This past weekend the husband and I, along with a few friends went to Portola Redwoods for what turned into a pretty fun adventure that included multiple river crossings, a four leaf clover, trolling leaves, freshly baked cookies in the woods, rude neighbors, tick removal, and a jolly good time.
Friday:
After about an hour of driving, Ethan, Brian and I showed up to the main entrance around 5pm. We set up tents and started a fire because the mosquitoes were attacking in droves.
We had ourselves some beers and then some pasta with sausages after Kimberly showed up. No cell service meant we were taking bets as to when Thomas and Allison would arrive. So we decided to make cookies while we waited. That’s right, my husband bought an oven that runs off of propane, so we made cookies in the woods!!!
By Sunday people were stopping by our campsite to see this little oven! We were famous. 🙂
Anyways, eventually Thomas and Allison showed up and we all went to bed at a reasonable hour. There would be little to no sleep for me though. Our neighbors snored so loud it shook the ground. Note to self: car camping = ear plugs. Always.
I ended up getting up in the middle of the night and sleeping Brian’s car because I couldn’t take it. Of course, kids on their razor scooters woke me up around 8am.
Saturday:
Breakfast. Bacon + Eggs. Tasty. So much bacon. Made sandwiches for our hike and headed out around 10ish, mosquitoes in tow looking for a tasty meal because apparently my face wasn’t enough. I ended up with around 7 bites on my money maker. Oh well. Up up and away. Into the beautiful redwoods. Thomas discovered a leaf with a face. We decided it was a very creative caterpillar.
The redwoods were so beautiful. We had the trail mostly to ourselves. I think we saw one other person the entire 5 hours we were out hiking, which is ridiculous.
We noticed a metric ass ton of clover as we were hiking, so we started searching for a 4 leaf one. I have never found one, but apparently others in our party had. I wanted some good luck so I became determined.
In the end, I was the only one to find one. I plucked it from the earth and within minutes it was droopy and sad. 😦 But still, I WIN!
Once we reached the grove (our destination), we had a lunch break near a creek. Then we headed to the junction where we would decide whether to come back the way we came or go back another way. Of course, there was a river crossing involved.
I did forget to mention that Thomas discovered another leaf with a face so we decided we were, in fact, being trolled by someone.
After a brief discussion we decided to head back to camp a different way than we had come. Even though the trail was supposedly closed. We were positive we could overcome any obstacle that was presented. Those obstacles would be one more riving crossing and some busy beavers cutting down trees.
We managed to make it back to camp in one piece. We started a fire and gathered around the fire to relax. That’s when I noticed Brian had a black growth on his arm… of course it turned out to be a tick. He was super prepared and tried to get the tick to back out by heating up a bottle opener and holding it near it. Sadly, that didn’t work, but he did manage to pull it out with tweezers.
We all checked ourselves after that. Ethan had 3. Luckily only one had bitten. The other two were just chilling. It was determined that the ticks had come from the firewood bought at the visitor center. Note to the reader: check yourself for ticks after you buy firewood!!!
Dinner was frankfurters and hamburgers. A tasty end to our adventure.
Of course, our adventure was not over. Long after we had all gone to bed, our neighbors showed up at 3:30am with a crying baby, yelling, and obnoxious snoring. Another night in the car for me. And in the morning, no apology from them. They talked loudly about inappropriate things and walked in and out of our campsite as well as others. Completely rude. I was glad to leave them.
I had a great time with my friends. It was incredibly nice to disconnect and my hair still smells like campfire after at least 2 showers! 🙂
I look forward to our next adventure!
Kari's Adventures 