative campers having some fireside
fun on another Total Escape adventure.
Most of the 21 "Escapees" on this trip to
Guadalupe Canyon joined in the "Animal-Animal" game
of tag, in which the player whose animal name was
called had to shout out another animal name before
being tagged "It." Similarly, most of the campers
joined the off-road caravan to see the nearby
petroglyphs
earlier that day. Despite several vehicles getting
stuck in the soft sand, the expedition to see
10,000-year-old rock etchings proved to be an
archeologist's and rock climber's delight.
A hike up Guadalupe Canyon took us past giant
boulders and monoliths streaked with veins of
quartz. Palm trees, reeds and marsh grass lined the
rock-strewn path of the creek. Reaching a pair of
inviting pools fed by a waterfall, some of us
stripped down and braved the bracing water for a
refreshing cool-down after the strenuous hike.
But as beautiful as the scenery is in this
little-known oasis of Baja California, and as
exciting the off-roading and hiking can be, what
makes these trips such memorable experiences is the
chemistry between the people that Total Escape
brings together. Something about the destinations,
the company's culture, the attitude of Total
Escape's founder—something
indefinable—creates a perfect mix of
personalities, backgrounds, even ethnicities, on
every trip. The result is what keeps me coming back
on these trips: a long weekend full of camaraderie,
laughter and all-around good times. Who could
imagine having so much fun yelling out
"armadillo!"?
©2003 Michael
Strickland ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED
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