stateside birthday

Ahoy,

This venue provides a really good place for me to keep track of the events of my days, but in order for that to work - I need to type it up.

I'll mention our 4th of July weekend first. It was a kind of last minute, split second decision to go somewhere that weekend. A wanted to take advantage of his long weekend, but any flight out was completely overpriced. And I feel like a sucker when we make last minute flight decisions that are overpriced.

We ended up heading out to the Palomar Observatory to camp for 2 nights. The Thursday we departed happened to be the premiere of the minions at McDonald's, so I made sure to remind the RRS frequently on our way to the campsite. Traffic is bonkers towards Long Beach from probably 2pm-7pm and we had the opportunity to experience that. We made it to the campsite around 8pm and set up and cooked mostly in the dark. The fire-making was much more successful than usual, to our surprise.

The following morning we rose to hike to the Observatory. It was relatively early for a family campsite I guess because we didn't see too many others on the trail that morning. The Observatory had a separate museum to inform us of the facility and history of stargazing, etc. Definitely interesting, but we were pretty sleepy in there. We picnicked outside atop a rock and the RRS slept.

It was an incredibly slow camping day, not a ton of excitement as far as our typical camping regimen goes. We took our time hanging around the Observatory and getting back. I have to say it's a nice contrast to our other trips. It was refreshing to be outside and not feel like we have to rush from trail to trail hoping to get a parking spot in order to pack in all the park attractions we can.

We departed on Saturday pretty early. One of the traditions we have been trying to squeeze in is a stop at a fruit stand, and it's one of the highlights for me. Also, it's always quite the challenge fitting in more stuff on our way home. We made a quick stop in Carlsbad to visit some friends and a brewery. Houses there are huge!

It wouldn't be right to conclude 4th of July without a barbeque. And we are so fortunate to have friends that tolerate us and feed us. It is increasingly apparent to me how fortunate I am to so many options for exploration in CA. Camping has opened up a whole new world of adventures.

fascinatingly aslumber,
jt