Can you see the deer?
The Clarendon second grade descended on Cloverdale for our 2nd annual camping trip.
(Which happens to fall on Mothers Day Weekend…
A great big spider greeted me on mother’s day morning, but that’s a story I’ll just skip.)
We all had lots of fun, Lucy came with us this year, and we’re already looking forward to the next one!
We all drove north on the 101 to a little campsite in Myer’s Flat, along the South fork of the Eel river.
Nanu and Chief scouted the site ahead of time, and chose it for it’s awesome swimming, which couldn’t be closer to the campsite unless we pitched tents on the riverbed. It was lovely! We all fell head over heels in love with our cute shade tree. (Anyone know what kind of tree that was?) Also, it’s just far enough from the Bay Area that it wasn’t as crowded as some of the other places in consideration. The sights and smells kept bringing me back to my childhood. (We even caught a frog, and a lizard that Lucy named Sue.)
We pitched our tents during the daylight, and Nanu came up at night with Mark, who had to work late.
Due to a super unfortunate scheduling snafu, Alex had baseball playoffs and had to miss the trip. We tried to re-assure ourselves that there can be many more trips, with lots of Alex time. Still, Al, you were Greatly missed!!
It was a short trip, cut even shorter by me. :( We were planning to stay til Monday, but I wimped out. Temps reached the hundreds, and the idea of packing and driving home solo convinced me to go back with Mark on Sunday afternoon. Had it only been 85, things may have been different. That’s my story. (also, for the record, the ‘Tent Olympics’ were taxing. I need one that’s “palatial”.)
Still, I’m ready to go again…
D’oh — school starts tomorrow…
Also worth noting – Cole’s camera broke, (!!) early on, and so the photos that are ‘standing in’ were taken by our assortment of iPhones and aging point-n-shoots.
eh. I didn’t bring my camera – the car was too full! Plus, we were all relaxing, and no pressure to take pictures was nice. This slideshow came together in spite almost no effort.
Thank you Kiera for the great music suggestion. Thanks C+K, Madie, and Nanu for contributing photos.
enjoy the show.
https://oscarandlucy.com/wp-content/slideshows/2012/camp2012/
ps yes, I realize I spelled Myers wrong – I’ll fix it tomorrow!
xxoo
We had so much fun, and Oscar wants to go back again, asap.
I considered it a “warm up” for real camping, because this was too easy!
This is where we stayed, in Cloverdale:
http://winecountrykoa.com/
The kabins have electricity, and are even nicer than the Lair. Oscar ran around, or biked, unsupervised, with his buddies. Well, not completely unsupervised, – all the parents participated in an informal zone defense. The kids played pick up wiffle ball, and who knows what else. Something called Everybody It Tag. It was awesome to hang out with the families.
We got to leave Lucy with Omi & Opi, so we could relax, and drink, and not worry about Lucy kamikazeing into the lake. Thanks Omi! (Lucy did great)
Click any of these to see larger.
Just Arriving
Pretty enough, plus a fountain too.
Oscar and Shayan checking out their new digs
People loved the small effort we made to decorate
The Pool.
Oscar got to swim all day with all his buddies. It was absolutely the. best.
Running around with friends
Oscar is friendly with the girls, and saw no problem accepting their invitation to join them.
I LOVE this pic
I LOVE this one too
Best Buds (Ariel)
Parting shot
Recently I did a post about backyard camping. I must be getting old, or the ground is getting harder. Maybe this picture sums it up a little better…
via pinterest
Okay, check that one off the list. If he wants to do it again, he can ask his father.
(The lawn is not as soft as it looks!)
Oscar was really cute though. His eyes sparkled and his grin was ear to ear. It was certainly worth the 6 trips back and forth to the house for last minute necessities like a water bottle, and a story, stuffed animals and the right pillow. Flashlights were everywhere, and Mark and Oscar used walkie talkies to iron out details. (G’nite Dad. Over.) I tried to use them to order a morning latte delivered, but apparently it doesn’t work like that. (Whats the opposite of “roger that”?)
It was chilly outside- the wind had died away, but the temperature was around 55. Inside the tent, it was cozy, and the little night lite Mark plugged in was reassuring. (Don’t all backyard tents come equipped with industrial strength extension cords?) We were both sleepy when the stories were over. Oscar turned out the bigger light and then snuggled up to me. He said, “This is so fun mom. I’m glad you’re here.” Sweet huh. I think I fell asleep before Oscar did. Or maybe it was a tie.
iphone photos by Mark
Ahh, car camping with the family. One night only, and we didn’t even cook dinner. We went out to a wonderful old restaurant, Duartes (pronounced, “doo-erts”. Butano is pronounced “boot-a-noh”.) The trip was taken for Chief’s birthday (June 20th). He treated us all to the delicious dinner – crab, and lamb… and cocktails! Thanks!
It was a nice time with the family – we missed Alex – but we did talk weddings, and we ate marshmellows, and it was all very fun. (Right up until Lucy wouldn’t sleep. That took the fun right out of things.) But Oscar was a champ – no complaints, in fact he was LOVING every minute of it. His favorite part was sitting around the fire with everyone, at night, playing “Apples to Apples”.)
Most all of the camping photos here were taken by Cole or Kiera. Thanks guys! Nana, thanks for making the reservations and Helmut thanks for lending the extra tent – I guess we’re in the market for a new tent? We all got a kick out of our matching yellow domes.
click to enlarge, then advance with your arrow key
The next day we hit the beach – so pretty.