I realized in the last couple years that I LOOOOOVE novels about…life. Just the little daily nuances and banality that make up your daily life. There can be highs and lows, but it still remains within the realm of something that can very realistically happen to you or me. No bat boys (sigh), no magical bakeries (well, maybe one of those) or “just one bed” tropes. But heartbreak and health emergencies, parenting decisions (the good and the bad), sibling rivalries and loyalty. Mommy and daddy issues. All the things that are very real to you and/or me or someone you know, that make a book so much more relatable, and sometimes so much more enjoyable because of that.
A warm, funny, and keenly perceptive novel about the life cycle of one family–as the kids become parents, grandchildren become teenagers, and a matriarch confronts the legacy of her mistakes.
My takeaway when I read this back in 2020: there is no such thing as perfect parenting. One off-hand comment you make can screw up your children forever. And you don’t even realize it.
I loved the exposure to Armenian family dynamics and food and culture (the cover art is a beautiful depiction of this), and the complicated relationships that make up a family. I loved the juxtaposition of the relationship between the children and their biological father versus their step-father (blood isn’t always thicker than water, metaphorically speaking). I also loved how each of the characters had to work through their issues, or chose not to. The mother’s relationship with each of her daughters revolves around very toxic traits, and it was interesting to read how each daughter was affected differently by their relationship with their mother.
This is one of my favorite reads this year. This books follows Marley, a newcomer in a small town, and her relationship with three brothers who have a family-owned roofing business. She’s “the one that got away” to one brother, wife to another, and a stand-in mother to the third. There’s also a bit of suspense and drama with a discovery in a church attic.
I could tell the writing in this book was extraordinary from the opening lines. I love books that are not high drama, just a re-telling of a life in a great way, and that’s exactly what this book is, although from a very unique situation (someone born with red eyes). I loved that the small, ordinary moments in our life are what can ultimately make for an extraordinary life.
Reality could be painful to acknowledge, but there came a point when we all realized we weren’t going to walk on the moon, star in a Hollywood movie, or be president of the United States. We’d be who we were, and we could either come to grips with this fact and like the person we’d become, or live with regret and disappointment.
Mariel inherited the Lakeside Supper Club from her grandmother, and has been working tirelessly to keep it afloat in a small town in Minnesota. There are complicated family dynamics between Mariel and her mother, and with some recent developments, Mariel has to decide what matters most.
Meena is a photojournalist who has made it a point to avoid settling down and forming long-term relationships. She unexpectedly inherits an apartment in Boston, and discovers family ties she didn’t know existed. Meena starts to explore whether settling down is something she can do, and what she’s willing to give up in order to do so.
Matelda, the Cabrelli family’s matriarch, has always been brusque and opinionated. Now, as she faces the end of her life, she is determined to share a long-held secret with her family about her own mother’s great love story: with her childhood friend, Silvio, and with dashing Scottish sea captain John Lawrie McVicars, the father Matelda never knew. . . .
It takes place in Italy and Scotland, and I just love exploring foreign countries through books. I think the stories of past and present were woven together really nicely, and one of the final scenes had me crying sad tears, in such a good way.
Although this was a two-mug read for me, I enjoyed the historical perspective and a bit of the political intrigue. I also enjoyed seeing the family perspective behind the men that made these big political back end deals in the ’70s (?).
Family Centered Books that have Magical Realism
Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe, by Heather Webber. This book is set in the small town of Wicklow, Alabama. Sweet tea, porch sitting, fried chicken, outdoor movie nights, small town gossip, sprinkled with a little magical realism. A granddaughter returns to settle her grandmother’s estate, which includes a diner. The book explores the complicated relationships between the mother, daughter, and grandmother.
The Fortunes of Jaded Women, by Carolyn Huynh. I LOVED this book! Part of the appeal for me was that it takes place in Orange County, CA, and although I live in a different part of Orange County, many of the places referenced were known or at least familiar to me. I thought the cultural insights were brilliant (I had a Vietnamese best friend in high school and reading some cultural references definitely made me nostalgic for that friendship!), and the humor with which the author explores the complicated relationships between the sisters and their daughters was so entertaining.
The Cartographers, by Peng Shepherd. As the title indicates, the book is about a map. A very rare map. This one may not be SUPER focused on family, but the flashbacks are definitely about found family, and the current timeline is about discovering family ties. There’s a bit of mystery and intrigue in this one, so not what I would consider a standard family drama, but I still had to include it!
Family Drama Books Set in Beautiful Landscapes
A Wild and Heavenly Place, by Robin Oliveira. This book starts in Scotland in the late 1800s, and then the initial establishment of Seattle. I haven’t been to Seattle yet, but it was so interesting to picture what a city of that size started out like. I really enjoyed all the characters, seeing the immigrant beginnings of a city, and reading about some beautiful settings. The story follows a brother and sister along their journey to Seattle, and the brother’s pursuit of the woman he loves.
Crow Talk, by Eileen Garvin. The cover alone is enough to fall in love with, but the story was beautiful as well. This story is about one main character, but also the profound impact that family can have on oneself, and not always positive. There’s a beautiful relationship that develops as well between the main character, a baby crow, and mute five-year old boy. I would love to spend a summer in this cabin in the Pacific Northwest.
Family Drama Books that are set in the Summer
The Summer Place, by Jennifer Weiner: this family-centered drama takes place during the summer in Cape Cod. This was a three mugger for me last summer. The Summer Place follows a family along a few days leading up to a wedding taking place at the family beach house. I have a terrible memory, so I’m not 100% sure, but I THINK this is the book where the house is sentient in the beginning and the end – and it’s a really sweet touch for the opening and closing of the story.
The Paper Palace, by Miranda Cowley Heller: this one has some common plot lines as The Summer Place, as they both deal with infidelity and both are set in Cape Cod. But The Paper Palace actually has a bunk house. ON. A. LAKE. I still think of the ending of this book often.
Last Summer at the Lakehouse, by Heather Dixon. After the death of their father, three sisters and their mother head to the family lake house, where they make a shocking discovery about their father. There were so many great quotes in this book about family life, dynamics, and the messiness of life. I felt that it was authentic and real, even if I though it went a little slow at times.
Classic Family Drama Reads
The Berry Pickers, by Amanda Peters. This books starts with the disappearance of a 5-year old indigenous girl in Maine, and how that affected the entire family. Although it doesn’t talk about it in detail, the book briefly addresses indigenous family separations that occurred in the 60’s. But it does deeply explore family ties and discovering who we really are and where we come from.
The Dutch House, by Ann Patchett. Although I didn’t love it as much as I expected to, it was still a good read based on a torn family. I loved reading about the relationship between the brother and the sister, and the house that seemed to have a gravitational pull on them. This book explores the very complicated relationship between a mother and the children she abandoned at a very young age.
The Most Fun We Ever Had, by Claire Lombardo. As mentioned in a previous post: this one was a long read, but a good read. The book explores the relationship between a husband and wife, and their four grown daughters. It makes me think about whether I can raise my boys without saying or doing something that will have a long-term and negative impact on their lives; maybe it’s unavoidable to some extent? It’s also a good reminder that we’re not perfect, but we can still be good people. I’m currently reading Same As It Ever Was by the same author, and seems to have many of the same deep family relationship vibes.
This is Where I Leave You, by Jonathan Tropper. The main character’s father dies, and he has to sit shiva with his extremely dysfunctional family, all soon after he walks in on his wife cheating on him with his asshole boss. Among other things. Most of the time I’m not a fan of story lines where the main character gets shit on over and over and over again, but in this case, I enjoyed reading about his at-times-comical and at-times-tragic life events. I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending, and although it was sometimes so outside of reality, I really enjoyed reading it.
Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett. This book is set on an orchard in Northern Michigan, and follows a family as they spend their COVID lockdown together. I really loved the quiet drama of this book, and exploring deep family ties and relationships.
Sandwich, by Catherine Newman. I have not read this one yet, but it is HIGH on my list. It’s about that in-between time where you’re sandwiched between half-grown kids, and aging parents. I know this is stage of life that is around the corner for us, so I’m very intrigued to read it and hopefully gain some insight before we get there.
What are you family drama reads? Drop your recommendations in the comments!
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This summer we decided to explore Mammoth lakes and revisit some of our favorite surrounding places. I’ll cover some travel and camping details, and list what we explored and places we visited and ate at.
Quick Camping Details
Site: New Shady Rest Campground, sites 124 and 125 (although we mainly occupied site 124 and used 125 for parking)
Type of camping: we dry camped with a fold out trailer
Dates: Saturday, June 8, to Friday, June 14, 2024
Total spent on gas (with a trailer attached): $463.92
Quick Glance Camping Menu
Our campsite was right at the beginning of downtown Mammoth, so there were lots of options to eat out and easy access to a grocery store (Vons), but I did prep the following meals at home for quick meals:
Slow cooker pulled pork with Hawaiian rolls
Slow cooker carnitas tacos
Marinated Greek chicken
Other meals that were not prepped but were quick fixes:
Hot dogs
Burgers
Spaghetti
Quick list of places we visited in and near Mammoth
Mammoth Lakes (we did a look around Twin Lakes, Lake Mary, Horseshoe Lake)
June Lake and surrounding lakes
Lee Vining (lunch, dessert, Mobile station is always great for clean bathrooms, food, snacks, keepsakes, and gas – although the gas is pricey!)
We camped at New Shady Rest Campground, and booked it through the Recreation.gov app. We were a little late on booking sites this season, but I think we still got a decent site. Bathrooms were a deciding factor this time around, so we skipped a lot of the campsites that are around or on the lakes, that don’t have vaulted bathrooms. This campground is right at the entrance of town, and very close to everything (Vons, coffee shops, sports stores, etc.). It was nice, on this trip, to be close to all the amenities we made full use of. The campsite is still surrounded by pine trees and definitely plenty of outdoor/nature feeling. There was definitely some traffic noise early in the morning, but none of the boys seemed to be affected by that (to be young and a deep sleeper!).
We hauled our trailer with us, which was nice to have beds and a kitchen, but there are no hook ups at this site and we didn’t fill up the water tank before we set up the trailer, which I wish we had. The campground does have a dumpsite where we could have filled up, and will definitely remember this for future trips. It would have been nice to shower mid-week ;)
On our way into the campground, we picked up about four bundles of wood from the camp host, which was cash only.
There seems to be an infestation of some kind with a lot of the trees in the area, so lots of wood chips around the campsites from all the trees they’ve had to take down. The kids loved finding pine cones and branches, and even picked up whittling, ha!
There are also a lot of moths in the area, which are definitely harmless and didn’t bother me, until it was time to go to sleep and they kept smacking the trailer ceiling. So definitely keep your doors/screens closed during the day! Jeff and I become serious moth hunters at night!
One of the favorite activities the kids enjoyed while at the campsite was kicking their soccer ball around on the road in front of our site, so definitely plan on taking some sports equipment. We also LOVE these glow in the dark balls from the Dollar Tree. I’ll usually buy at least one or two per night for our trips – the kids love them and they’ll play with them for quite a bit each night. Our major snafu was not bringing our bikes. I had advocated for it since I read that Mammoth had great biking trails, many of which were family friendly, but I didn’t quite convey that to Jeff, and he was concerned about the space they would take up. It definitely became a running joke throughout the week because there are A LOT of bike trails, and LOTS of families on bikes. We could have rented e-bikes, which seem to be very popular, but we never got around to it. Next time, though…
Our campsite was right across from the Welcome Center, which was fun to walk to and check out.
One thing I noticed that was different about this camping trip was the crowd. The boys always make friends at our campsites (and we exchange contact information and then never follow up), but this area seems to be more for the younger traveler than families with kids. Lots of early 20s and older folks that have long ago raised their children – all out adventuring on their amazing e-bikes, ha! This is near the Pacific Crest Trail, so you also have a lot of avid hikers. It was a bit of a bummer for the kiddos to not have any kindred spirits on this trip, but it was also nice to seem them just playing with each other.
Our Camping Itinerary
Saturday: packing and travel day
I had to work all week, so we felt a bit rushed packing up and trying to leave on Saturday morning. But we were also antsy to be out of the house and on the road. We decided if we were ready to leave by 11 a.m., we would head out, and if not, we’d wait to leave until Sunday. Leaving much later than that would have us arriving and setting up after dark, and not something I was wanting to do.
I’m so thankful for my packing list (which is available on Etsy!) – it helped me stay relatively calm during a pretty frenzied morning. We ended up leaving shortly the house shortly after 11:30 a.m., and probably closer to 12 p.m. since we stopped to get In N Out before we hit the road, but we were passed the point of no return at that point.
Although we had several pee stops, generally the boys are great travelers and we did great. Given our late arrival time, we decided for a quick dinner stop at El Pollo Loco in Bishop, CA, so we wouldn’t be hangry when we pulled into our site and had to set up.
We arrived at our campsite around 7:30 p.m. with plenty of sunlight still available. Unfortunately we had some major electrical hookup issues with our trailers, so we couldn’t get the side pull out to work, so it was pretty tight quarters inside for the first couple days. Not to mention, we couldn’t reach the second bed (which we didn’t need until my in-laws joined us a couple days later) or the pantry. Not being able to reach the pantry/closet was a pain, and we ended up folding out that side of the trailer so we could jump in through that fold out (with a ladder). Not ideal, but it worked. Our oldest boy was stressing for a bit, so I had to keep reinforcing that although not ideal, we still had a place to sleep and were in a beautiful place. Everything else would either work out or we’d make do.
Jeff went to a couple places that night to look for the fuses we needed to fix our problem, but none of the places had the exact fuse we needed.
Since our fridge wasn’t working at that point, I had to move all of our food into the cooler.
Daily miles and gas: 334 miles, $188
Sunday: Troubleshooting and Mammoth Lakes
We decided to grab a quick coffee at one of the many adorable coffee shops in town, and go on a hunt for the fuse we needed for the trailer. We went to Looney Bean Coffee where we enjoyed our self-serve drip coffee and a delicious blueberry scone. All three boys really enjoyed the kids corner that had a mock coffee shop – it was so cute seeing the three of them work together to run their little cafe!
That same shopping center has a store called DIY Home Center, so we checked there for the fuse. We grabbed a few, and enjoyed watching the in store pet: a cat!
We swung by Kittridge Sports to get our fishing licenses and to get some info on where to go fishing. The guy that helped us was super friendly: he gave us a map and highlighted some areas that he recommended we try. Since we were staying there all week, it made the most sense to get the annual license for Jeff and I, since it’s basically the same price as a 10-day license (the other option being a two-day license, for half of the cost). Kids under 16 don’t need one, so at least we saved on that!
We headed back to our campsite where Jeff tried out the fuses, but they still kept blowing. We made lunch at our site (grilled chicken kebabs that I had marinated at home), and packed up to head up the road and view the lakes.
We headed back to our campsite where Jeff tried out the fuses, but they still kept blowing. We made lunch at our site (grilled chicken kebabs that I had marinated at home), and packed up to head up the road and view the lakes.
We drove up Lake Mary Road, and I was blown away by the view we go to Twin Lakes Vista. It’s definitely worth pulling over to the viewing area on the right – there’s a convenient parking lot to pull into. The waterfall was in full effect, the lake looked beautiful, and we even crossed the street to view the river under a walking bridge. We piled back into the car and then took the turnout on the right for the scenic drive to Twin Lakes. Jeff and I realized this is where we camped during our honeymoon. There was a little bridge to cross the lake, where we spotted a patch of snow, so we decided to check that out.
So glad we did! The boys played in the snow for a bit, and we stumbled upon Lake Forest Chapel, where Jake decided to officiate an impromptu wedding for Jeff and I (it was as adorable as it sounds!).
After this we followed Twin Lakes Loops Road back out to to Lake Mary Road, and continued down that to the Twin Falls Overlook (stay to the right on Lake Mary Road). I enjoyed the view from from Twin Lakes Vista, but it was cool to see the rushing water and the expansive view of the lake. We continued down Lake Mary Road all the way to Horseshoe Lake, which I read had a good beach. The trees in the parking lot are all dead and it looked a little apocalyptic, so we didn’t even get out. We went back down Lake Mary Road, and did a loop around Lake Mary, which is BEAUTIFUL.
We found the restrooms that are located across the lake, and the boys again found a patch of snow that was worth playing in. We scoped out a couple fishing areas for the following day, and decided to head back down the mountain for some pre-dinner snacks at Mammoth Brewing Company.
It was a little windy outside, so we skipped the outdoor patio (which looked very nice!) and instead requested seating upstairs. The vibe was a little weird, and maybe it was the time of day also (post-lunch, pre-dinner), but in retrospect I might have preferred to brave the wind and sit outside. Jeff and I grabbed a beer, and we ordered fries and brownie bites. It was all delish! We also got cookies for the boys (they come with the kids meal, and when I asked if I could just buy three cookies without the kids meal, they just gave us the cookies for FREE!). I asked if the cookies had any nuts, and was informed they have a nut free facility, which I don’t think I’ve encountered before. Jake is the only one allergic to nuts, but it’s always in the back of our mind, and I gotta say, it was such a nice feeling to have a 100% knowledge that there was ZERO chance for any kind of cross contamination.
When we got back to our campsite, we decided to explore the trail that runs along our campsite. It follows the Sawmill Cuttoff road, and it was SO pretty. It’s about a mile each way. There was no one else around and we were slightly worried about bears, so we kept the kids pretty close, but Josh really enjoyed riding his razor on the trail (bikes would have been the chefs kiss, ha!). We stopped when we hit a skate park, which was a huge highlight for Josh. The smile on his face was pretty incredible. And the view for the rest of us was pretty spectacular. We did hear some thunder while at the skatepark, and saw some ominous clouds moving in, so we decided to head back to our campsite.
That night we fixed burgers and hot dogs on Jeff’s grill – I was starting to re-arrange our meal plan based on not having a fridge and trying to prioritize food based on what was going to last longer.
Daily miles and gas: we stayed pretty local this day, so I think we only drove about twenty miles between our trip into town and up and down to the lakes.
Monday: Fishing Along Lake Mary
I had prepped pancake batter at home before we left, so I fixed them on Monday morning, just adding a squashed banana to the mix (it’s the only way we eat pancakes at home). Note to self: DO NOT FIX PANCAKES WHILE CAMPING. I always forget this, and try to make pancakes on every camping trip, but they just don’t come out right at the higher elevations. They don’t cook quite right. If you have tips, I’m all eyes and ears!
After breakfast, we prepped to head out for a fishing excursion, and I packed us some sandwiches for lunch so we wouldn’t have to leave to get lunch. After a few years of camping and family trips, I feel like I finally have this packed lunch thing nailed down. I use one ziplock bag for all of our sandwiches, and label everyone’s sandwich on the paper towel I use to wrap their sandwich (I know this is ridiculous, but everyone takes their sandwich a little different. Jake: cucumber and mayo. Josh: mustard and meat. Jonny: meat and mayo, maybe cucumber. Jeff and Alex: meat, mayo, mustard, cheese – possibly different cheese/meat combos for each of us, based on what we have available). Folks: I am to please! I used a separate ziplock bag to fill with ice, and that was my ice pack. I intentionally bring an insulated lunch bag so I can pack up our food. The large ziplock I use for our sandwiches then functions as my trash bag. Dual use!
Folks, I’ll say it now: the fishing was a HUGE disappointment for us on this trip (and every prior camping trip). I think we have bad juju or something. We tried a couple different spots that had been recommended to us, and got nothing. Zilch. Zero. Nada. I think Jake got one bite, but that was it. The most frustrating part was that there WERE fish – we could see them, they just weren’t biting. Pretty sure they were mocking us.
We decided to ease our disappointment with ice cream, and headed to Hugs in the Mammoth Village. I really appreciate when there’s a combo of unique flavors (like strawberry melon and banana chocolate chip) and regular flavors (chocolate chip, chocolate, vanilla). Our kids are always a little let down when they’re excited for ice cream and all the flavors are funky flavors. Jeff really enjoyed the banana chocolate chip, and Jake was a huge fan of the strawberry melon. I think Jonny got chocolate and I got chocolate chip – both were great.
I fixed some quick and easy carnitas tacos for dinner – I had made the carnitas just before we left, and had pre-chopped cilantro and onion (which always makes the fridge/cooler stink, but saves me some work…). Love these quick, but yummy, meals while camping!
Tuesday: June Lake and Surrounding Lakes
We decided to drive the twenty minutes or so to June Lake and see if we’d have better fishing there. The employee at Kittredge recommended Gull Lake or Silver Lake for fishing. Both of those are in the June Lake loop: Gull Lake is just passed June Lake, and Silver Lake is a few miles further back. We decided to start with Silver lake since it was the furthest back, and then check out Gull Lake and June Lake.
We pulled over in a parking lot towards the middle of Silver Lake and walked down a quick little trail to the water, and HOLY MOSQUITOS BATMAN. I mean…I’m now used to mosquitos back home in Orange County, but this was something else. They were hovering all around us as soon as we got close to the water. We turned right back around and got back in the truck, ha!
There was a promising section further down the lake, but it was packed. There were people fishing EVERYWHERE, and that just didn’t seem like it would work in our favor. We decided to head back towards Gull Lake, but turned around rather than continuing down the loop, since that takes you all the way around and back out to the 395. We got to see some pretty cool waterfalls on our way back!
We weren’t sure where to go around Gull Lake, and we ended up pulling into a parking lot by a playground – I think it’s the Gull Lake Community Park. It was a good stop for some of us to change into shorts, get sunblocked, for all of us to use the restroom, and the boys played on the playground for a little bit. The shore fishing seems difficult because there are reeds all along the shore in this area – I really think next time we need to rent a boat to head out into the lakes if we want to catch anything.
We headed back towards June Lake, and again: we were at a loss as to where to do any effective shore fishing around the lake, so we decided to just go to the beach. Parking is $10 for the beach access. We had brought our chairs and packed a lunch, but didn’t have any sun cover, so we were happy to have cloud cover for most of the time we were there. The boys waded into the water and took turns coming out to eat their sandwich (which we had to eat quickly before some weird gnats got on them, ha!).
The scenery here is absolutely stunning: looking out into the lake, with snow capped mountains in the foreground. I was a happy gal! The boys loved playing with an inflatable in the water, and I got a little reading time in. The water along the beach is shallow for quite a bit, so the boys were able to adventure pretty far without having to get fully in.
There was some weird yellow stuff floating in the water that I was concerned about at first (is it some weird fungi??), and I kept telling Jonny to stop playing with (because of course, he was sitting ALL up in it, and trying to gather and collect it). Thankfully someone nearby heard me saying something about it, and he informed me (very nicely) that it’s just pollen from the pine trees! Carry on, Jonny Boy, carry on.
We decided to head up to Lee Vining. We fueled up at the famous Mobil station (clean bathrooms, lots of food and snacks, and great place to get some mementos), then got ice cream at Mono Cone. I felt a bit overwhelmed with the ice cream options and feeling like I didn’t know the right lingo to order correctly (I definitely didn’t, and it showed on the cashier’s fairly impatient face). But alas, we got our cones, and sat on the back patio, which was lovely. Jake raved about his strawberry shake. Bathrooms were nice and clean, so took that opportunity as well. Heads up: this place is CASH ONLY.
We drove down Hwy 120 to check out some of our favorite fishing spots, but again, no dice. Everyone was a bit tired, so we called it a day. Jonny and I enjoyed some reading time while the boys tried to fish.
We headed back to our campsite and waited for Jeff’s parents and nephew to join us. That night we had pulled pork sandwiches (also prepped at home), with a Classic Suddenly Salad and a can of baked beans (and seriously, I went to Vons almost every day…I was NOT on my A-game for planning side dishes on this trip).
That night I had the WORST panic/anxiety attacks I’ve ever experienced. I experienced this for the first time in 2020 on the eve of the pandemic, and then right before traveling to Guatemala with the kids last year. I experienced it again before our trip to Tulum in May, but this was something else. Maybe it’s something that just comes with age, but I. DON’T. LIKE IT. No, thank you. Please go away. I felt like I was up all night spiraling in all sorts of directions, and my mantra was “I’m fine. Everyone’s fine.” I had to work so hard to remind myself that what I was freaking out about was so illogical…but alas, the mind does what it wants. I really, really hope this isn’t a new normal for me.
Daily mileage and gas: approximately 165 miles
Wednesday: Lake Mary and June Lake
We tried Lake Mary again for fishing, now with the full gang, and no one got a thing! Jonny and I enjoyed some more lounging and reading while everyone did their best to catch a fish, or unhook their lines.
We went to The Stove for lunch, which was good. Although it was a bit warm inside, the service was great and everyone enjoyed their food. Within our party we tried the tacos, tuna melt, club sandwich, and kids chicken fingers. I’d love to check out their breakfast next time. I’m super bummed I didn’t get to try one of their pies – they looked so good!
After heading back to camp and packing up, we headed back to June Lake. But this time we brought the canopy! I must confess that I find beach trips exhausting: lugging everything to and fro, sand in everything, worried about getting sunburned, etc. BUT, snowcapped mountains and boys having a blast makes it all worth it. The canopy was a challenge because it was quite windy, and although there were plenty of rocks to try to hold it down, the winning feature was eventually a piece of string from one of our rafts, that we used to tie the canopy to a rock. We inflated our two-person raft and the boys had so much fun paddling on it. Jonny walked out a couple times with us, and then enjoyed chilling by the shore.
We had dinner at Giovanni’s that night. There are A LOT of pizza places in Mammoth – something we noticed when we first got there. So Jeff did some research to see what was the best one, and Giovanni’s was the winner. Although our waitress seemed to be having a bad night, and Jeff’s beer was passed the “enjoy by” date by a couple years, the pizza was delicious! Jake ordered buttered noodles and I literally had to DRAIN the butter off of his plate.
We took it pretty easy for the rest of the evening; I think we might have even skipped the campfire this night!
Thursday: Bodie Historic Park, Lee Vining
We really wanted the boys to see Bodie Ghost Town, so we had a fairly quick breakfast, threw the camp chairs in the truck so we could attempt to fish later, and headed out. It’s about an hour drive from Mammoth to Bodie, and what feels the longest is probably the last three miles. The road is unpaved and it. Is. Rough. I’ve been to Bodie twice before; I think I have one more visit in me to catch the Sawmill Tour, but after that, I think it could be a one and done thing (or, you know…a four and done thing). We’ve never timed our visit right to catch the tour, so you know…you like at some old buildings and you’re pretty much done. It’s usually pretty hot, so it’s not like we stay there for hours. Don’t get me wrong: it IS cool to walk around the town and imagine what life was like back in the day, but it’s not a long visit. The drive into Bodie is pretty, though: some rolling hills, usually a flock or two of sheep. Driving out was extra pretty with the snow capped mountains to look at.
I’m pretty sure the Saw Mill Tour is offered daily at 11 a.m. We missed it by half an hour or so, and then we all got hangry, so it was time to go! Although you can pay for the park entrance fees with a card, the self-guided brochure is cash only ($3).
We went back to Mono Cone in Lee Vining, which my in-laws and nephew were really looking forward to. They think the Ortega burger is the best one! I got a regular burger, and it was also good. We had to keep an eye out for a table this time – it was pretty crowded! While you’re there, you can also check out the Upside Down House, which is just down the block.
We made one more attempt to fish near Lee Vining, but eventually called it quits. We did get to enjoy the scenery from one of our favorite campgrounds in that area, although there are really too many mosquitoes and ants and not-clean-bathrooms for us to camp there with kids.
We stopped by Vons (again!) when we got back to Mammoth, and I fixed a pretty simple spaghetti dinner. We had originally planned to do the Devil’s Postpile and Rainbow Falls hike on Friday, but after reading the logistics involved (can only get there by shuttle, running every x minutes at y locations, bring lots of water and sunblock), we decided….we were ready for our own beds and showers at home, ha! So…we did all the things on Thursday night: finished our s’more fixings, opened all the glow in the dark balls, and the boys used these fire color-changing packets that Josh recognized at the Mobile station from some YouTube video.
Jeff, his nephew, and the boys had such a great time playing catch with the remaining glow in the dark balls. Those things are always so much fun!
Daily miles: approximately 260 miles; we filled up at the Mobile station and spent $85 on gas
Next Time
Along with the Devils Postpile and Rainbow Falls, here are a few other things I had on my list but didn’t work out on this trip:
Silver Lake Resort for lunch
Convict Lake
Parker Lake hike
New and/or Favorite Items
Jonny was really upset that he didn’t have a CamelBak like the boys, so I ordered one at the last minute for him. These would have probably been great if we did any real hiking on this trip…but we didn’t. I filled them up one day in the hopes of going on a hike, but we really just wore them to the Visitor Center and…that was it. I, however, used my hydration backpack every day. It has enough space to carry some stuff in it, and I didn’t have to worry about carrying a separate water bottle.
Next up: our Memorial day weekend trip to Tulum, Mexico!
Also: I never blogged about our Spring break trip to Guatemala in 2023! Probably because I was in shell shock for a while, but now I can look back and admire all the good things from that trip, so I’ll try to get that together soon-ish.
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SPRRRRIIIIING BREEEEEAAAAAK! We decided to have a fairly mellow Spring Break this year by staying local, but we managed to fit in a couple cool things with the boys.
On Monday we headed to San Diego and stopped at the Cabrillo National Monument, which was pretty cool. We had coffee and ice cream at a cool little place, and then headed to our hotel. Funny enough, the hotel was the ONLY part the boys were excited about all day Monday. We stayed at a pretty cheap hotel, so I kept trying to tell them that sightseeing around San Diego was going to be WAY more exciting than checking in to our hotel. But alas, they asked “how much longer until we go to the hotel” about a million times.
Our big event was going to the U.S.S. Midway on Tuesday. We got there before it opened, and that worked out so great because we basically had the upper deck to ourselves. The audio tour is really great, and they have a kids and adult recording for each station. Although we were exhausted after almost four hours of walking around, we all had a great time and loved exploring all the different parts of the ship. I think we all agreed that the control rooms were the best part.
As expected, eating lunch on the ship was expensive. Although I was prepared for it, I still wasn’t prepared for it. I think it was a little over $80 for the five of us to eat mediocre fast food. Le sigh.
We also went to Medieval Times that week, compliments of the grandparents. Jonny took a while to warm up to the noise and lights, but all three boys ended up having a blast. This was another expensive outing, and not something I see us doing again until we have grandkids (ha!).
Honestly between San Diego, Medieval Times, and getting random treats throughout the week, I think we would have spent just as much going somewhere out of town for the week!
We also had Josh’s 8th birthday party, so on the heels of Easter and Spring Break, it was a busy month!
items i loved this month
After Easter, spring break and birthday planning, April was a very low budget month for extras. Josh’s birthday was a skateboard theme, so I did get these before for goody bags:
One tradition we started in 2020 with COVID that has stuck around (sometimes, based on the theme) is making our own pinatas! I didn’t find anything great online that was on-theme, so with dad’s help, we made our own! Jeff designed an amazing invite, so we used that image for the pinata. There wasn’t a large enough print at FedEx, so Jeff cut the image in two, we printed two copies of each page, and then cut and glued them on to the pinata that Jeff fashioned with Amazon boxes. Bought some black and white tissue paper, and voila!
Our other big home project has been the built-in closet that Jeff has made for Jake’s bedroom. It’s been a very time-consuming project, but Jeff has done an AMAZING job.
Lastly, my craft project at work for April was a paint-by-numbers craft, and it was a huge hit! I bought a variety of sets, some from Amazon and some from Michaels. The ones from Michaels were more intricate, but the Amazon ones were pretty easy and almost completed within our hour lunch.
recipe
BLT’s – Armstrong Style
With summer approaching, we’re going back to some of our hot-weather meals, of which BLT’s is high on the list. We go a little crazy with ours, so here’s what we add in addition to bacon, lettuce, and tomato:
Avocado
Monterey Jack cheese
Cucumber
And the key ingredient: a fried egg! I fry it in the bacon grease…because obvies.
Haven’t started it yet because just the title makes me sad, but our May book club pick is My Lobotomy by Howard Dully and Charles Fleming. I borrowed the audiobook from Libby – wish me luck!
I started a podcast with my friend, Karla. Take a listen!
Follow me on Instagram for current reads and reviews.
Let me know in the comments what your current read is, or a book you’re looking forward to reading!
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This month has been a doozy! I had a presentation for my consultant side-gig on 3/27 and it sucked up a lot of my time and energy. Not to mention I was a bundle of nervous anxiety for the four days preceding it. I’m still trying to understand that – I wasn’t nervous about presenting, I’ve done that before and LOVE it, which is the whole reason I’m pursuing this, but it was my first time presenting on this scale. And being me, I added all of these little extras that I was probably nervous about pulling off. Regardless, it went great (although I do need to adjust the timing and format of it), and as of last night, my belly is back to feeling normal and not feeling like I’m going to puke, so that’s great.
Ever since the time change, the boys have been able to play outside a little longer in the evenings. And although it’s a constant “stay out of the street! put a sweater on!,” it’s so great to live in a neighborhood where they can play with other kids outside. I feel like it’s a quintessential part of childhood that many kids miss out on these days. It makes up for the fact that hosting Easter in our tiny home is a logistical nightmare when it’s raining and we can’t use our backyard.
items i loved this month
Paint by numbers: I’m getting ready for the April craft workshop that I organize at work, and decided on these. I found some other ones at Michael’s, but they were larger and seemed way more complicated. We only have an hour, so I’m trying to get better at finding crafts that can be easily completed within that time frame (instead of everyone taking home a partial project – I have so many unfinished ones from the last year!).
Skateboard book: I usually buy a book for each child’s birthday party, so that those attending can sign it. I try to stay on theme, obvies. Josh’s 8th birthday is coming up, and he chose a skateboard theme. If you’re friends with either of us on the socials, you’ve seen the amazing invitation that Jeff made – he’s SO talented! But I digress. I bought this skate book for Josh’s birthday and it’s so cool! It’s more expensive and grown-up than what I would usually buy, but alas, our boys are growing up.
Motivational cards: because I’m a sucker for these things, I post little motivational cards in the bathroom stalls at my work. And people are allowed to take one if they see one that speaks to them. I recently purchased these, although I really liked these ones that I bought last time.
projects, crafts & more
My craft at work for March were DIY magnets. I made a version of these years ago, when Jeff and I had a little shop in a trailer at The Camp in Costa Mesa, and they sold pretty well!
Now Amazon has a “kit” to make these, so they look even better and were way easier to make then using a hot glue gun to attach the magnet.
The great part of this craft was that it was easily completed during our lunch break – which has not been typical of some crafts, ha!
SUPPLY LIST
Magnet set that includes glass piece and adhesive magnet
I cut plastic cups so I could give everyone a small “bowl” with modge podge
Newspaper or craft paper for each workstation for easy clean up
recipe
LEMONADE
Our neighbors gave us lemons from their backyard recently, and honestly they’re the only lemons I like to use for lemonade, because they’re DELICIOUS. Anyhow, we’ve been making this lemonade for a few years now, and making the sugar syrup is a game changer!
Ingredients and Instructions
1 and 3/4 cup of sugar
1 and 1/2 cups of lemon juice (about seven juicy lemons)
8 cups of water
In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and one (1) cup of the water. Bring to a boil and stir to dissolve the sugar. Allow it to cool, cover, and refrigerate until chilled.
When juicing the lemons, remove the seeds but leave the pulp (optional, but I do really like the pulp in the lemonade). Stir into a pitcher with the sugar water. Add the remaining seven (7) cups of water, stopping to taste occasionally (sometimes I need more or less water, depending on the sweetness of the lemons).
I’ve started two different books, plus just got a long awaited book from Libby, but really feeling the need to finish the first two (which haven’t hooked me). My Amazon First Reads are really stacking up, and hoping for a month where I can make some serious progress and share some great reads!
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Let me know in the comments what your current read is, or a book you’re looking forward to reading!
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We went to LA this month to meet up with one of our favorite families, and explored the Fern Dell Nature Trail by the Griffith Observatory. We walked to a great playground that was on the trail, and the kids had a blast running around (unfortunately the bathrooms are under renovations, so beware of the porta poties!). We enjoyed some ice creams from the local paletero, and I got such a kick out of all the boys saying “gracias!”
We also did a little brainstorming session this month which I really enjoyed. We are not doing a major trip for Spring Break this year, so instead I put up a big piece of butcher paper on our closet door, and told the kids to go wild with anything and everything they’d like to do. We have some great ideas that we winnowed down between things we can plan for spring break, things we can plan for future family trips, and things we can aspire for…someday, ha!
items i loved this month
Presentation pointer! Such a cheap and silly gadget, but it made a HUGE difference during my professional development presentation last month. I was able to walk about the classroom more freely while still clicking through my slides. I had originally ordered this one, but the day before my presentation I was notified it wouldn’t arrive on time.
Trash can stickers. Again: a silly purchase, but we have our trash and recycle cans right next to each other under the sink and guests will ask which is which. I thought this could take the mystery out of it all.
Chip clips! Andy was calling these the unsung heroes of the kitchen on Nobody’s Listening, Right? and I agree! Which made me realize: I hate our mismatched chip clips. I had a lightbulb moment while listening to the podcast: I could BUY cute and matching chip clips, and they probably wouldn’t even cost much! Shocker: they don’t.
Herschel backpack. Jeff and I are planning our trip to Tulum in May to celebrate my aunt’s 60th birthday, and I decided this was the inspiration I needed to finally upgrade my travel backpack. I’m a little sad to let my last one go, since it’s really been EVERYWHERE with me, and through so much, but it is literally being held together by safety pins. And I’ll be honest: I really want to feel and look cool on this trip. This will be our first major trip without the kids (and since we went to Germany together in 2012), so I figured it’s worth the splurge. I’m REALLY excited about the Seagrass color on the Little America Backpack. I originally ordered the standard size, which I was concerned about so I even watched a YouTube video comparing the standard and mid-volume sizes. Turns out it really is too big, so I’m returning it and exchanging it for the mid-volume size. TULUM HERE I COME!
projects, crafts & more
This month’s craft at work was a “Love” wooden sign made with nails and yarn. I think it came out so cute!
Jeff and the boys helped with the boards: Jeff obviously did the cutting, but the boys helped sand and apply some layers of I-really-don’t-know-what and paint.
I wanted to have a few different options available for people, so we experimented with a few different stains, and a couple white boards. I also bought various colors of yarn so everyone could pick what they wanted, and printed a few different fonts. I love seeing how unique everyone’s project turns out.
recipe
CHICKEN PITA WRAPS!
Ok, maybe not the best representation of this dinner, but we had it last night and we LOVE it. It’s light and refreshing and after a week of eating crap, it was exactly what we needed.
Ingredients for chicken marinade:
1/4 cup of Olive Oil
2 cloves of garlic
2 table spoons of lemon juice
1 and 1/2 pounds of chicken breast (about two breasts), cut into bite sizes
Place all the above ingredients in a ziplock bag and let the chicken marinate. I’m sure overnight is probably best, but I usually do it as soon as I get home and just let it marinate in the fridge for 20-30 minutes. Still tastes great!
Meanwhile, get those bamboo skewers soaking in water, and prep your tzatziki sauce.
Tzatziki ingredients:
6 ounces of greek yogurt
1/2 of an English cucumber, de-seeded and thinly diced
Chopped fresh dill
1 tsp of white vinegar
large pinch of salt
3/4 tablespoon of olive oil (recipe calls for one full tablespoon – I find it to be too much)
1 minced garlic clove
Mix these all together and let it chill in the fridge until ready to serve.
Additional toppings: red onion, lettuce, large tomato chunks, and FETA cheese (we really like the tomato and basil seasoned feta). And are you really from California if you don’t add avocado to everything?
Our favorite side: greek french fries! I know…it makes for a less healthy meal, but they’re so good! We used to use frozen shoestring fries, but yesterday Jonny picked the crinkle frozen fries, and I’ll admit: they were much better. On a cookie sheet, I have one side of regular french fries for the boys, and on the other side I season the frozen fries with dried oregano. I bake per the instructions, and once ready, I put our seasoned fries in a bowl and add feta, tzatziki, and sometimes chopped parsley. So good!
reading recap & MORE
This was a pretty slow reading month. I’ve been trying to do yoga more often in the mornings, and I’ve really been buckling down on my clerical professional development handbook for an upcoming PD session next month, so the reading has been slim.
I also read the Improbable Meet Cute series – these were all short stories and although some of them were cute, none of them were favorites. As I’ve mentioned before, short stories also seem a little rushed to me, so that’s probably part of it.
Currently reading:
The Volcano Daughters, by Gina Maria Balibrera (publication date: 08.20.24). I was intrigued by the cover and title of this book, as someone with a Central-American born mother, but I’ve had a hard time staying hooked.
Follow me on Instagram for current reads and reviews.
Let me know in the comments what your current read is, or a book you’re looking forward to reading!
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OK, trying to branch out on my monthly blogs for 2024. Let’s see how this goes!
family highlight
For a couple years now we’ve gifted the boys “mom, dad, & me” dates for Christmas. I really wish we did this more often throughout the year because the one-on-one time with them is SO great. But it does make it super special and each of them were excited for their “dates.” We picked different date ideas for each of them based on their interests:
Jake: trip to Barnes & Noble that included a book purchase and Starbucks snack
Josh: going out for breakfast, and a boba date which we did a bit later as a family
Jonny: a trip to Baskin Robbins for ice-cream with all the yesses (yes, you can get the unicorn with the extra chocolate and sprinkles!)
items i loved this month
I had an Amazon gift card to burn so I splurged on some items I’ve been wanting for a while and could buy with no guilt!
Library kit!! Ah I’ve been wanting this for so long! Finally got it, but I’ll admit I haven’t had time to actually put them on my books. The kit only comes with 20 cards so I was also over-analyzing that I’d have to prioritize my books, but I found out they sell refill cards!
Busytown Seek and Find board game: this was really a Christmas present for Jonny, but it’s been a HUGE hit. Although it’s mostly for Jonny, it’s become a family favorite.
projects, crafts & more
I’ve been organizing monthly craft workshops at my work since June, and I LOVE them! January’s workshop was our most popular to-date: one of my co-workers is a crochet wizard (just like my mom!), so she led the class and we’re all furiously crocheting our little hearts away. It’s nice to have a commonality with co-workers that transcends our individual departments and is not work-related.
I also watched a documentary on Amazon Prime for ME. I NEVER watch anything, so this was huge. It’s called The Booksellers and it was an interesting peek into the world of book buyers/sellers and the history and future of bookstores.
recipe
I wanted to try something new recently so I brought down my Magnolia cookbooks, and given the weather, I decided to try the potato soup. It’s not my new favorite, but it’s good, and Jeff LOVED it, so that’s huge! I made the full recipe the first time I made it, and had waaaay too much leftover (the boys won’t touch it). It didn’t freeze well, so we ended up dumping it (anyone have special advice on freezing food with potatoes in it? They always defrost funky to me…).
This last time I did a half-batch and that was still more than enough. I also ventured to my local Panera on a very rainy day because I REALLY wanted to have them in sourdough bowls, and I do think that’s the only way I’ll have this soup in the future. I’m not sure what the rules are on sharing recipes from cookbooks, so I’m just going to share this site that’s already done the dirty work ;)
reading recap
I started out really strong since I had the first week of January off from work and generally not a lot going on, but then side projects and life took over, and I started a book I couldn’t seem to finish. It took me a while to decide not to finish it, but I’m so glad I let it go. I read The Heirloom instead, and breezed through it. So here’s my reminder to you that it’s OK not to finish a book – there’s too much great stuff out there!
Crow Talk, by Eileen Garvin: Three Mugs. Publication date: 04.30.24
Tangled Up In You, by Christina Lauren: Three mugs + Jalapeno. Publication date: 06.25.24
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Let me know in the comments what your current read is, or a book you’re looking forward to reading!
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We’ve used a trailer on our camping trips for the last couple summers, which provides a lot of comforts. We went back to tent camping for our recent camping trip to Big Sur, and I wanted to work out a few kinks. (Also, I used “short cuts” in the title because I feel like “hack” is severely over used, but yes, the tips at the end would be called “camping hacks” by anyone else.)
Kitchen
I loved having a kitchen and kitchen storage in the trailer. During our prior tent camping experiences, I felt like I was constantly going through bins trying to find what I needed. I also put our camping stove on the picnic table that almost all camp sites come with, which made eating at the table either cramped, or needing to be switched around before and after eating.
For the organization part of it, I resorted to a Pinterest idea and bought this clear shoe organizer to sort everything. A big key here is that the pockets are clear, so you can see through them and easily know what’s in each pocket. This one also had some very wide pockets and stuff hung out pretty far, so I grabbed my stapler and tucked some of those in before we took off. I used the hanging hooks that it came with and hung it from our tent canopy, which was serving as my kitchen. This worked out SO great – even Jeff and the boys commented on how convenient it was to find the things they needed (smore skewers, lighter, flashlights, napkins, etc.). Knowing me, these pockets will eventually be labeled, but for a maiden voyage, it worked great.
One thing to be weary of is loading it up before heading out. I didn’t want to pack everything separately and have to sort it into the pockets, so I just folded it over and over until I could stuff it into a bin. I had to remove some of the longer items and lay them horizontally, but it worked out fine.
Another Pinterest idea was to use a bungee cord for a makeshift paper towel dispenser. I bought a set like these from Dollar Tree and it worked out so great! I initially used a smaller bungee cord to hang the paper towels, but it was too tight and didn’t allow it to roll, so I’m glad I had a variety pack so I could find the right size.
I also bought large clips from Dollar Tree to clip down my tablecloths (sorry, couldn’t find a link, but they’re HUGE), and this set of carabiners just in case (which did come in handy).
I also took a large folding table and table cloth that functioned as my kitchen counter. This kept our picnic table open for just eating and hanging out. To make this space functional, I brought a round container to hold my cooking utensils (spatula, tongs, wooden spoons, etc.), a bucket for utensils, and a folding wire rack to hold some dishes. Plates went under the folding wire rack, and bowls and mugs went on top (upside down to prevent them from getting dusty).
To wash dishes, I moved the stove top and table cloth aside, and placed my collapsible washing buckets on the table. I have two of these buckets: one for washing, one for rinsing, and a collapsible drying rack like this one.
Ambiance
I really wanted to make our campsite feel homey, so again I researched some ideas on Pinterest and added the following:
Twinkle light strands from Target: I bought two of these, so I used one outside (even though they’re indoor – we did eventually put the battery pack inside our tent through a corner pocket), and one was strung back and forth inside our tent. I LOVED how this looked and the vibe it gave our camp site and the inside of our tent as we got ready for bed. Make sure you buy batteries as well!
Solar lights from The Dollar Tree: at $1.25 per light, it doesn’t get much better than these! I bought six of them, although apparently I left behind the stake for one of them at the store (they stick to the display box, so make sure you get the light AND the stake when you pull it out of the box), and we placed them outside on either side of our tent. One of them went crazy on the first night and was just blinking constantly, so that $1.25 went down the drain, but the rest of them worked really well, even with the fairly low amount of sunlight that our site got throughout the day.
A candle! I had a random candle on my desk, and decided to pack it up at the last minute. I would light it as it got dark and leave it on our picnic table, and it just added a little extra ambiance to the area.
Meal Prep
Last summer I took advantage of cooking meals prior to our trip and freezing them, which made cooking super easy. I made carnitas and spaghetti sauce and meatballs, and froze them in Ziplock bags. For the carnitas meal, I took some rice in a Ziplock bag and cooked that to go with our meal and warmed up some tortillas. I had pre-chopped the onion, lime, and cilantro, so that was ready to go too. For the meatballs, I just had to boil up some noodles, warm up the sauce and meatballs, and our meal was ready!
This was the first time where I pre-made our pancake batter so I could make pancakes for breakfast. I have tried the “ready to go” pancake mix where you just add water, and it’s just not for us (call us pancake snobs, I guess, ha!). I added everything to the batter except a mushed banana (we only eat banana pancakes in this house), which I added the morning I made them. I made pancakes our first morning at our campsite, so it only had to hold for a day. I thought I’d be able to put the banana in and mix up the bottle, but it wasn’t very easy. I think next time I’ll pour the batter in a bowl to mix it in more easily.
Another Pinterest find was to pre-crack some eggs and take them in a jar. I had the perfect glass jar from some cherries we had just finished up from an ice cream social, so I cracked six eggs into that, and made scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast on our second morning. This worked out really great too: no cracking eggs, no wet, soggy egg box, no accidentally cracked eggs in the cooler.
I have to say, this was the BEST camp set up we’ve ever had. The amazing campsite definitely helped, but I think all of these little additions were HUGE.
What are your favorite tips and tricks when you go camping?
This summer we decided to head north to Big Sur, a place I’ve heard only great things about. At the beginning stages of planning our trip, I was thinking of making a day or two jaunt to San Francisco so we could show the boys all the classic San Francisco stuff, but then realized we’d be stretching ourselves thin – like we’ve done on our last two camping trips. Those trips were great, but we were constantly on the move: setting up camp, exploring for a day, packing up and driving to the next spot, and doing it again. As much as we got to explore a lot on those trips, they were also a lot of work. So this time we decided to stay put and just explore all the things Big Sur had to offer. In retrospect, this was a GREAT decision. This is one of the first trips we’ve gone on where I felt satisfied in checking all the boxes of things we wanted to do/see.
Reservations
After some research, I decided Pfeiffer State Park was the campground for us (you can check the current fees here). But, it’s also the preferred campground for a lot of people. The sites are booked six months in advance! So this destination definitely requires some planning ahead. I looked at the calendar and set the dates that we wanted to travel, then calendared back six months and set myself a reminder to book the site. I also did lots of research ahead of my booking date: I reviewed the campground map as well as online reviews to find the best sites. I’ve relied heavily on Campsite Photos the last few years to get a visual on individual sites, and a handle on what are considered the best sites (they have stars on the photos for the best sites).
A day before my booking date, I made a list of my top campsites that I would want, and compared them to what was showing as booked for any of my dates through Reserve California. Although no reservation could be made for my initial date at that point, you can make reservations for “add on” dates: if my initial reservation date is January 14th, I can book my site from that point forward, even though I couldn’t book a site starting on January 15th. So someone else could have already reserved some crossover dates on the sites I’m looking at.
The reason it’s good to know what sites won’t work before your booking date is so you don’t waste any time trying to reserve sites that are already booked. You have to log in and be ready at 8:00 a.m. to book your site: they go FAST. So I check the available reservations the day before and the morning of my booking date, before 8am, and whittle down my list, and pick which site I’m going to aim for first.
For Pfeiffer State Park, after walking around the campsite we noticed there are very different kinds of sites. The ones highlighted in green are the ones that are surrounded by coastal redwoods (which is what we wanted). The yellow areas were more open and had oak trees instead of the large pine trees – I would have been really disappointed if we ended up in one of those, to be honest.
I will say, however, that the bottom green area is VERY shady, so our site never got a ton of sunlight and remained pretty cold in the morning, and cooled down quickly in the afternoon.
With that said…
Saturday
Started off reading books, definitely ended with tablets
We left our home in Orange County, CA, at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday – we had packed up the truck the night before, and I highlighted the few items we still had to pack that morning on my packing checklist, just to make sure we didn’t miss anything. We made it to San Luis Obispo for lunch, and stopped at Mr. Pickle’s. It was a bit pricey but it was good, and included free chocolate chip cookies!
We had to take the road up through Monterey since Highway 1 is still closed due to a landslide, but we arrived at Pfeiffer State Park around 3:30 p.m. The drive IN to the campground is already stunning: no matter how many times we drove through it, it always took my breath away. We picked up a couple bundles of firewood at the entrance gate after we checked in ($12 per bundle, cash only), and made our way to our campsite.
Our campsite was BEAUTIFUL! We explored most of the campground during our visit, and I really think we got the best spot.
We spent the rest of the afternoon/evening setting up our site, exploring our surroundings, and hoping our dinner would defrost in time!
We were so tired that we forgot to clean up our site, and all night we heard animals scavenging through our stuff. I was pretty sure our entire snack box would be gone in the morning. Jeff looked out at one point and saw a skunk going through our trash (yes, we forgot to dump it out), and wisely decided to leave them alone. Thankfully they didn’t get into our food bins and ate all the gross stuff from our trash can, so I really just had wrappers and paper towels to pick up in the morning. The rest of the nights we made sure to dump the trash and leave all our food bins in the truck (no bear boxes, here).
Sunday
Since Saturday was such a long driving day, I planned for us to explore the campgrounds and state park on Sunday. The nights are cold, and our site was pretty tucked away in the shade, so early mornings did not happen for us (so hard to get out of our warm cocoons!). I made pancakes (I prepped the batter at home), the boys explored, and we just enjoyed our surroundings. Once we were ready, we explored the Pine Ridge Trail. This trail was a bit stressful with the kids since it’s very narrow and has a big drop off. We didn’t make it all the way, but enjoyed the parts we did, although our favorite part was the very beginning.
We got back to our campsite for lunch then drove to the Big Sur Lodge at the entrance of the park to look for some essentials. While there, we explored Warden’s Path and the Nature Center. There is a VERY cool river cross walk that we loved – although we did take the bridge on the way back so we wouldn’t have to take off our shoes again (I sacrificed my sweater so everyone could dry their feet after we crossed – small price to pay, to be honest).
The Nature Center is pretty small, but kept the kids entertained for a few minutes and had bathrooms nearby, which we needed.
We took a walk around the campgrounds after dinner, and explored a little bit of the Big Sur River Gorge trail – I do wish we’d come back to this spot again, it was so pretty! Other campers had brought their drinks and camping chairs, put them in the water, and enjoyed the sunset. Like pros!
Monday
This was our day of exploration and driving to Carmel and Monterey. On the way there we stopped at Andrew Molera State Park and Point Lobos Natural Reserve. The great thing about both of these was that our camp site permit gave us admission to these parks as well, so we didn’t have to pay any park fees to get in.
At Andrew Molera we walked through the dirt road and went over a beautiful river crossing, then took the Creamery Meadow Trail to get to the beach. I think it was only a mile walk, but it was interesting to see how much the landscape changed throughout the trail. The boys had so much fun on the beach adding to driftwood teepees that are scattered throughout the beach. Jonny wasn’t as big of a fan: it was pretty cold and windy, but we hung out for a little bit.
By the time we got back to the truck, we realized it was already almost 12:00 p.m. and we were starving. My plan was to have a picnic in Carmel, but the Andrew Molera parking lot was just as good! We all climbed into the back of the truck and ate our sandwiches, chips, and drinks that I had packed that morning. I had a pretty emotional moment at this point just watching our boys eat their lunch, watching the squirrels, and being so thankful for these memories we get to make with them.
Our stop at Point Lobos was pretty quick: we went straight for the Sea Lion point since we wanted to look for sea lions. The parking lot is right next to the trail and it’s a short walk to the viewpoint. There were only a handful of sea lions lounging on the rocks below – I think they were the lazy or injured ones that got left behind, but I was thankful for them anyway!
Point Lobos had a pretty long line to get in when we drove by on Saturday on our way to our campsite. It wasn’t nearly as busy when we went on Monday, but if you go on a weekend, be prepared for crowds. I do think we left a lot unexplored at this park.
Our final agenda item for the day was checking out the 17-mile drive around Pebble Beach. There is a fee to get in to this gated area, $11 and cents. As long as you have your receipt, you can use it to get in and out throughout the day. We entered through the Highway 1 gate, then exited at the Pacific Grove gate to head to Ghirardelli for ice cream and a quick walk around Cannery row, then entered again through Pacific Grove gate to finish the drive. If you are pressed for time or have small kids, I would stick to just the coastal part of the drive – the first few stops were not very exciting. On the coastal side, we got to see sea otters and deer, and some crazy outdated mansions!
Although I’m not sure we’d do the 17-mile drive again, we’d definitely do Ghirardelli again! It’s not cheap, but it was delicious. Jeff and Josh shared a monstrous thing that had two brownies, vanilla ice cream, whip cream, salted caramel and a cherry. Jake, Jonny and I shared the “world famous” sundae, which was SO GOOD.
I had originally planned for us to have dinner around Carmel or Monterey, but the timing didn’t work and looked a bit fancier than we were up for. We decided to find something on our way back to camp, which was an hour back south. We ended up at Fernwood Tavern and OH-MY-GOODNESS. Must dine in the back patio: cool, wooden furniture, green trees all around, view of the river below, and lights strung up across the patio. The food and drinks were also delicious, but definitely a bit pricey. We spent $150 for the 5 of us: a beer, a margarita, three Shirley Temples (we decided to let the kids live a little, but in retrospect, this was too much living: they could have shared one), two pizzas (shareable size), fries, and a salad. HIGHLY recommend.
Tuesday
This was another day that we planned to stay fairly local-we had a few other points of interest to check out. We headed south from our camp ground towards the road closures, looking for Pfeiffer Beach. There is NO signal around there, so I couldn’t map us and really had no idea where it was. We ended up making it all the way to McWay Falls, which was on my list anyway.
The fog just a little south and north of our campground was crazy-I’m so curious why our little pocket of woods didn’t have any fog but was basically surrounded by it. Either way, it gave McWay Falls a cool, mysterious look, although it also blocked us from having a clear view of the falls (you can kiiiiindaaaaaa see them through the fog).
This was another park where we didn’t have to pay the fee. If you’re not camping at a state park and need to pay, it was unattended when we got there so you had to have cash to leave in the pay box. It’s a short walk to the lookout, and unfortunately the waterfall trail was closed, but looked beautiful.
We decided to head a little further south, but ended up turning around and heading back north, still on the hunt for Pfeiffer Beach. We thought it was past our campground but alas, it was not, so we turned around AGAIN and thankfully had a pocket of service where I could map us and find out that the turnoff was exactly a mile south of our campground, so Jeff kept and eye on the speedometer and counted down: “half a mile, .8 miles, .9 miles…” and then we saw the tiniest, almost u-turn street on the right, called Sycamore Canyon. There were NO signs on the highway that indicated the beach was down this tiny street, so I’m not surprised we missed it (several times)! We drove down that street for two miles, and you have to drive pretty careful since it’s a narrow road and cars have to pull over to let each other pass.
Pfeiffer Beach doesn’t take any of the park passes, so be prepared to pay to get to the parking lot, which I think was $12. We were told this beach had purple sand, and although there were some hints of it, it wasn’t as prominent as the boys had expected.
After this, we had a grandiose plan to raft and tube down the river at the campground, and let’s just say: if no one else is rafting all the way down the river, there’s a reason why…the bruises on my feet will definitely remember that next time we will just pick a section of the river to hang out in. By the end of the ordeal, we were ready for ice cream and drinks, so we headed to the Big Sur Lodge right outside the campground. Highly recommend their beer battered fries. Then we did a quick visual of Pfeiffer Falls trail. We didn’t have the energy to actually do it, but the beginning part was beautiful!
Wednesday
We had our campground booked through Thursday, but we also had a site booked at Cachuma Lake in the hopes of breaking up the drive on the way home, and giving the boys a chance to fish. We debated staying at Pfeiffer or heading home, and reluctantly decided to head out Wednesday. We took our time packing up since we only had a 3.5 hour drive, but by the time we got to Cachuma Lake around 5 p.m. we had no desire to set up our tent again in 90 degree weather (and the site couldn’t compare to our Big Sur site), so we decided to keep going and just head home. I think in the future we’ll just plan on driving straight from Big Sur to home. We did pull off at Bixby Bridge to get some pictures.
Eating and Groceries
If you don’t bring groceries from home (which we did), then you have to stock up in Monterey/Carmel, because there is not much in Big Sur proper. There was one night that I wanted to do burgers and I didn’t want to buy ground beef too early and take it from home, so I planned on buying it there. The best we found was some off-brand bacon, so we had BLTs instead. There are lots of little general stores with basic supplies and snacks, and maybe we could have checked some other general stores, but I don’t think they would have been much different. I will say that the property was gorgeous: they had Adirondack chairs in the river and I wish we could have just spent the evening there!
I was really glad I had purchased all of our groceries before we left, and had pre-cooked and frozen two of our meals ahead of time (carnitas tacos and spaghetti and meatballs, always favorites at home and camping!).
Favorite Camping Items
You can click here to read about some of the camping tricks I tried on this trip and the stuff I liked (as well as my kitchen setup, which I feel in love with), but here are a few new items I purchased for this trip:
I know it’s August, but it’s taken me a while to put words to paper (or screen, as you’d have it).
In past years, I’d see friends post pictures of their neighborhood bike parade on 4th of July, and kept wishing our neighborhood did something similar. As happens in life, sometimes YOU have to be the one to make things happen rather than waiting to be invited. SO, this year I told the boys we were organizing our own neighborhood bike parade, and they were all for it!
Quick Pre-Cap:
Plan time, route, and post-parade activity
Create a flyer
Distribute flyer
Check RSVP’s obsessively
Purchase decor items or ice cream
Pre-set up for grand finale
Have fun!
1. Plan time, route, and post-parade activity
I started by figuring out the timing and the parade route. We have an actual parade sponsored by the city every year around 10:00 a.m., so I didn’t want it to conflict with that, and figured most people have BBQ’s later in the evening, so I settled on a 2:00 p.m. meet up time, with a 2:30 p.m. take off time. I thought it would be nice to provide some time for kids to decorate their bikes together and maybe pool resources together for decorations. Figuring out the parade route was tricky: being our inaugural year, I didn’t want to make it too long. The starting point was also tricky: I wanted to make sure we could meet up somewhere safe, where cars driving by wouldn’t be an issue. We have a park near by, but we’d have to cross through a couple intersections and it was generally outside of the range I was hoping to stay within. There’s a cul-de-sac at the top of a hill that I thought could work, but wasn’t sure that having a bunch of kids barreling down a pretty steep street at the get-go was a great idea either. Jeff suggested a green belt area near out house, which was a perfect gathering location.
I also wanted something at the end of the parade so people could hang out for a little bit. Again, being an inaugural year I didn’t want to assume that complete strangers would want to spend the rest of the evening together, so instead of doing a potluck BBQ, I thought ice cream would be a safe alternative.
2. Create a flyer
I did’t want to post on social media, so I went old-school and created half sheet flyers, printed, copied, and cut them in half. The flyer itself had pretty basic information, but I used a QR code to link it to the Google Form that had all the details. The Google Form collected basic information to get a sense of how many people would show up, and also for neighbors to pitch in with decorations and ice cream. It also gave details on the route, in case neighbors wanted to come out and cheer.
So, really, an old school but new school flyer!
3. Distribute flyer
The next step was getting the word out. I knew we could tell our immediate neighbors by word of mouth, but I really wanted this to be a full neighborhood event, including those that don’t live near us and those that we’ve never talked to or seen before. I know the neighborhood app is pretty popular, but I also didn’t want to post something online and have people from beyond our neighborhood. Not because I don’t like to include others (I’m usually a “the more the merrier” type), but because I really wanted this to be an opportunity where we got to meet and interact with the people that live around us.
The whole family helped put the fliers in each mailbox around our neighborhood. Jeff actually attached one of the boys’ lunch bags to a bike, and put the fliers in the lunch box so they could bike around and put the fliers in the mailboxes. I walked around with Josh at one point and had a system where he rode his razor ahead and opened the mailbox for me to walk up and put the flyer in and close the mailbox.
4. Check RSVP’s obsessively
Ok, maybe obsessively isn’t healthy, but I’ll be honest with you – I was excited and nervous to see how this little experiment would go. It was pretty great to get a notification every time someone filled out the Google form. It was nice to see that almost everyone that RSVP’d also signed up to contribute something, so I figured we would have plenty of decorations and ice cream.
5. Purchase decor items and/or ice cream
You really can’t go wrong with the Dollar Tree for these types of decorations. I bought a bunch of random things, including themed ribbon, and they all came in handy. I made sure to take twist ties, scissors, and tape to the meet up.
6. Pre-set up for the grand finale
I wanted to have as much take care of as possible so that when we finished our parade everything was ready to go. We set up our canopy on the driveway for shade, and a couple folding tables to set out the ice cream and decorations. A neighbor brought over some really cool inflatable trays so we could put ice and the ice cream in them, and that worked out really well. I think next year I’ll skip the parade or cut home a little early just so I can set everything out before the melee arrives.
7. Have fun!
It was so great to see the community come together and have a great time! The decorating together before departure worked really well, but I think it could be improved a bit next year. It was a bit much to keep track of where the tape and scissors were, and the decorations were scattered among bags and baskets on the grass (some apparently got placed over dog poop…that was fun). Next year I might set up a table there to set things out, and have multiple sets of scissors and tape.
BUT, I loved seeing the pride each kid took in preparing their bike or razor, and how they got to pick and choose what they wanted to decorate it with. Totally worth it!
Once we took off, these kids TOOK. OFF. Being that it was our first parade, I think they confused “parade” with “race” and really took off pretty fast. We’ve discussed next year having a couple parents at the front to keep the pace, and give it more of a parade feel for the neighbors.
Once the biking was done, it was ice cream time! We had popsicles but also ice cream buckets and every topping imaginable. I was very thankful a couple moms stepped up to be designated ice scream scoopers – I think this will be something we plan for next time, and maybe have one table for ice cream scooping, and another for toppings, just to move the line along a little more quickly. I also just remembered this idea that I first saw on Pinterest about pre-scooping on muffin tins – could work!
I think next year we might go big and throw in a potluck…but for this year, it was great!
I used to have a few weeks off during the summer when I worked at a middle school and Jake was a baby. The first few summers being home with him were H-A-R-D. But 2017 turned a corner and it was glorious. The main reasons being that Jake was getting older and we could do more stuff, but I also realized that my summers had to be dedicated to the boys, and not my personal projects. Once I jumped on board, I realized I could PLAN my summer out and have something, no matter how small, planned for each day. So that was great for 2017, and then 2018 came and I started a new job that was year-round, so that was my last summer of adventure with the boys.
The years in between we’ve been lucky enough to have them spend time with grandparents, but this year they get to spend it with daddy! I realized that Jeff would also need to have some stuff planned to get him out of the house with THREE boys, or he might very well leave and never come back, haha
And, obviously, I jumped at the opportunity to research, plan, calendar, and color code things.
So, here’s our summer plan, generally:
Monday’s are for exploring new trails/hikes
Tuesday’s are for crafts
Wednesday’s are for exploring a new park/playground near by
Thursday’s are for science experiments
Friday’s are for the beach or…doing nothing after a busy week!
First I printed out a blank google calendar for the summer months, then marked it up with the things we already had planned (camping trip, chess and golf camp, etc.). Then I researched a bunch of family friends trails/hikes, new playgrounds, and reviewed my Pinterest kid activity board for crafts and science experiments. I assigned them to available dates, and then I added each of the planned activities on the Google calendar I share with Jeff. I know it seems redundant to write it out on a paper copy and then transfer to a digital one, but I love the visual of the paper copy when I’m starting things out, and the usefulness of sharing the digital one. I included the Pinterest link and the list of supplies for each activity on the Google calendar so Jeff could easily locate what was needed for that activity and how to do it. I also included links for locations for trail and park days.
The super fun part once activities were decided on: making a list of supplies to buy, heeeeyoooooo! I tried to support our local school supply store, but they really didn’t have as many of the items as I hoped, so we ended up resorting to Amazon and our local grocery store for most stuff. This may be showing my OCD too much, but here is the list I created in case it’s helpful. And yes, I DO sort it by date, or activity, or supply location…and yes, it makes me so so happy. And yes, I do have various versions printed…Anywho, purchased the supplies and placed them all in a big plastic bin in the garage so they’re all in one location, but also out of the way.
Here’s what I came up with:
TRAILS AND HIKES
Aliso Summit Trail
Buck Gully Trail
Thomas Riley Wilderness
Santiago Oaks Regional
Peters Canyon
Fullerton Panorama Trail
CRAFTS
Make a summer checklist (I printed several templates I found online, let the boys cut out the ones they want, and they glued them on to a colored piece of construction paper).
While at the teacher supply store I also purchased a couple different achievement certificates. We’ve decided when they earn five of them, they get the prize they convinced me to get them when I took them shopping for supplies…
What does your summer with kids typically look like? Any wonderful links to share with ideas?
Finca Cielo Azul 