Camping with the Boy Scouts...

After 6 hours of the most draining computer training course, Jenn and I decided that we would indeed take Hayley and her roommate Elizabeth up on the offer to a trip to Carmel/Monteray.

Some background here:

!. Hayley and Elizabeth stay in hotels and Jenn and I camp or stay in hostels
2. Hayley and Elizabeth plan out their activities while Jenn and I completely wing everything.
3. We all like a good case of beer.

Soo, with that being said we packed up our camping gear including 2 person tent, pizza pie iron with ingredients for smores, and of course Airy.

Before we headed for the open road we had to go to the 99cent store to re-inflate Airy due to the fact that she may have made friends in the new neighborhood and is "loose" to the point where she rapidly needs to be re-blown up... Needless to say, Airy is grounded for the time being.

A quick 2 hour drive landed us on the beautiful shores of Santa Cruz just in time for a quick stop at the beach to watch the sunset.

Now it was time to meet up with the girlies and try and find a campsite in the dark. :( We had to meet the girls at a Ross because they had forgotten blankets and after stories of our last trip in the freezing cold parks of Yosemite they wanted to take no chances.

The first campground pulled up on the GPS was non-existant, the second was a KOA (which is basically like humans being hearded into their designated area and NOT a great camping experience), and the third was just what we wanted. It was a secluded area on the beach with plenty of space. The only problem was they were booked up for the night. Jenn did some detective work and found that they were all full with a total of 90 sites, this was crucial to our master plan. We pulled up to the front and told the ranger we were meeting friends and where not positive whose name or what site they had, We rambled off a couple made up first and last names and they searched their list. When none were found she fell into our plan and offered a 15 minute pass to find "our friends" and bring back their site and last name. The challenge was on: We had 15 minutes to drive to the back of the park, make friends, get a last name, and shack up on their site.....Adrenaline was pumping and we were on for the challenge.


We raced to the back, pulled in, did a quick circle to scope it out. We found 3 guys in the very back with a large site and a blazing fire. This seemed like a no brainer, We put our best faces on and asked to share a site...We were immediately turned down and completly dumbfounded. Who could turn us down!!!!

We had little time to fret over the fact that we had been completely rejected and chalked it up to the fact that clearly there was something wrong with these people. Anyways, the next event is pure gold. We can attribute this to my grampa, Big Boy. He always said that a group site is the palce to be with ample amounts of room and usually friendly groups of people. The group site is exactly what we found at sunset beach campground. We pulled up and  had to walk out to talk to those in charge.

We were looking around and asking for the person in charge, no one stepped up except for one man who later went by Prince, as this was not only his last name but the name we needed to tell the ranger in the front. Prince said there was plenty of room, gave us a quick tour, told us the coals were still hot, the fire was blazing and we could drink our beer if we were discrete due to the fact that this was a father/son boyscout camp weekend. 

So we raced to the front told the ranger that "our friends" just happened to be the boyscout troop 42. She looked at her watch, only to notice we had 2 minutes to spare, and gave us our car passes with a quick roll of the eyes. We were in!

We went back, set up camp, made pizza pies and smores, drank beer out of cups we found in the cars and of course shared with the boys and their fathers. The boys (and their dads) really seemed to enjoy the company. They said the head leader wouldn't be here until tomorrow so it was really no problem. The boys told us stories of earning certain badges and merits. They also taught Jenn and I a chant:

L-I-O-N-S

D-E-N we sing 

Lions Den! Lions Den! 

42 is KING!!

With a couple beers in us we decided to teach the boys some of our songs: Down by the bay was the first that came to mind. They thought we were nuts!

The boys had to retreat to bed eventually, some of the dads stayed up for a bit and then all four of us girls and Airy piled into our 2 person tent. Hayley wanted to sleep in the car, but with me pulling her arms and Jenn lifting her legs and pushing her she had no choice but to join the party and sleep in the tent. 

It was more comfortable and warm than you would think..in the AM we heard rustling and snickering, The boys were up. They came up to our tent, knocked on it and said the best words we could have heard that mroning: "Girls. It's time to wake up. We made you breakfast. Eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, and fresh fruit." Let me tell you it was a delicious start to the day!  

Knowing that the chief was coming soon we had to break down camp, bid our farewells and head on out. 

Afterwards, we took the famous 17-mile drive through Pebble Beach and Carmel and saw awesome houses and beautiful views. Then, it was home just in time to make it to work!!! 

 More fun to come! I am sure of that!