Big Sur

I threw these pictures up last night in a hurry and didn't even post captions with them. I also exceeded my Flickr allotment so here's the rest of the pictures I couldn't upload through there. The Flickr pics are so much better quality. I might have to look into upgrading my account. For now, some of these are from there and some are through Blogger.

We started our trip off with one night in Pismo Beach. Camping on the beach is a blast but I have honestly never had that much sand on me in my life. It was on/in everything. It was even inside my sleeping bag.













Pismo is a very popular destination for people with ATV's. I think we were one of the only people there that didn't have one.


Attempt at a self portrait


On Friday we continued our journey the coast to our final destination, Big Sur.







It was windy and cold on the way up but we had beautiful weather the whole rest of the time we were there.




I know this doesn't technically count as camping but Lisa wanted to try something a little less rustic this year so we rented a cabin. I have to admit it was so nice to sleep in a bed and have a hot shower each night. The cabin had no kitchen in it(strange, I know), so we did cook all of our meals outside and really only used the cabin to sleep in.




You couldn't beat the location and view from our back lawn. We have never had a campsite right on the river before. It was awesome.





I had to try out the tree swing. Even though I'm sure I was far too heavy for it.



Here I am thinking "Hmmmm...........I think it would hold me".





I hope I didn't weaken the rope so that it breaks the next time somebody else tries it!
It was fun.




The Teague Family joined us for the night on Friday and a great time was had by all.

I love this picture of Ryleigh. She is so cute! I was going to tell you the story of how Joe wanted to steal her and keep him for our own but he said he didn't want me to tell you, so I won't. :)



Grace and Ryleigh headed into the river


Ducky Races


The boys tubing the rapids on Big Sur River




Austin Chillin' in his inner tube





I love campfires











Cameron had to do what all the big kids were doing, which was jumping off of the rocks into the water. This resulted in me almost having a heart attack and worrying what I was going to tell my sister when he broke a bone or maimed himself in some other way. Thankfully he did not injure himself and even talked me into photographing it so he could show his Mom.

He hung onto this tree literally for hours. Bad for the tree. Good for some peace and quiet for me.


We drove down to Pfeiffer Beach to check out the beautiful scenery.







I wanted to climb to the very top of these rocks but once I got up there it was pretty high and I settled for sitting here instead.



Joe made it all the way to the top. Show off.










Lisa found this piece of seaweed and thought it looked like a whip so she picked it up and started whipping it around while singing the theme song from "Indiana Jones". And yes, I do have it on video.





We ended up at Lisa and Scot's house for one night because she said they were going to go pick up their puppy on Monday night. You know I wanted to be a part of that!

Joe makes a new friend

Puppies are soooooooooo cute. I kept having to tell myself "Puppies grow up, puppies grow up, puppies grow up!" :)



It was a wonderful trip yet again. This is the 7th year we have been going to Big Sur and I hope it is a tradition we continue when Sophie is home.

Hey, thanks for all the nice comments about my hair. It has grown on me over the last few days and I have decided I like it.  It's easier to get ready in the morning, that's for sure!  Today was okay. For a Monday.  A friend lent me his car for the last two days and I got to drive myself to work today.  Oh, how I have missed having a car.  I miss being able to run errands on my lunch break.  I miss being able to leave work when it's time, and not have to wait for Joe to pick me up(he is very rarely on time).  I miss my independence.  Tomorrow we are having my car towed to the shop(finally) so we can see what exactly is wrong with it. I pray it is something fairly easy and inexpensive to fix. Oh, how I pray this is the case. I couldn't sleep last night worrying that it is something major that we won't have the money to fix.  I know it does no good to worry.  But I do. I'm a worrier.  I also received some not so great news regarding our upcoming camping trip that has me almost in a panic.  (Don't worry Kayce-it isn't affecting the second half of our trip-only the first four nights).  Long story short, there was a huge error made by both the campground(State Park) and the site that does the reservations and now it is not certain that they will have a campsite for us.  Nothing is for sure yet, but if this doesn't pan out I will be devastated.  I made these reservations seven months ago.  This is the only vacation we take.  All year.  I was able to speak with someone very high up in the Big Sur State Parks system(the ranger at the station totally gave me this guy's private number. He rocks).  This person assures me he is going to do everything he can to honor our reservations, but he won't know anything until next week.  Again, with the worrying.   I must learn not to worry so much.  So send good car-fixing and campsite vibes our  way, O.K?   We could really use them. Thanks.

Camping

Here's a slideshow from our camping trip. It was everything I had hoped it would be and more. So much more. We really needed that. I tried to book another weekend sometime in the summer, but they are booked solid(even weekdays) from the end of April all the way through the first week in October! So we were very lucky to get these reservation, and have this weekend off, and beautiful weather to boot. It's almost like it was meant to be! Must go now. Have unpacking to do and dinner to make. Back to real life. Hey, one work day and then a day off again. Gotta love that! 

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Communing with Nature

I find myself with another day off this coming Monday. I'm actually not even sure why. Another conference for the doctor, I suppose. Anyway, it came up in a conversation a few days ago with my hubby and he mentions that he is working Friday night instead of Saturday, and he has no class on Monday either(he's not sure why either. Funny how we don't question our days off!). Anyway, instantly I'm thinking Hmmmmm......we both have three whole days off-we should DO something! You know, instead of laying around our apartment all day, doing, well-nothing. Except we have no money right now. Drat. So we're thinking maybe a day trip? Possibly to the snow? Except it has been in the seventies here the last two days and I'm thinking maybe something warmer. I'm totally jonesing for Spring. So I go searching the internet for something cheap(preferably free) for us to do this weekend. After much searching, I found a guy(who I have corresponded with before through Freecycle) looking to get rid of some camping reservations he had for this weekend for twenty bucks. I was all over that! And it's only a little over an hour away from our house. At the beach! Score! So this weekend we'll be camping at the beach, relaxing and chilling out and communing with nature. Three days and two nights for twenty bucks. Yes! I cannot wait. This will be my view when I wake up on Sunday(and Monday) mornings: Can. Not. Wait.