Blog: Camping 2012
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Camping 2012 - Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Another entry late by a month. I really need to get on top of blogging about things right after they happen. I tend to take care of things in a LIFO manner, and when too many new things come up, the older things get buried. Hence I still have a bunch of Yelp reviews to write for Oahu.
So from the 28-30th of September, I was down in Central California with the wifey, Kenny and Raymond on our de facto annual camping trip. We camped at Montana de Oro State Park in Los Osos and visited Morro Bay during the day. The location was ideal because it's roughly halfway between the SoCal and NorCal folks. Bao, Minh and Christine were supposed to join us, but they bailed at the last minute to do house shopping. At least Minh and Christine were nice enough to hand off a ton of food and supplies to Raymond, who brought them up from SoCal.
So the three of us NorCal people carpooled down in Kenny's car early Friday afternoon. We grabbed lunch at Vito's Famous Pizza (meh) in Sunnyvale, stopped at an archery shop in Gilroy for Kenny to scope out prices, then continued the rest of the way to the campgrounds. The total drive took about 4 hours and traffic was light.
When we got to the campground, we scoped out sites (they're available on a first come, first serve basis) and decided on one that was flat, spacious and isolated - pretty much perfect. Being a Friday and not during peak season, fewer than half of the sites were occupied when we arrived. Priscilla and I set up our tent while Kenny bought us some firewood, we walked to Spooner's Cove nearby, walked back to camp when it started getting dark, and waited.
Meanwhile, Raymond had gotten a late start up from LA (understandable, since he had to pick up gear from Minh), had been stuck for a couple hours in LA traffic, and still had a ways to go. Unfortunately he had Minh's tent and all the food, so there wasn't much the rest of us were able to do while we waited. He finally arrived around 9pm, and we all worked to prepare chicken foil wraps and steak and pitched the large tent that Raymond and Kenny would be sharing. We ate until we were stuffed, Kenny brought out Bourbon for us to try, Raymond got humorously tipsy, and we all went to bed. Priscilla and I were extremely comfortable, since we had new sleeping pads that I got from Amazon (having learned my lesson from being very uncomfortable the last time we went camping). But Priscilla was cold, since her sleeping bag is old and thin.
We got better at starting campfires compared to the last time we went camping, since this time Kenny knew to use more kindling. He brought an axe to split firewood, and Priscilla somehow had the best wood splitting technique of us all. After a steak and egg breakfast in the morning, we drove over to Morro Bay and went to Rock Kayak where we rented two doubles. We weren't allowed out of the bay, so we just paddled around looking at boats and sea lions, saw Morro Rock semi-close up, and docked on the sandbar on the opposite side of the bay. Kenny and Raymond went for a walk while Priscilla and I made our signature heart with A+P in the sand.
For lunch, we went to a plaza and had turkey sandwiches. Afterwards, we bought three containers of redworms at a fishing shop and headed down to the north t-pier for some fishing. Kenny, Raymond and I had all bought fishing poles from Amazon specifically for this trip. Priscilla was the only one with prior fishing experience, and she was the only one who caught something! She caught a small jacksmelt, which we would gut, cook and eat a few days later. Meanwhile, the more experienced family fishing off the end of the pier was catching fish left and right.
We had more chicken wraps and steak that night. Bourbon followed again, and I showed a slightly higher tolerance for it this time, drinking three standard pours without getting too red.
After breakfast the following morning, Kenny took us on a hike on the trails around the campground. We probably hiked a good 3-4 miles, and we got a great view of Spooner's Cove and the camp site below from atop a hill.
It was late after camping, and we decided that we would have time only for lunch. We had two containers of redworms remaining, so we just dumped them at the edge of camp. In hindsight, Kenny realized that they were the right kind of worms that he could've used in his home garden.
After packing up and debating where to get lunch, we finally agreed to go back to Morro Bay. We ended up eating a late lunch at one of the few places that was still open - Giovanni's Fish Market. The food was ok; I enjoyed eating some of Priscilla's clam chowder bowl, but it was a little pricey for such a small bowl.
We parted ways here, with Raymond heading back to Irvine, and the rest of us heading back to NorCal with Kenny. The trip was fun and the basic level of amenities are probably the lowest I'm comfortable with. I was starting to feel dirty from getting smokey from the campfires and not showering for two days. Any longer than that and I would've started to feel really gross. Needless to say, one of the first things I did when getting back home was to take a thorough, hot shower!
So from the 28-30th of September, I was down in Central California with the wifey, Kenny and Raymond on our de facto annual camping trip. We camped at Montana de Oro State Park in Los Osos and visited Morro Bay during the day. The location was ideal because it's roughly halfway between the SoCal and NorCal folks. Bao, Minh and Christine were supposed to join us, but they bailed at the last minute to do house shopping. At least Minh and Christine were nice enough to hand off a ton of food and supplies to Raymond, who brought them up from SoCal.
So the three of us NorCal people carpooled down in Kenny's car early Friday afternoon. We grabbed lunch at Vito's Famous Pizza (meh) in Sunnyvale, stopped at an archery shop in Gilroy for Kenny to scope out prices, then continued the rest of the way to the campgrounds. The total drive took about 4 hours and traffic was light.
When we got to the campground, we scoped out sites (they're available on a first come, first serve basis) and decided on one that was flat, spacious and isolated - pretty much perfect. Being a Friday and not during peak season, fewer than half of the sites were occupied when we arrived. Priscilla and I set up our tent while Kenny bought us some firewood, we walked to Spooner's Cove nearby, walked back to camp when it started getting dark, and waited.
Meanwhile, Raymond had gotten a late start up from LA (understandable, since he had to pick up gear from Minh), had been stuck for a couple hours in LA traffic, and still had a ways to go. Unfortunately he had Minh's tent and all the food, so there wasn't much the rest of us were able to do while we waited. He finally arrived around 9pm, and we all worked to prepare chicken foil wraps and steak and pitched the large tent that Raymond and Kenny would be sharing. We ate until we were stuffed, Kenny brought out Bourbon for us to try, Raymond got humorously tipsy, and we all went to bed. Priscilla and I were extremely comfortable, since we had new sleeping pads that I got from Amazon (having learned my lesson from being very uncomfortable the last time we went camping). But Priscilla was cold, since her sleeping bag is old and thin.
We got better at starting campfires compared to the last time we went camping, since this time Kenny knew to use more kindling. He brought an axe to split firewood, and Priscilla somehow had the best wood splitting technique of us all. After a steak and egg breakfast in the morning, we drove over to Morro Bay and went to Rock Kayak where we rented two doubles. We weren't allowed out of the bay, so we just paddled around looking at boats and sea lions, saw Morro Rock semi-close up, and docked on the sandbar on the opposite side of the bay. Kenny and Raymond went for a walk while Priscilla and I made our signature heart with A+P in the sand.
For lunch, we went to a plaza and had turkey sandwiches. Afterwards, we bought three containers of redworms at a fishing shop and headed down to the north t-pier for some fishing. Kenny, Raymond and I had all bought fishing poles from Amazon specifically for this trip. Priscilla was the only one with prior fishing experience, and she was the only one who caught something! She caught a small jacksmelt, which we would gut, cook and eat a few days later. Meanwhile, the more experienced family fishing off the end of the pier was catching fish left and right.
We had more chicken wraps and steak that night. Bourbon followed again, and I showed a slightly higher tolerance for it this time, drinking three standard pours without getting too red.
After breakfast the following morning, Kenny took us on a hike on the trails around the campground. We probably hiked a good 3-4 miles, and we got a great view of Spooner's Cove and the camp site below from atop a hill.
It was late after camping, and we decided that we would have time only for lunch. We had two containers of redworms remaining, so we just dumped them at the edge of camp. In hindsight, Kenny realized that they were the right kind of worms that he could've used in his home garden.
After packing up and debating where to get lunch, we finally agreed to go back to Morro Bay. We ended up eating a late lunch at one of the few places that was still open - Giovanni's Fish Market. The food was ok; I enjoyed eating some of Priscilla's clam chowder bowl, but it was a little pricey for such a small bowl.
We parted ways here, with Raymond heading back to Irvine, and the rest of us heading back to NorCal with Kenny. The trip was fun and the basic level of amenities are probably the lowest I'm comfortable with. I was starting to feel dirty from getting smokey from the campfires and not showering for two days. Any longer than that and I would've started to feel really gross. Needless to say, one of the first things I did when getting back home was to take a thorough, hot shower!