We camped in the most rustic part of the park - away from noisy families and RV's. The first night, there were only 3 camps occupied in our area. It was eerily quiet - crickets were all you could hear... until about 2 a.m. when every critter in the forest tramped through our camp to get to the lake for a drink of water. Thank God I slept with the dog. I don't know which one of us was more freaked out! There were little and medium - and even a couple of large pitter patters of feet. I swear, I thought at one point, something sniffed my tent!!!! And even though we left the rain cover thingy and the front cover off the tent so we could enjoy the stars and the canopy of oak trees - it was too dark to see who or what was lurking outside.

And then I remembered I had to pee...

The dog and I suffered for 3 hours, huddled together listening and worrying about the odd bear or mountain lion (which do inhabit the area), and at first light - we got to use the facilities.

Later that day, we were informed by a park employee that just about the time we got up is the most dangerous time to run into potentially dangerous creatures.

Anyway, the rest of our trip was uneventful as more campers arrived, the less wild animals desired to be around us. Except of course, for the bats. At dusk, hundreds of them would fly from where they hung out by the lake during the day. They were so cute, passing overhead, squeeking - like bats! We put our hats on and hoped for the best.

We fished. The kid caught her first fish and tossed it back into the lake after we'd documented the occasion with a photo.

We only got in one argument - over whether she was going to go on a hike alone. She was NOT going to go on a hike alone... but we did sort of bore each other and next time, if there is a next time - we've decided to find a group to camp with us.

Our last day, we broke camp, headed over to the marina for toasted bagel and cream cheese - and the world's best cup of coffee - and then checked out of the camping grounds. We drove 15 miles through gorgeous ranch lands to the Danish community of Solvang where we wandered the streets, window shopping with the dog. Afterwards, we turned into the parking lot of the California Mission Santa Ines, a beautiful 200 year old Spanish mission - and committed petty crime, as we took the $3 self-guided tour without paying up...

And it was only 11 in the morning!

Fun mini-vacation. Lots of activity. Lots of bug bites. Hope we didn't catch Lyme Disease, or Bubonic Plague, or Bird Flu...

We're home and the car is washed and all the junk is put away. Back to the old grind again tomorrow.


August 06, 2006

Be Afraid, People.... Really Afraid
September 01, 2008

One Last Bitchfest for the Road
August 24, 2008

Get the Popcorn Ready
July 17, 2008

I'm a Rich Ho-Bag
June 20, 2008