Mike vs Wood, Rachael vs Fire, Rock Beats Scissors

We went camping this last weekend with some of my favorite people that you may recognize... Rachael (bridesmaid), Human Kevin (best man), Mike (groomsman), and Dog Kevin (whom I wanted to be the ring bearer, but I was out voted). We went up the coast to San Simeon State Park.

Rach waited for Human Kevin to get off of work on Friday, but Bri, Mike, Dog Kevin, and I went up earlier to secure a good spot. We had an extremely full car and Mike was crammed into the backseat with Dog Kevin.

But I kept Mike's mind off of his confined area by yacking his ear off the whole way up. (It was about a 4 hour drive.) And Dog Kevin does really well in the car, but even he was a little freaked out with his own lack of space. He wouldn't lay down and at one point, he even fell asleep sitting up. But the time in the car seemed to pass easily and once we got there, it was all business.

It was a little after 4:00 when we arrived and we went right to work finding a campsite that would fit all 3 of our tents. Once we found the perfect spot, Mike helped us set up our tent, then we helped him with his, and we left a spot for Human Kevin and Rachael in the middle. We were figuring it would be dark- or at least darn close to it- by the time they got there, so we also set up a canopy and rigged a lantern to the top of it. Then we busted out our new camp stove (wedding gift from Mike!) and got to making some carne asada tacos... I wouldn't camp any other way!

So here's the fun thing about the camp stove. On side is a burner (hence, stove) the other side is a grill. You are not supposed to use pots or pans over the grill because it could damage the grill. We should have read that sooner.


It was fine the first night, but when we tried to use the grill side to cook pancakes on in the morning, the grate heated up so much that it melted into itself. FAIL.

We still managed to use it the whole time anyway (just more carefully) and it should be good as new once we order a new grate!

Anyway, once Kevin and Rachael got there, the fun really started. I finally had some extra estrogen around to balance out all of the testosterone  We got the fire raging, popped open a couple of beers, and had a deep conversation about the String Theory... which I intend to do more research on (because one day, I will be able to explain what I was trying to that Friday night)!

Camping nighttime is always a great time. I love the smell of campfire, I love laughing with my friends under the stars, and I love licking melted marshmallow and chocolate off of my dirty camping hands.
*Side story... While Rachael (I love you Rach!) was roasting one of her 'mallows, it accidentally caught on fire. Like Marshmallow fireball from hell. She was kind of like, "Whoa!" and flung her roasting stick. (It's all in the wrist, baby.) Fireball from Hell landed on Rachael's leg. As I watched a ball of fire sitting on my friend's thigh for what felt like forever, a million thoughts rushed through my head. It seemed like everyone was in slow motion. She finally flung it off, but she did suffer some minor burns on her fingers and her pants were ruined. I think we were all in shock.


That was towards the beginning of the first night, but Rachael is a trooper and she shook it off and was able to have fun despite her blisters. :(  While the nights were exciting (we didn't go to bed til 1:00 both nights- that's like, 4 hours past our bedtime!) the days were very relaxing...

Rachael and I mostly just hung out and relaxed. The boys played some cards games and then tried to light things on fire. Their inner 5 year old pyromaniacs came out to play. It took all I could to keep my inner mother from coming out, but I'm pretty sure I may have handed out a couple of lectures here and there. (Sorry guys.)


I gotta say, the only misbehavior I was actually expecting was from Dog Kevin, and he was GREAT!!! I told Brian we should always live outside because he behaved better camping than he does at home. He was so cute and he just chilled out on his blanket for most of the trip! And at night he had his little own area in the tent, although he did come cuddle with us for part of the night on Friday. :)

One of the best parts of our day on Saturday was when the boys attempted to break a large piece of wood that they found into several smaller pieces of wood. We had a little camping axe that Mike tried on it. The wood was so strong that the kickback almost made Mike hit himself in the face. Which wasn't funny at all.

So Kevin decided he would do something about this wood problem...

It was definitely valiant effort, but unfortunately, still not strong enough. Luckily for our boys (who were driving themselves crazy over this log), once the guys across the way were done laughing, they came over with a life-size axe and a wedge and offered these tools for our use.

It still took Mike almost 10 minutes to split this piece of wood. About halfway through, I decided I should probably be documenting this, so I busted out the recorder. The following video is my first attempt at editing a video on iMovie. It's not quite ready for Hollywood yet, but it cracks me up every time I see it...

It was pretty exciting. :)


We had a really fun trip. The next time I'm up there, I would like to explore a little bit more. This trip was really more about relaxing, and that's always nice, but my ADD starts to kick in and there were a lot of antique stores up there... that's all I'm saying. :)


We stopped in Ventura on the way home for some fish 'n chips- always delicious. And that was that! I already miss the smokey smell on my clothes and roasting marshmallows. (Not the flaming ball from hell kind, just the normal ones.) I can't wait for the next adventure! ;-)