I'm going camping, and I'm gonna take a...

Actually, we already went camping! We were supposed to leave on Friday morning, but the night before we ordered pizza because we were too busy packing to cook our own dinner... and we got food poisoning. Heather and I woke up Friday horrendously ill. (Fortunately, the baby ate no pizza, and was fine.) We spent the day in misery, and only managed to survive thanks to the help of Heather's sister, who took River out, fed him lunch, and brought him back asleep in his stroller, allowing Heather and I to rest and gradually rehydrate in the afternoon. We slept more than we were awake that day...

By Saturday morning we were feeling mostly human again, able to eat without revulsion, and so on. We finished loading up the car and headed down to Butano State Park. A lovely drive, the last bit along the coast road Highway 1, finishing up among the redwood trees. We had a walk-in campsite not far from our parking spot, and got the tent and all set up in short order. Our friends Scott and Lynne and their baby boy (a year younger than River) were in the adjacent campsite, so we spent the afternoon together. We hiked, and saw banana slugs (which River thought were bananas... until he touched one), and cooked vast quantities of barbecued food, and drank honey vodka in apple cider, and saw a bold raccoon in the night, and River made friends with hipster twentysomethings and small children alike. Really a nice time.

The kid was WAY too excited to take an afternoon nap, but Heather worked her exceptional mom-fu and got him to bed around his usual time, cuddled up in a kid-sized sleeping bag we borrowed. The grown-ups spent the evening chatting around the fire until the darkness got very dark. I slept well (better than Heather, who had a rolling toddler next to her all night), and we feasted on oatmeal and cereal bars and such in the morning. After breaking down camp we went to Pescadero for an enormous lunch at Duarte's Tavern. Afterward River danced around to a band playing across the street. I've seldom seen that kid have so much fun, and he's a fun-loving kid. We took lots of pictures, and will post some soon.

Hideous interval of illness aside, it was a great end to my vacation week!