Hope everyone enjoyed themselves this past 3-day weekend. We sure did!
Sylvain and I had talked about going camping this weekend, but we had been so busy the weeks and days before that we never had the chance to make the plans. So, Friday night when I get home from having my haircut (my hair, btw, is now so super short – it falls well above my shoulders!), I call around. Luckily the first campsite I called had one more campsite left! Talk about lucky!
Saturday morning, we all packed up (Lucie was allowed at the campsite, too!) and headed south to Big Sur. We woke up to foggy mornings, enjoyed sunny and warm afternoons and chilly, chilly nights. Anyhoo, we arrived late Saturday afternoon. It was a cute little site that was isolated from everyone else. We had 2 picnic tables and 2 firepits and we were situated alongside the Big Sur river. Sylvain & I hiked around with Lucie and watched her splash around in the river. After a dinner of freeze dried beef stroganoff (interesting) and s’mores for dessert, we headed in for the evening.
Sunday we drove south to the Los Padres National Forest and hiked along the Pine Ridge trail. Lucie loved running along the trails – constantly going “off road” and us yelling after her to come back. She was SUPPOSED to be on leash, so shhhhh.
Afterwards, we headed even further south to a…je ne sais quoi…it’s not even a village. It’s a spot, called Gorda Springs…anyway, we stopped there for lunch. On our way back to camp, we visited the Silver Dollar National Forest Beach. The ranger there was kind enough to let us in for free, as we did not have any cash with us to pay the entrance fee. In return, he asked us to give thanks and blessings to those who fought for our independence. Okay. I think he’d been hanging out at the beach way too long, if you ask me. As Sylvain and I relaxed, Lucie had a blast chasing her tennis ball into the waves. At one point she actually got caught in a wave and it took her a bit longer to get back to shore. Fearless, I tell ya! We returned to the campsite and took naps and just did nothing – it was kind of nice.
(Side note: it seems as though dogs are not allowed in state parks [bummer] BUT well-behaved doggies are allowed in national forests.)
On our way home, monday morning, we made a stop at the Carmel city beach – dogs can legally be off-leash there. Again, Lucie had a blast running after her little ball and Sylvain & I enjoyed walking on the fine white sands of Carmel. Afterwards, we stopped at the local pet shoppe, Mackie’s Parlour, and window shopped along the main drag in town.
One day when we’re rich, we’d like to buy a place in Carmel. Well, turns out it will be in another lifetime, as most of the homes we saw listed averaged a price of $1.5M.
Moving on…we made another stop in Monterey, Cannery Row for lunch. We became tourists and had shrimps at Bubba Gump and Sylvain and I shared a Ghiradelli hot fudge sundae. Yum!
We are now back at home – refreshed, clean and tired. Not quite ready to tackle another work week though…
Check back later for some pics from the weekend!