Alison Fyhrie

Q: When was the last time you stayed awake for 24 hours?
A: I had recently moved to New York City, and life in the concrete jungle had left me hungry for some quality nature time.  I convinced some friends to join me on an excursion to the Catskills for some camping. I found a campsite, organized transportation, and printed some directions from MapQuest. “Well look at you, Fyhrie,” I thought to myself, smugly. “You’re a damn fine leader.” (haughty laugh, smirky face)….

Later that night, our car left Manhattan, accidentally re-entered Manhattan, again left Manhattan, again re-entered Manhattan, and then at long last, exited Manhattan and finally hit the highway towards upstate.  A trip that was supposed to take 3 hours wound up turning into something closer to 7 hours.  “Note to self… drinking wine, while in the passenger seat, in charge of dictating MapQuest directions, is not only illegal, but also foolhardy,” I think to myself, daily, in reference to that fateful trip. (shaking of head, gnashing of teeth)….

We arrived at the campground very, very late… and decided that just because it was almost sunrise, we were not going to be deterred from having a good time. We started blaring ‘Sexy Back’ (the song du jour at that time) on an iPod, shotgunning beers, and dancing.  When we did finally turn in to the tent to retire, it was excruciating cold.  Turns out the mountains are about 30 degrees colder than the city. During the night, fearing gangrene, I begged a lady friend of mine to let me cuddle with her, in a non-sexual fashion.. I also (for reasons that seemed logical in the middle of the night) used a pair of my blue jeans as a blanket.  I was that desperate. I did not sleep a wink.

I learned so many valuable lessons that night… about the importance of research, preparation…. but most importantly — I learned that blue jeans keep you warmer when they are actually worn on your body, rather than being casually draped on top your legs, awkwardly.

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