Casper's Wilderness Park

My buddy Tim came out to California with his son Christian this weekend, and it was a great opportunity to catch up and share some of our local wilderness. They spent Saturday in San Diego and I took La Rana down to Casper's Wilderness Park (a great local park but no dogs and no flush toilets, so it won't be big in our rotation).

Andy followed with Rozlynn and her little brother and sister. Since Tim and Christian were still in San Diego, we headed to Dana Point where we explored the tidepools and tried not to get swept away by big surf. Soon it was time to get back to Casper's and start getting dinner ready. Before the sun went down, the San Diego patrol had joined us for the campfire and dinner. It is always a great time having a steak dinner under the stars.

Andy's crew had to be back home before his car turned into a pumpkin, which meant it was just me and the mountain lions overnight. At sunup, I broke camp and scooted over to the harbor to meet Tim and Christian for a whale watch. Unfortunately, it turned into more of a dolphin watch as we only saw a couple grey whales. It was, however, a great morning out on the water and we had a great time.

Grown Up Time

For the first time in at least 18 years, we went camping without anyone else. Not even the dogs.

We headed down to San Juan Capistrano and the Los Rios District. It is such a cool place. We wish our home town had such a great place to hang around.

Then we headed over to Bubba Kahuna's for a pulled pork pizza and a couple of cold ones with our buddy Mike who had finished up his morning surfing. After checking in at the campground, we skipped the campsite and spent the afternoon in the day use area of the beach because you can park right at the sand.

Low tide was at six, and sunset was at seven so we scooted over to the tide pools before heading to the wharf for fish and chips. Instead of a campfire, we walked over to the rooftop lounge at the hotel next to the campground and had drinks under the stars.

We were in the campsite just to sleep, because in the morning, it was back on the sand before heading to Bull Taco for brunch. Back to beach combing and knitting before heading home for an early dinner and Guinness for St. Patty's day. What an awesome weekend!