The end of this summer was a little bit tough for us, Kylan was finishing his internship and Lili started school so we made the difficult decision to be separated for almost 6 weeks. The girls and I came out to Stanford so Lili could start school and Kylan stayed in Utah to finish his internship. Halfway through those six weeks, Kylan flew out to spend a weekend with us and we decided to use that weekend to celebrate our 8-year anniversary. We embarked on a family camping adventure down in Big Sur.
It was magical.
It was magical.
I don't know what the name of this beach is, but it's about 45 minutes south of Carmel. We stopped here on our way down to the campsite for a quick break from driving. We've stopped at a number of beaches in the Big Sur area, and it's impossible to determine a favorite because they are all so beautiful. What you can't tell from this picture is that about 3 seconds after it was taken the wave building in the background crashed right on us and soaked all of our pants!
Kylan called in to reserve a campsite for us and was able to secure a prime spot. We were set back from the road, directly across from the playground, and just up the hill from the creek. It was perfect. The girls were really excited about camping and were very good helpers - setting up the tent, gathering firewood, and preparing our dutch oven dinner.
Camping in California is a good match for us. It was beautiful during the day so we were able to enjoy the stream behind our campsite, a little time at the playground and a walk through the campground, but it cooled down just enough to enjoy a campfire and snuggling in the sleeping bags.
The girls, and especially Serelle, were really brave playing in the stream. They had brought a doll to play with in the car and she became the center of a very fun game - throw the doll as far upstream as you can then see how she floats back down the river. It was a simple game, but it provided lots and lot of entertainment for all four of us!
We went "all in" and planned to have dutch oven for dinner, dessert and breakfast. This was pretty brave considering that I'd only used a dutch oven once before with pretty disappointing results. I made a chicken stew (just ok) with biscuits on top (amazing) for dinner, peach cobbler (really good) for dessert and a sausage, hash brown, egg concoction (pretty good) for breakfast. I had encouraging enough results to consider it an overall success, but still with lots of room for improvement!
We survived the night!
All four of us shared two sleeping bags zipped together so it was a more cuddly night than we typically enjoy, but it was pretty sweet to snuggle with the girls all night and when we woke up in the morning they were both so proud of themselves for camping.
Following such a successful campout, we are converted. I think we can be "campers". The hunt is on for our own camping gear.
On our way home we stopped for a couple of hours to enjoy some sunshine at one of our favorite Big Sur beaches - Julia Pfeiffer State Beach. It is stunning and a "must-see" for anyone visiting the area.
I sure love this family and couldn't think of a better way to celebrate 8 years of marriage than a family camping adventure...
...especially because it was followed by a delicious and romantic dinner for two at Chez Panisse!
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