 |
| Our tent is in the middle |
 |
| Our camping stove! |
 |
| Iverson and his booties! |
It's our annual camping weekend getaway! Mai, Jason and their friend John hosts an annual camping trip with a bunch of us in Arroyo Seco, a campground in Los Padres National Forest. This year, there were about at least 22 of us, and we took up about 4-5 campsites. The campsite costs about $15-$30 a night per site, and there's shower and modern bathrooms as well in the general campground. Parking is free for 1 per site, 2 per double site, and extra car cost $5. There's also a primitive campground with no plumbing, and there's a group site as well. Every year, we always talk about getting the group site, but it's always reserved on weekends way ahead of time.
Mai and I have been camping one way or another since 2005, we have done the Kern River for a nice white water rafting weekend, we have climbed the Yosemite's Half Dome where we had to have a bear locker - - which means limiting the food items you bring to the campground. We have done Big Sur, Sequoia, but this Arroyo Seco is a group favorite because of the gorge, which is a 4-mile hike from the parking lot. At the gorge, we enjoy the lazy sun with our floaties, and just enjoy the day floating about. It feels so nice to be laying out, getting some sun and to not have Tico digging up sand next to my face for once.
Although Chris, Jason's friend, brought their 4-year old dog Iverson, I am still weary about bringing Tico in a group setting where I may need to baby-sit him all the time. So off to Whiskers N Tails he goes. That places takes very good care of our dog, so we are very rest assured that he's in good hands. Two years ago, someone else brought a little dog too. So this camping place is dog-friendly. Iverson had a ball in the gorge, he did not want to get out of the water. That night, he was down for the count.
To get to Arroyo Seco which is on 47600 Arroyo Seco Road, Greenfield, CA; you just take the 101 Freeway North, and exit on Espinoza. From there, it veers you right to El Camino Real, where you make a left on Elm Street. You take that street all the way, and make a left on Arroyo Seco. The campground is at the very end. There's a country store that's open until 5pm, where you can restock on ice, etc. Otherwise, you need to trek back 15 miles to the town on the corner of Elm and El Camino Real. If you need to make a cell phone call, you'd need to do the same thing too. Arroyo Seco is just north-east of Cambria, which is a popular tourist coastal town off the Pacific Coast Highway.
Besides a handful of people, B and I see these people only this time of the year, so it's nice to catch up with everyone's life. At nights, we enjoy a campfire, sit, look up at the stars in the sky, eat, drink and talk story. My favorite highlight of the night is the s'mores. It's a great sugar-full dessert after lots of carne asada, curry, rice, chicken, hot dog, watermelon, nectarine, chips, margarita, beer, hummus and crackers, and whatever else is brought up in front of me and I can stuff in my mouth. Which makes me glad that I at least put in an 8+ mile hike in the middle.
After camping and on the way home, I love to stop by the town of Paso Robles to try out a new winery. One of the girls got married at this winery called Vina Robles. So we went to check it out. It's off of the Highway 46 East, which is on our way to the I-5 Freeway South back to LA anyway. They offered Estate tasting, which has a red and white collection for $7 plus the glass, or the Reserve tasting, which is $10. B did the Reserve, and I did the Estate. They also offered a complimentary tasting of their 3 popular reds.
B really liked this one Petite Syrah, and the wine lady made us taste another Petite Syrah for comparison, so that B can make an informed decision. He likes to asks questions and background, etc., since he's a Paul Giamatti wannabe of the movie Sideways. Me, I like reds. And I like them to taste like candy, but not too sweet. I like a grenache blend, but that's as much knowledge as I can pull out of my brain when it comes to wine. So when B turned around after tasting the 2nd syrah, he asked me eloquently: "what was going through your mind (after tasting this blend)?" To which I responded: "yum, yum, yum!".
...Bart Simpson got nothing on me. I might as well responded "more Duff beer". I think he was expecting a response somewhere along the lines of: "quaffable, but uh...far from transcendent". But "yum, yum, yum" is my qualified response as Jack to his Miles.
 |
| "First thing, hold the glass up and examine the wine against the light..." |
 |
| For me. Cute hamster with a big beer belly! So like me... |
 |
| For B. The inside caption: "hope it's a gas!" |
I've been noticing that, as much as this blog was created to discover new places for Tico, we have been excluding him from some of the dog-friendly events lately. Being a puppy, I get neurotic about his unpredictability. The good news is, Chris mentioned that Iverson, after the age of 3 (he's over 4 now), he tamed a lot in comparison to his high energy self during the puppy years. And Iverson was mellow this weekend, but Sydney, Chris' gf, said that he's 'just acting' because of the large crowd. What a great, well-trained dog. B and I really needs to step it up beyond Tico's PetSmart training.
Everyone loved Iverson this weekend. So well-behaved, so quiet, and calm. I so look forward to Tico behaving well in large crowds. Hopefully, we can enroll him to boot camp this year. We planned to do it last year, but in the midst of the new house and wedding planning, we knew we were not in the right mindset to follow-through with the house training after bootcamp. So we hope to do it later this year.
I just want him to behave well, like when he's around the house, in front of B and I. We want him to behave that way in front of others, out in public. When he's in public, especially if it's only the two of us, he's always nervous. Like he always feels like he needs to protect me. And he's huge, so his barking and nervousness puts people off, and scares people. And his nervousness feeds off of their nervousness. We just want him to be a fun, well-behaved dog, which is how he is at home.
We want Tico to be his normal, fun-loving self, in public. We want him to be how he is at home, in public. Like how Iverson was, this weekend.
"...remember that guy? People love that guy."
No comments:
Post a Comment