the great escape

Spring break is coming to an end here.  Although I was pretty sick with a sinus infection for the majority of it, I managed to have a fantastic time camping on the Sonoma coast. We took so many pictures! Its so hard to decided which ones to post. {Take that as a warning that this will probably be image heavy!}

Eric and I met in Placerville with Sara, Kel, Zach and Kara, and began our caravan down to Wright's Beach. 

Eric at a pit stop. Golly, hes cute.

Chris had left early that morning, and this is where we found him when we arrived!

 After cracking some celebratory brews, we quickly set up camp, as the rain was approaching.

We were pretty lucky to score this camp site. Not only was it really close to the beach, but also big enough to pitch four tents. It was one of the only sites that was totally protected by trees from a lot of the rain and wind we got on the first day there.

this is the camp site that was next to ours- so beautiful, but a creek running through it!
poor guys that camped there woke up soaked the next morning!

the view!

our sweet spot!

Night came quickly the first day. It was pretty misty, and we were fortunate that Kel thought to bring an easy up to put over the table.  After roasting some marshmallows and making s'mores, we played a slightly drunken came of apples to apples.

  

That just about did us in for the night. We packed it up and hid away in our tents, listening to the rain and the crashing waves as we dozed off to sleep.

The next morning, we woke up to a completely different place! True, it was pretty windy compared to the first day, but the sun was out! Oh lordy, did it feel good to dry out a bit. We brewed up that thick camp coffee and moved some chairs out to the sun, where those who weren't cooking breakfast caught a chance to have a morning to read.

We decided over breakfast to check out the trails that were near the check-in of the campsite.  After a little steep start, it flattened out and overlooked the whole campground and ocean! Also, there were TONS of wildflower meadows we got to hike through. It was heavenly!

This is where the path split- we chose to take the one that lead to the beach.

Everyone was so playful and alive in the sunshine! Kara even tried to teach Zach how to do cartwheels.

...he didn't have much getting those crazy long legs up!

We got back to camp, and took a little break before heading to Tomales Bay and checking out Hog Island Oyster farm.Eric and I followed the gang in our own car- the drive ended up being one of my favorite parts of the trip!

The Oyster farm wasn't as scenic as I had hoped, but the ride there and back was so vivid and green! I think I took about 50 pictures of the farmlands. All of those rolling hills were all dotted with cows and fuzzy little sheep. The clouds overhead were breaking up in the breeze, forming the most beautiful designs in the sky.

We actually stopped to visit these sheep for a bit, talking about owning property someday, and having chickens and goats and a pottery studio. It was such a lovely place to dream with my love.

We made it back to camp, and ate trail mix and drank beer with Chris in a little shelter someone had dug out on the beach while we waited for the rest of our camp-mates to return. When they showed up, we made our long-awaited grilled oysters with shallot butter. It was such a treat! We ate way too well on this trip. I guess I didn't mention we had clam and mussel linguine the first night? Yeah.

I told them I wanted to see some gang signs- this is what they came up with?

The last bit of our trip was spent watching the sunset on a wonderful day. The wind had finally died down, and we were exhausted from our adventures.

Ahhh. Sorry if I overloaded you with photos! The trip was so good for the soul (and skin!) although, maybe not as good for the lungs. I imagined the salty air filling my lungs, and purging it of any sickness. I forgot, however, about campfire and the temptation of (many) cigarettes on vacation. Its no wonder why I came back waking up feeling worse than when I went! It was more than entirely worth it though.

Hope you guys have some trips planned soon! So good to get away from reality.


xoxo