Camping is one of those little luxuries that everybody should try at least once. I started my camping career pretty late in life. It was about 10 years ago and my friend invited me and Scout to spend a long weekend in Bodega Bay. Having never camped, I brought a borrowed tent and an additional (borrowed) sleeping bag.
Camping: evoking memories of singalongs by the campfire, s'mores and the woods, waking up and looking grungy (and liking it!)
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| This looks like a house. Seriously. There's a side table. :/ |
Glamping: real beds, a couch, a heater and something resembling a living room under something resembling a gigantic tent
I've done my share of tent camping. I'm proud to say I've learned to cook outdoors (thanks to my friend inviting me to many camping trips and cooking alongside an amazing chef), pitch a tent (albeit with help) and build an effective campfire (thanks YouTube!).
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| Our (tent) cabin in the woods |
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| The beds were comfy! |
A while back, I went to the Big Basin Redwoods Campgrounds in the Santa Cruz Mountains with my daughter Scout and our friends Emma and Taylor. It was a long ride but worth every foresty minute. As the crow flies, it's about 40 minutes outside of San Jose...but as the car rides 25 miles per hour around windy mountain passes and blinding sunlight, it felt like 2 hours away from creation! It was one of the only times I've felt nauseous driving. Like a small child, when I got to the campsite, I was cranky, hungry... and needed a nap. Luckily, I was met with a tent cabin. A no frills wooden structure with 2 queen beds and a wood burning heater. Emma and Taylor had arrived before Scout and I did so they had set up a lot of the standard camping things.
This left us time to do other things like cook great food and hike. This bloggess did NOT go on a hike with her friends and offspring. I stayed behind and cleaned camp. And read Gone, Girl. And napped. And made a sandwich. And napped.
Oh.. and I scared away a big crow that was trying to attack our food. When it flew towards me, I ran away.
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| C O O K I E!!! |
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| Camp oven! |
Lizzie brought her trusty camp oven. It's an amazing metal box that goes over the camp stove. The stove heats the oven and you bake things as you would at home. We had biscuits for breakfast and dinner and she made a huge, warm cookie that we had for dessert by the fire. It was fabulous. It broke the monotony of the smores that most people enjoy (we had them on another night).
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| New Polaroid pictures are teeny tiny! |
Camping is always about relaxing in the quiet, having fun and enjoying the company of friends and family WITHOUT smartphone interruption. It was hard to not have pictures to share at the very moment things happened, but we survived. Taylor brought a Polaroid camera. Yes... they're back! We were able to take pictures of us and give them to the Camp Host next door as a Thank You for being so sweet to us over our stay.
Our pictures are few but the memories are abundant! Take a camping trip nearby! The library has some fantastic books to help you plan your outdoor adventure.
Outdoor adventure is...outdoors!
Do you have any camping tips or questions about our trip? Leave them in the comments below.
xoxo
The Bloggess
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| The picture is blurry, but the food was fantastic! |
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| Trees. Awesome. Smell. Good. |
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| Scout on a log. Over a bog. Being weird. |
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| A pretty waterfall on the hike |
I am totally jealous. No time to camp lately and miss it so much. This is the best of "roughing it, easy". Thanks for sharing this excellent campsite. Happy camper rules!
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