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We left Thursday night hoping that Carson would sleep most of the 4 hour drive to Austin Creek Redwood's Bullfrog Pond Campground. He didn't. He played, fussed and cried for 3.5 hours - falling asleep just 30 minutes from the campground. He did continue to sleep while we set up camp - but immediately woke up and started crying when we brought him into the tent. It was a very long night. I'm not sure any of us got more than a couple of hours of sleep. We have a 3 man tent, which is big enough for us all to fit - hypothetically. Carson sleeps in his own crib at home - we've never co-slept in the same bed and I was a little worried about how we would all do. I didn't account for how much Carson moves around in his sleep. At one point he tried to sleep on my head. We finally did fall asleep early, early in the morning - but Carson was up with the sunrise. Needless to say we were all tired.
We were determined to still have a good day and fixed a nice breakfast of bagels, eggs and bacon while Carson explored the campground. He had a great time playing with sticks, leaves and just getting generally filthy. He did have a bit of a rough time walking on the uneven ground, but he eventually did get the hang of it - sort of.
After breakfast we headed off on a nice little hike. There was a trail just a few yards from our campsite that went along the ridge of the mountain and had some great views of the redwood forest and you could see the ocean just beyond the furthest hills. Gorgeous. We hiked about 2 miles, stopping to take pictures and letting Carson explore.
Since we got such an early start, there was still a lot of day left when we got back to camp. Carson was a little cranky and in need of a nap, so we decided to drive to the coast to give him a chance to nap a little. We had a nice drive along Hwy 1 - Jenner, which is on Hwy 1 - is just 15 minutes from the campground. Carson slept and so we just kept driving up Hwy 1. We decided to go to Mendocino, a lovely little town on the coast - but we forgot how far it was. It took 2 hours to get there. We had thought it was just 1 hour north of Jenner. But it was a beautiful day and a gorgeous drive. We had lunch in Mendocino and took our time walking through the shops and giving Carson a break from his carseat. And then we headed back to camp.
By the time we got back to Jenner, Chris and I were exhausted and the thought of another sleepless night was more than we could bear. So we decided to pack up camp and get a hotel room for the night. We had planned to go to Santa Rosa in the morning for Novy Winery's 10th anniversary open house. We made use of an internet cafe in Guerneville and got a great deal on a hotel room just a few miles from Novy. I was so glad we did that. We got a good night's sleep and discovered that hotels have cribs you can request! It was a Graco pack n play but it was a life saver. We woke up the next day much more refreshed and ready for wine tasting!
We got to Novy & Siduri Winery just as they were opening for the wine tasting event. It was a lot of fun. Lisa drove up from Berkeley and joined us. There were soooo many good Pinots and Syrahs. I've never had so many Syrahs! We were in heaven. There was also Texas-style BBQ which was super-yummy. Carson really liked the pulled pork (and so did the rest of us). After spending 2 hours drinking wine and eating, we decided to drive up to another of our favorite wineries - Simi which is just up the road in Healdsburg. I had forgotten how good their Cabernet Sauvignon is. We tasted a lot of great wine on Saturday.
On the way back home we stopped at Cheeesboard in Berkeley and picked up some really great cheese, baguettes and scones to take home and of course a pizza for lunch. I really miss cheeseboard. But it's probably healthier that I haven't found another good cheese shop closer to Salinas. Although I've heard a rumor that there's a good one in Carmel.
The drive home was a bit of a nightmare. Carson was tired - it was nap time - but he refused to sleep. He played a little and fussed a lot. I can't really blame him he had spent a lot of time in his carseat. I just wished he could have went to sleep. We did eventually make it home although it was a very long hour and half from Berkeley.
Chris and I were sad that we didn't get to make s'mores though. So we made a fire in the fireplace, roasted marshmellows, ate s'mores, opened a bottle of wine and watched 27 dresses(we really liked the movie BTW). That was fun.
We will make another attempt at camping soon, but I think we will need to invest in a bigger tent and try to find a campground closer to home.
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