Camping

This weekend we went camping at Richardson Grove State Park in the California redwoods. Talk about beautiful!

We weren't sure how camping on 4th of July weekend would play out, but despite a full campground, it was great! Everyone was respectful, noise was kept to a minimum, there were plenty of playmates for the kids and B and I had an opportunity to relax and enjoy family time with our kids.

The State Parks in the area often have campfire programs on the weekends. We missed the campfire Friday night because of our late arrival and subsequent trip to Garberville for pizza (Bummer, because it was about camping Ike Bigfoot and Big A would have LOVED it!), but we did attend the campfire on Saturday night. The topic of the program was birds of the area. The park interpreter who put on the program was a bird lover and was quite knowledgeable about the topic she was presenting. She showed us a PowerPoint presentation with pictures and sounds. The rest of the weekend Big A would see birds and tell us, "That's a male because of the color of it's chest."

Sunday evening we hiked through the actual 'Richardson Grove'. It was a short, level trail, but beautiful! Tall trees, informational signs (which Little A insisted we read), a bat tree, and a huge tree that had fallen many moons ago that now provides an awesome climbing place for the kids and a great place for a photo opportunity!

Monday as we were packing up, the kids came and told us that we needed to come see the butterfly they'd found. Apparently a butterfly had flown into the tent at their new friends' campsite and it had actually spent the night in the tent with them. The kids were all in the tent watching the butterfly and the butterfly was letting them hold it. It was pretty amazing!

We had a great trip and can't wait to go camping again in two weeks. I keep telling the kids that I'm going to be a camp host when I retire and just spend my life in the state parks... We shall see!