“I wanted my experience to be special, and this weed would make it so.”

Our friend had one of these geodesic dome houses out in the desert, so I wanted to time my high to coincide with me walking through the threshold of his tribal looking archway, and past the indoor wind chime fixture to come upon the fractal-like interior of his native american themed living room. Which is to say, I wanted it to be special, and this weed would make it so.

Instead, it hit me a bit sooner than expected—just as my wife pulled into a nearby Chevron station. As she was checking out, I remained in the car. I soon became entranced at watching one man clean his front windshield with what appeared to be a broken squeegee. There was no rhyme or reason to his cleaning technique. It was all over the place, with almost no uniformity or reason. 

Typically, this would have been a full-frontal attack on my OCD, but I just got wrapped up in the chaos of the moment, like it was a warm knitted blanket. It was a visual representation of what the Japanese call Wabi Sabi. The acceptance of imperfection was real here. As was the high. It just totally altered my concept of reality in the most absurdist of fashions.

The quick onset and this high’s almost instant capacity to turn the mundane into an avalanche of profundity really set this edible apart for me. The peak experience came about an hour into the session where I simply laid on a thick, multi-patterned rug amidst what seemed like a hundred throw pillows as I stared through the geodesic window that faced a ruby-red sky. The entire scene was very Ralph Lauren with a little Frank Zappa throw in.

The only thing I knew for sure was that these Strawberry Lemonade Sour Gummies, despite being a bonafide tasty snack, really just heightened the experience of being out in the desert in the futuristic yurt home of a guy I knew in college who may or may not have turned into a cult leader.

“These ultimately injected a feeling of gratitude into everything I did.”

When I learned that it was only a rental, I somehow felt safer (and sadder) staying there. It seemed more like a lair than a home is all. But at any rate, if you can find yourself in a funky space and chow down on a couple of these Strawberry Lemonade bad boys, you are bound to at least feel a tinge of inspiration and awe come your way.

It made conversations a little deeper, the natural surroundings a bit more vibrant, and it ultimately injected a feeling of gratitude into everything I did. This sour offering from Highatus instilled a sense of appreciation, first and foremost, for the truly strange locale, and then for the even stranger company we kept that weekend.

The high came on like if it were an antidote for ungratefulness, and I found myself taking nothing for granted. So in that sense I was really able to dial myself into the present and extract a fair amount of wonder from the rudimentary right down to the truly bizarre. I wanted to be all-in on any adventure that came my way, and that felt pretty freeing at times. 

Definitely not a shut-in or couch-locked sort of buzz, if it’s an experience with nature you’re after, you would be well served with these sour strawberry and citrus flavored gummies. And if it’s an experience with yourself you’re chasing, you may be better served yet.