A camping we will go....

After spending a couple of weeks at work with his head spinning, and being secretly very disappointed about not getting to go to AZ this weekend for a CIFCA race, Keith decided we needed to get out of town and go camping this weekend. So we searched, asked around and finally settled on a place to go. We rushed around on Thurs and headed out of town around 3, drove a little over 4 hours and arrived at our campsite at 7:30. After stopping and snacking along the way we decided to forgo dinner and set up camp. Sleeping the first night went okay, the kids were a little excited, but everyone settled down pretty quickly. It was cold though, so probably around midnight, Ty came to cuddle with me. Normal sleeping for us, but he wouldn't stay under the covers, so I didn't get much sleep.
We woke up and cooked a warm breakfast, settled up our camping fees, and headed down the road to find the beach.


After driving into Fort Bragg for some gas we headed back to Big River park for a walk to the ocean. The boys couldn't wait to get to the water, so they of course set off running.
Between the dogs, birds, water, sand and whatever else, Ty spent most the time smiling and say Oh, water! He loved it!
Cody spent a lot of the time drawing in the sand, this one kinda looks like a butterfly, but it was probably a racetrack.

This beach was surrounded by cliffs and coves like this. On top of the cliffs were beautiful houses, yep we are already planning our retirement.

The next favorite activity was throwing whatever we could into the water, mainly the stones on the beach. It was a little too cold to get our feet wet, so this was the next best thing.

We headed back to the car to get out the sand toys and settled into a nice spot so the boys could play, I read a little and Keith took a rest. After our beach adventure we headed back to camp for lunch. Then we settled into a nap, they had a long night before and a busy morning, so naps came easy that day. I settled into the Vanagon to read through the stack of books that I borrowed from the library, home design stuff (Surprised I know) and fell asleep for a short but much needed rest. After our naps we walked out of our camp and crossed Hwy 1 to the Van Damme beach area. In the mornings this is a semi-popular cove for the abalone divers. It's a rocky beach, so not real great for sandcastles. We hung out for a little while, throwing more rocks into the water.

Once we headed back to the campsite, we started our taco dinner and the boys played with their bubbles. Keith built a fire, then broke out the s'mores. Ty had to help, so they roasted marshmallows and he was so excited to eat it when it was ready. Shortly after Cody said, "I'm ready for bed, we've had a long day." So we went with it. It was nice and relaxing to read bedtime stories around the fire, and then they settled right into bed.
We woke up the next morning, but I'm pretty sure everyone was lacking sleep because we had two very grumpy boys on our hands. So we had some breakfast and packed up our campsite, then headed off to find another beach. We first stopped at the Mendocino Headlands to check out the views and watch them dive some more. It was a grumpy trail walk for Cody, but Ty was finally getting into a better mood.
It was beautiful all around, the ground was covered in these flowers.
We looked down and watched them dive in this cove, one of the many busy areas.

This is how they would get down there, yikes!

We drove further down the coast towards Russian Gulch, but instead of going to the state park we headed to Casper Beach instead. It was an awesome cove that was sandy and warm, with very few people. The boys were excited to get their toys out again, so we stayed for a while.
After some pouting about not getting the right bucket and shovel combination, we walked down to the water to play. It was warmer out, the winds were way down, so I decided that getting our feet wet would be fun. Cody had a blast, in and out, splashing around.

Ty was more reserved, "You want me to do what? In the cold water? You're nuts!"
But we got over it and he had a good time too.

After playing a while longer we headed on our way back up the coast. We stopped to eat our lunch at the Point Cabrilllo Lighthouse. More beautiful views and a mile round trip walk.

We thought the tree growth was interesting, constant winds causing the trees to grow sideways.

The light keepers house is now a B&B, no phones or TV's, just peace and beautiful views.

We headed home after stopping here, 4 hours back and sleeping boys most the way. We can't wait to go again and try out other camp spots.

Happy Mom's Day to everyone!