glamping

A piece a Week – The Airport Sling from On The Go Bags

| poppypeach
I would have to say this project took me longer than a week to complete but I have to say that I am happy that I finally completed it! A lesson in all new tricks and techniques from the great book On the Go bags. It took me a while to understand how to apply the exterior pocket with zip to hold your passport and papers with a pen holder – now I will be well and truly organized for our trip to Australia in the Summer which was the inspiration behind making this bag. I accidentally made it taller rather than wider but it worked out well as my purse to hold cash and credit cards etc is a rectangle so it is perfect! I really like the fact I have reduced the amount of crap I carry around – yay!! And I feel so organized with those exterior pockets one for the phone and the other side for my glasses. 
This little pocket stores my phone

At the moment my glasses go in here but I will be sticking the passports in there too! 

For the Easter weekend I booked a cabin 6 months ago when the California State Parks had their sale as Samuel Taylor State Park is a popular destination for people who live in the city of SF. We travelled up to 2 hours to get there in bad traffic on a Saturday afternoon but still it was so worth it! The cabin is amazing – I have to say it is the best cabin I have stayed in at a State Park, the last time we went cabin camping I was freezing, this time – no way as there was an electric pot belly stove to make the cabin nice and snug. I loved the cabin and just outside our own little fire ring, picnic table and little BBQ (where you have to bring your own briquettes). We had a lovely beet felafel with goat cheese wraps in foil cooked on the fire with a salad for our easy dinner. For dessert we had banana boats which is a banana sliced in the center to make a boat then tuck in some chocolate chips and marshmallows wrap them in foil and have it all melt together – yum!

Our dinner beet felafel wraps and wine from Chile

The kids at the beginning of the hike find a California Poppy
In the afternoon before dinner we decided to go for a hike up hill to Barnabe Peak 1446 ft (447 m) high – which is 2 miles up and up and up the fire trail. At times we looked up and thought we are never going to make it as you can see from the pic below, Ash was ready to give up but we kept on powering on! I was dragging behind taking the pictures and it wasn’t until I said hi to a Michael Franti lookalike that said to me ‘almost there’ was when I felt the inspiration to keep on going to the top. Once we got there the winds were strong and the fog was rolling in – still it was an amazing 360 degree view and worth the hike! 

I can’t walk anymore!!

Green to the horizon

Feeling the wind as we are nearly there!!

You can just see the sea on the left

Looking out 

Heading on back down with views of the Kent Lake spillway

Going back down was fast though it was tough on the feet to stay balanced and not fall down the trail. We certainly slept well Saturday night with a few aches and pains in our legs.

An Indian Painbrush flower

As we were going down we saw lots of wildflowers in amongst the green – lots and lots of California poppies which was a real treat!

There they are little specks on the trail! 

Think we missed seeing this sign on the way up! 

Happy to be back in the cabin with this heater!

We had to enjoy the campfire not just for cooking but for hanging out with – it was super warm but the cabin with its coziness of the electric stove tempted me inside. Also I had other plans to do and that was to chat to the Easter Bunny about surprises for Easter morning 🙂

Burn baby burn

A story about the foxes

Surprises from the Easter bunny – eat my little friends he says and here are some eggs from my chicken friends, fair trade chocolate of course!

All lined up behind the blinds

Excited to find these goodies from the Easter bunny

We were sad to say farewell to our Fox Den – it was just an overnight stay but it felt longer and we are now walking that little bit slower and breathing deeper, as taking that time out in the woods was so relaxing.

The beautiful new cabin at Samuel Taylor State Park in the Madrone Campground

The log dude not the log lady?!?

After eating all that chocolate the kids needed to work it off with another hike to the beach – this hike was an easy one straight up to the beach via the Abbotts Lagoon Trail. I was hoping to see more birds but we just saw some hawks overhead – the dunes were closed off as the habitat of the endangered Snowy Plover, those guys are so cute and tiny. The kids decided they wanted to make some art from driftwood on the beach so Ash was on a mission dragging logs and finding sticks and Missy was digging holes for their collaboration piece they left behind on the beach.

Working together on a mission
 
All done – take this pic from the front Mom!

Fields of California Poppies

A piece a Week – A cozy hat and a camp trip to Napa in a Yurt in the Rain

| poppypeach
What a wonderful lazy week it was with having a Thanksgiving Break for the whole week. No school from Wednesday and hanging with the family and seeing Big Hero 6 – Amazing!!! Preparing for our Thanksgiving crab feast with a vegetarian main of Shepherds pie and desserts that included Cranberry Tart, Vegan Pumpkin Pie and Quince and Pear Crumble. We had a wonderful day with friends who came over from Oakland and we hung out and ate and relaxed and took the kiddos to the park to play after all the food we ate.

Cranberries waiting for their pastry bottom with some lemon zest

After the day was over we had to get ready for our weekend away to Bothe Napa State Park to stay in a yurt! Yes I was so excited to stay in a yurt again and I knew it was not going to be like the Mt Shasta fancy yurt experience which was 3 times the size of the yurt at Napa. On Thanksgiving Day my friends told us that it was going to rain on the weekend!! Oh that was not going to stop our weekend away…  What fun to camp in a yurt in the rain in California, a very novel idea indeed!!

Bunny sculpture in a winery

On our way to the state park we had some time to check out the mill and find out how flour is made. The Bale Grist Mill from 1846 still makes all types of flour and sells it for $5 a bag – my husband the bread baker was very excited! We took the tour of the mill and it was fascinating to see all the processes of the mill and chat to the docent who is a baker too. He had the tastiest cream puffs to sample left over from his Thanksgiving Feast.

The Mill powered by a 36 foot water wheel 

A stone that makes the stone ground flour 

Vintage Flour Sifters

Scored some Whole Wheat Bread Flour ready for an artisan loaf of bread

Milling today – How lucky were we!! 

Check in was at 2pm so we headed on over to the yurt and it was nice and dry. As it is winter the light is limited so we were getting the fire started early and starting to cook dinner. Lucky for us as soon as we had heated up our Thanksgiving leftovers and were eating it started raining so dessert was in the yurt – which prompted a song by the kiddos… dessert in the yurt, dessert in the yurt!!

Cranberry tart travelled in a lunchbox in the cooler 

The yurt had a a queen size bed and 2 camp cots for the kiddos inside so we bought our sleeping bags, pillows and blankets to keep extra warm. It was very cold in the yurt but as there were 4 of us when the door was closed it warmed up fairly quickly. We made it for dessert and as it was raining there was no hanging out with the campfire so we opted to go to bed super early – as early as 8pm!! Sleeping listening to the rain on the yurt was so relaxing until it got super heavy and then blobs of water from the trees above woke us up from our slumber.

The yurt in the morning

The yurt freshly rained on!

We headed over to Calistoga the next day for brunch and to escape the rain. We enjoyed the farmers market and had a lovely brunch at Cafe Sarafonia I ordered the Spinach and Portobello Benedict and it was just the right size and oh so tasty with avocado. We really enjoyed Calistoga and next time we go for a mud bath or a spa! When we wandered around and went to the Sharpsteen museum for some California history, they have a diorama of the town which is meticulously crafted and well worth a visit.  After the museum visit we came out and the sun was shining and our window for hiking was upon us!

A break under the old oak trees

Climbing a manzanita tree

An enchanted moss covered forest

Beautiful Manzanita shows its colour in the rain

A fun guy on a tree

A world of fairies and tiny mushrooms

The camp hosts dream Airstream! 

Oh and in between eating and camping I started making this wonderful hat out of my favorite yarn Malabrigo worsted. This pattern is Anjas Newsboy Hat and is meant to have a brim, unfortunately I ran out of yarn. Still it is a warm hat to wear as it covers your ears and this is a teeny bit loose but the yarn was challenged while it was being knitted in the rain and by the campfire. Still it is a super easy pattern to follow and cannot wait to make another one soon – this time with a brim!

Pink  malabrigo hat for the winter