“You are a real camping-bunny!” Matthias pats me on the back.
“What? Were you dubious about that?” I ask.
He is grinning. “Well… I was not one hundred percent sure if you stick it out…”
I also was not sure if I see myself through. So we went this weekend to Point Reyes to give camping a try. It’s far enough away to stay over night but close enough to be able to go home in an emergency 🙂
At the Olema Campsite, we park Carsten next to our campsite and build our tent. We did like we had done it a thousand times before and so our home for tonight is assembeled in only a few minutes.
Cool. In this case there is enough time for a little hike. We stroll the Bear Valley Trail – a beautiful trail, says our hiking guide, but a little overcrowded. But the trail is right next to Olema and so we take the risk.
Hmph. Middling, I would say. You shuffle through a forest. We only meet a few horses (and their riders), otherwise it is quiet. And boring.
The only bright spot, literally, is a big clearing. Here we snack our lunch: Kiki’s Hummus, bread, carrots, apples and nuts. Healthy but delicious!
After about two hours of hiking through the boring forest, we arrive at the coast. HERE it is great! Great view, great weather – just nice! If you want to you could walk along the coast as there is a nice trail … but we don’t want to, as it is not a loop but out and back. And that’s just too boring to walk the same way twice.
So we enjoy the sunshine and relax. Matthias especially deserved this relaxation! He was working so hard for the last few weeks!
Start a fire! Eat chili ! Roast marshmellows!
Back in the camp Matthias starts a nice campfire. Of course only in the fire ring, not in the whole camp.
I cook a vegan, simple but so decent Five-Minute-Chili and put some potatoes in the fire.
Then we dine like king and queen at our picnic table. Yummy. As a dessert we grill Marshmellows – what else, we are in California!
But then it’s getting dark and consequently – cold. Brrr! So cold! So we crawl into our tent and sleeping bag. Since we were told to be naked to experience the whole thermal effect of a sleeping bag, we undress. Like a nudist I lie in my bag, shivering with cold.
Guys, I can tell you, I give a s*** on beeing naked! I am freezing!!! So I dress myself with everything I could find: leggins, jeans, t-shirt, sweatshirt and fleecepulover. Around my head I wrap my 1, – Fleeceblanket from Ikea. Only that I now nearly die because of lack of air. So I allowe my nose the access to the cold but life-sustaining oxygen.
Result: I am still cold. But I will not die … 😀
There I lie, and every muscle fiber twitches to produce a little energy – and I think it looks familiar to me …
Yes! Sure! I remember!
Turn back the time for a few years – Kiki is about fifteen years old:
“I really, really, really would like to go out in St. Wolfgang, dancing in the discothek…” whispers Kiki.
“Oh yes! That would be amazing!!!” desires Nina as well.
“Suuuuush! Be quiet! It’s already after ten – time to sleep now!” urges the governess.
Both girls wait for a few minutes that the governess would leave the dorm room of the boarding school. Then they continue their conversation.
“But how? We cannot just walk outside the building…”
“No…” Then Nina has an idea: “We go home every weekend and come back to boarding school every Sunday evening!!!”
“Well, yes?”
“Next Sunday, we will hop on our bus to school, like always, BUT, dismount already in St. Wolfgang! And then we call boarding school, that our parents will drive us to school on Monday and that we are therefore not coming this evening. And nobody will miss us!” she cheers adventuresomely.
“Briliant” Kiki admires her best friend.
“Then we can go to the discothek, stay there until closing time, sleep for one or two hours somewhere outside on a bench and then go by bus to school! And nobody will ever find out!”
The next sunday both teenagers say goodbye to their parents and climb into the bus. Like planned they dismount in St. Wolfgang. First they are looking for a call box to call boarding school, then they enter the public bathroom to dress up.
“Oh no…” Nina points at their big bags. “What do we do with them? We cannot bring them to the discothek!”
“That’s true…let me think.” says Kiki. “I have an idea! We need a safe place for sleeping anyway, so let’t find one right now and we’ll hide our bags there!”
No sooner said than done. In the nearby forest they find a nice and quiet bench. Nobody will be here at night. They hide their bags and bounce into the disco.
Disco Disco – Party Party
Hooray, they have so much fun! But then something unexpected happens: on Sundays the discothek closes already at midnight!
“Shite!” they say in unison. And now? With only twothousand people St. Wolfgang isn’t a metropolis where you can find another bar. So the girls must return into the woods and try to sleep.
“Well, at least we are fit at school tomorrow…” Kiki says pragmatically.
There they lie, and every muscle fiber twitches to produce a little energy … But the two adventurers already dressed everything they had found in their travel bags.
You can bury your head in the sand. Or in your travel bag.
Kiki once heard, that the most important thing is to have a warm head. So she opens her travel bag, puts in her head and zip. She is still cold. But Nina has the giggles and will always remember her friend Kiki, lying on the forest floor with her head in a bag …
Because it is still too cold both girls run through the forest for a few minutes every half hour, just to extend their young lives – at least for one more night …
“I could go and run!” I think. But then I had to remove my fleeceblanket-turban and crowl out the sleeping bag. And out there, it’s even colder than in here…
Camping at the Olema campsite: the meadow is large, each campground has its own fire ring and picnic table, and toilet / shower is less pretty than in the hotel, but prettier than in Thailand … Ideal for camping newcomers as it is car-camping – you can go by car to your campsite and do not have to transport your belongings in the backpack at the back …
“Next time we need another blanket!” shivers Matthias in the morning, having blue lips.
Then we have a hot shower – so great – and after breakfast we drive to the lighthouse in the south.
We pass Inverness – and indeed: it has to look like that in Scotland! Soft green hills and the fog makes a spooky but nice atmosphere. But arriving the coast we cannot find the whales and seals …
We only can hear the ocean …
…but here it is, the lighthouse!
We are a little bit sorry because everything is so foggy, but it looks great as well!
But we prefer beeing in the sun and go back. After sunbathing we go to Tomales Point Trail in the north. But it is already four pm, too late to do the whole hike (you need five hours). But we stroll a little bit and definitely wanna come back! It is great!!! You walk along the coast, have a great flora and fauna and you can even see elks!
Conclusion: we are (car)-camping-suitable and can thus make nice and cheap vacations – at least in the summer and with an extra blanket … 😉
