a walk in the woods

Oh, the camping outing this past weekend was wonderful!

We went to Big Basin last year, and loved it so much, I suggested we make reservations again this year and call it a birthday outing for David (whose birthday is tomorrow).  It’s definitely a cozy thing to do as a couple, but the idea of having a group around the fire also seemed really fun.  So we booked 2 cabins and The David invited some folks and it all panned out pretty wonderfully.

There’s a 12 mile hike out to the beach that we had wanted to do last year and which, surprisingly, pretty much everyone was game to do.  Only Steph and Mike stayed behind, worried that their woofer, Coco, wouldn’t make it the whole way.

The park is home to the largest continuous old growth redwoods south of San Francisco, which is my kind of park.  Redwood forests are so shady and cool, with a refreshing, slightly damp, kind of air.  Occasionally, you get dapple-y bits of sunlight or beams shining through the trees.

Almond butter and jelly sandwiches and jerky and carrots in the woods are fantastic.  Also, sitting on a log, after you’ve hoofed it for a gabillion miles is pretty excellent.

We saw a bunch of deer in the woods.  Also, banana slugs.  I will not out the person who screamed like a girl in horror each time I pointed out one of those yellow monster-creatures.
There wasn’t much uphill slogging, so although it was long, it wasn’t as arduous of a trek as we might have feared, and definitely a really lovely way to have spent the day.
And then drinking wine and beers around a fire, bundled up against the cold, cooking sausages and hamburgers, making s’mores, and laughing into the night… it’s definitely the right kind of way to spend some days.