While in Ashland for the 4th Annual Ice Cream Social, Jay, Sue, our two Cornelii and I decided to go for a hike and take a ton of photos. Cornelius has been our mascot all summer long. Last year our Cookie Monster pinata made the trek around the country and this year we needed a new friend.
The legend of Cornelius starts with a Value Village purchase of a silver Millennium Edition Cornelius years ago. Jay’s adoption of Cornelius coincided with his annual pilgrimage to Burning Man so naturally Corny went along for the ride and ended up being the most popular Go Go Gorilla in Black Rock City. He’s damn cute in his space suit but the real appeal lies in his conversational skills. He likes bananas -“Houston, more bananas please”, desires freedom -“Get me outta this monkey suit” , and longs for home -“I miss the jungle”. With smooth lines like that, it’s obvious why he has made so many friends.
Thanks to the modern wonder of eBay I was able to track down a Cornelius of my own at the beginning of the year. It wasn’t the easiest thing to do. Apparently Cornelii are in high demand. There’s even a Cornelius in San Francisco with his own myspace page. Until I got to Jay’s place on the way to the social I had forgot that his gorilla rocks a silver suit while mine wears white. It made it easy to identify them once they tried to runaway and hop on ski lifts and such.
We took some photos while hanging out drinking some beer the night after the social; then the gang headed up to Mount Ashland to hike around and snap some more shots. There was an impromptu (solo) dance party and lots of wandering around as we waited for Mt. Shasta to become visible on the southern, California side of Mt. A. It was a great day and reminded me why I like Southern Oregon and Ashland so much. Hopefully we’ll be able to spend more time there in the near future. Cornelius already misses his long lost brother.
