Camping and Me? 

I was not looking forward to my next mini travel… Camping was not for me! We left right after work on a Friday evening and I didn’t have time to think what I should be wearing or packing as I had never being camping before. Celebrating my good friend’s fortieth at a camp site was not what I thought I would ever do. But, it was her decision and I couldn’t squeeze out of this one…

As we drove to the campsite, I was thinking about all the positives… we had a beautiful motor home of one of my friends’, which she agreed to park at the campsite. I could sleep in there and it won’t be as bad and uncomfortable. I was never the one for camping or staying at remote places, I always preferred cities or towns.  Maybe I am not adventurous enough or it’s my phobia of dirt. 

We drove for a hour on a mountainous road before we reached our campsite. I already enjoyed the drive to the campsite and was optimistic about the whole weekend camping. And I wasn’t disappointed, one of my friends’ husband had already parked the motor home and set up most of the campsite. It looked beautiful and I wondered if I had missed out on the camping experience. 

All eight of us stacked the food in the fridge of motor home and hauled our luggage away. I hadn’t bothered to change my work clothes and had only one in a dress. I wish I had taken some time to think about what to bring for camping. But, I did get my pink pants to change into, another rookie mistake! My friends let it go as they knew it was my first camping trip and my lower back was not in the best condition since I came back from my Spain trip. We enjoyed our first evening with lots of (adult) beverages and food that we picked up from a Indian restaurant around the campfire. I got to sleep in the motor home and it was quite comfortable. “Was camping supposed to be like this?”, I wondered as I lay on the best camping bed ever! 

Next day, I had to wake lot of people early, to get my hands on meds. Seriously, the reds don’t work for me anymore and that’s just makes me mad. We had a winery visit planned and my migraine was not what I was looking forward too!

After a short hike on the famous Pacific Coast Trail, we enjoyed one of the best breakfast I’ve ever had! Grilled crusty grain bread with butter, avocados, burrata and tomatoes with Indian Chai couldn’t have tasted better at a campsite. I was beginning to think that maybe it’s the food that’s making my experience of camping a hit.

Couple of hours of chit chat, laughter, bike lessons and pictures taking we decided to pack food for our next meal,  We drove for almost forty minutes on the mountains filled with spring flowers to came to this little winery, which turned out to be the most †beautiful picnic spot. We had the whole area to ourselves! The wine wasn’t the best but the ambiance and food was amazing! And with heavy meds to subside my migraine I was happy I didn’t miss out much on the adult beverage. We were in food coma by the time we left the winery around late afternoon. Would every camping trip be like this I wondered, but I am guessing maybe not.

Everyone wanted to rest  for a while before we gathered pinecones and wood fire for the camp fire.  This was our last night here and we decided to celebrate our friend’s birthday with Cinco de Mayo theme as it was it that day. Our campsite looked beautiful with the decorations and the sun set! We grilled the chicken, shrimps and vegetables for the tacos. Fresh guacamole was being prepared, four different salsas, chips and I could go on. So much delicious food, it seemed to be a food tour with camping snuck in there. 

We ate, drank, and sang, this time around the camp fire till late in the night! It was a experience I’ll never forget. 

Next morning was a little fuzzy, but I didn’t care as I was more interested in finding out what our breakfast would look like. It was a beautiful morning with sun peaking through big tall trees and beautiful birds chirping. Everyone was trying to pack up and clean up. With a round of tea and crusty grilled walnut and cranberry bread with truffle butter things seemed to go a bit quicker. 

Food Camping, if there is something like such, was the best decision ever and I can’t thank my friend enough to choose nature for celebrating her Big Four O! Camping, here I come! (Of course with lot of food along and maybe a motor home….)