What a week it was last week with two minimum days in a row and Back to School night plus on top of all that Ash sprained his foot and had crutches. I thought there is no way we would make it to our camp trip Friday night for the long weekend! Though really it was motivation to make it happen and leave all that stuff behind and go and hang out in the woods for the long weekend and relax.
My friend and I booked our accommodation early this year at
Saddle Mountain Ranch for a couple of campsites around $50 each for a premium site (your car is accessible and you don’t have to lug your stuff down hill). The site was fine and up on a hill though unfortunately the sound carries up the hill and the first night we were there was party night down the stairs! Actually the whole weekend was filled with noisy, obnoxious folks with bad music taste that they wanted to share with us, boo! In the end we spent the days away from the site and just made our own noise once our friends arrived after we had enjoyed some wine together. The whole idea of camping in Carmel and booking it for the long weekend was to go to the beach and visit Point Lobos anyhow – the bonus is that the campsite is only 20 minutes away from the beach! So really putting up with the noisy neighbours was worth it!
 |
Here is the campsite with charcoal – no wood fires allowed here,
which is fine as it could be dangerous with all the dry brush and trees! |
I had hardly any time to do any work last week due to the minimum days and getting the kids down the park to play. The only project I could muster was a skirt that has been in my pile of ‘to dos’ since the summer. I had the materials, it was just working out how to put it together. You will see in the picture that the skirt is puffy as it has a tulle underskirt sewn into it. Super cute on especially with crocs!
 |
| The skirt and missy climbing up a tree |
After our first night at the campground we had to get out early as we were not prepared for breakfast so we went down the road to
Earthbound Farms and had breakfast in their farm stand / cafe. They had freshly squeezed green juice (my favorite!), tasty panini with a lot of veges, grilled cheese for the kiddos and tonnes of produce for sale. These guys do all the organic packaged salad leaves you see at Whole Foods. It was a wonderful place to visit as the cafe had a seating area to relax and read the local paper. There were redwoods for the kids to play and after breakfast you we wandered around the farm and visited the herb garden, kitchen garden, kids area complete with herbs to touch and smell, the berry vines and a garden with a scarecrow. The farm also had a stunning view of the mountains and the valley – definitely worth a visit with it’s emphasis on organic farming, support Organic!!
 |
| Wonderful signage around the farm |
 |
| Making friends with the scarecrow! |
 |
My friend Kale in close up – now I am inspired to grow this at home!
It grows like a small bush with tonnes of leaves, how perfect Kale from your own garden – love it!! |
 |
| Can you find the hummingbird – we found a couple as we were about to leave having their morning nectar |
After our trip to the farm stand we wanted to check out downtown Carmel… All I can say it was not for me. The art is boring and the strip has a bunch of shops selling pretty average nick nacks from China. I found a cute store called ‘Adam Fox since 1964’ selling some local designer jewelry which I bought for gifts but that was about it, she also had some beautiful masks from Italy too. The lady who was at the shop had been there for 39 years and she seemed to be enjoying herself! Another shop caught my eye, it was the Artemis boot shop with their boots from Istanbul, Turkey. We were waiting for our lunch at Carmel Belle in the Doud Craft Studios and the boot shop was nearby so I wandered in to chat to the guys about how they are made – they are embroidered on velvet and made into classic style boots with the prices starting around $250 that was not too bad for the amount of work involved. I really liked these but they are a bit boho for my wardrobe, though if I had the spare $ I could make room 😉 Oh and about lunch, the Carmel Belle had delicious food and the truffle egg toast with fontina was yummy with bits of asparagus on the side – some truffle oil would have really added to the flavor! Again a cafe that supports the local farmers of the area and why not Carmel is surrounded by farms.
After lunch we HAD to check out the beach! The weather was warm and the beach was calling… We found Carmel River State Beach and managed to park up top in a residential area which was a short walk down the stairs to the beach. We had our picnic rug and snacks and were ready to play. A beach umbrella would be an added bonus as there was no shade to be had. We found the sunscreen and enjoyed this beautiful beach for a couple of hours, enjoying the rays. I would compare this beach to a beach in Australia with the crystal clear water and the white sand, it was a very happy place to be. There is a huge drop in the sand which creates an undertow, so no swimming for us – with the undertow it is hard to stand up and the water was still very cold. There was not stopping the kiddos enjoying themselves chasing the waves on the shore and catching seaweed floating in the water.
 |
| Yay I caught some seaweed! |
 |
| Having a good time on the beach!! |
Our friends arrived very late Saturday afternoon after spending 4 hours in traffic – long weekend + beautiful sunshine = a migration to the beach for everyone!! Still we caught up back at the campground and discussed our travels the next day and we went back to the beach of course and visited Point Lobos Natural Reserve. Heads up for this place – go early! We got there after 10am and had to wait in the traffic for a while before we even got to the ranger gates (the fee is $10 for parking). If you want day trips at State Parks become a member at the California State Parks Foundation and one of the benefits are day pass vouchers, we use ours all the time! It is a wonderful way to see many State Parks some within an hour of our house.
 |
| Point Lobos sandstone rock formations |
I met these guys taking pictures with a 5 x 7 camera. In all my days of studying photography I have only read about these and have never had the opportunity to see one in real life so it was very exciting to talk to these guys about their camera. It is fully mechanical with no digital aspect at all and takes pictures on the film holder at the back of the camera. The guys let me look through the camera and the picture was upside down and back to front so you have to really look at your image and focus completely before you take the shot. As you see the guy is under a hood to look at the image – this way you can see the image clearly with no glare and hopefully get a crystal clear shot. The guys were laughing as I was asking them questions and said they are complete luddites here with no digital technology whatsoever – doing this type of photography you really want to look at your subject for a long time. We all agreed it was yoga and meditation for photographers!
 |
| Photographic yoga with a large format camer |
After our chat to the photographers we did some rock hopping by the ocean and enjoyed the formation in the sandstone. This one is just like a bear claw.
 |
| It looks like a giant bear stepped here |
We played around on the rocks some more – check out this ball rock in the centre of a perfect place to jump! After the rock hopping we wanted to hike and we found a path to the Whalers Cove to learn about the history of whaling back in the day and see the bones of these amazing creatures. I am so happy that it is all over and whales are protected, well mostly around the world! Sometimes here you can see the whales out at sea, this day we just saw harbor seals 😀
 |
| We had a ‘ball’ – rock hopping! |
 |
| The kids enjoyed the wizards beard – I think Gandalf was the inspiration here! |
 |
| No hike is complete without climbing every tree |
 |
| Whale rock – well not really! A huge rock formation jutting into the ocean. |
 |
Look closely on this rock and you will see harbor seals sunning themselves
– we had binoculars and enjoyed a close up view of these guys! |
 |
| After our hike some beach time playing our fave summer activity Frisbee |
 |
| The waves lapping the shore – an amazing blue! |
 |
| Love the light in this picture – some random sunshine glowing, ahhh the joy of the beach & sunshine! |
poppypeach 