Monday, May 25, 2009

Santa Cruzin, Part 2

As promised, pics from my Santa Cruz camping trip and it only took me a week to get them up this time... yay for me ;)


We camped at Sunset State Beach just a few miles south of Santa Cruz and had a lovely woodland campsite bordering grassy, ice plant and shrub-covered dunes which separated the campground from the beach.

I took LOTS of pictures. Even this cluttered mess in the Duck somehow looked lovely to me in the morning sun.

We made the trip with my sister-in-law Zoë and her family
again, us in the Duck and them in their cute little teardrop trailer. I guess this probably makes them our official camping buddies.


It’s awesome traveling with them because Clover loves having her older cousins around to play with and they, being avid campers, really have the whole routine down.

Not only did Zoë make our campsite nice and homey with floral oilcloth for the picnic table and fresh roses from her yard, she also cooked ALL of our campsite meals for us and we’re talkin delicious stuff like fried potatoes and yummy cheese-y bacon-y eggs for breakfast!


Surrounding the campground were seemingly endless fields of strawberries...



That combined with the fact that I had just seen Across the Universe the day before we left, resulted in this song playing non-stop in my head throughout the weekend.

As far as songs-to-get-stuck-in-your-head go, I’d say I got pretty lucky and it actually just added a bit of a dreamy quality to the whole experience.



My niece and nephew zoning out on the campfire, over which we later made s'mores with roasted coconut covered marshmallows and chocolate graham crackers, mmmm. There were plenty of good trees for Vida, our resident tree climber, to enjoy as well :)

The best thing about our campsite was that we had a trail that went directly from our site straight up the dunes to a magnificent lookout point, perfect for surf checking and sunset viewing.

Since I was the one taking all the pictures, this is one of the few that I was actually in. I know the yoga pants under the dress are not very stylish but what can I say, it got cold, I was camping.

I do also realize that I have my daughter wearing an article of clothing straight from my own
list of Nevers *gasp* but I’d like to state that for the record, crocs can actually be kind of cute if they are pink and your feet are less than four inches long ;)




I think it’s safe to say that Clover has finally outgrown her dislike of the sand! I’m pretty sure the elaborate sand maze that Lucas and her cousins dug for her (as I lounged about) may have had something to do with it ;)

I totally broke down and got her sand toys and this little rash guard/shorts ensemble at Target before the trip. I know, not very thrifty of me, but look at her! How could I resist?!


I took everyone to the little natural history museum that I had fallen in love with on my previous trip. I was excited to see that they had a completely new exhibit, which was right up my alley, with cool scientific illustrations and curiosity cabinet type vignettes on display.







Can you spot me in the reflection on the right? (hint: that’s my shoulder in Darwin’s beard) and I love the reflection of Vida holding Clover on the left :)

Not a very thrift related post, I know, but we did actually head downtown for some thrifting after leaving the museum. The only item I ended up with though was a vintage children’s book.

Zoë had better luck and left with a bag full of stuff, though the luck ran out when her van with her thrift finds and my book still in it, was stolen (!!!) a few days after returning home. A bummer thing to have happen after such an awesome trip, but I think they’re already getting excited about the idea of getting a new car, so I guess there’s that!

If you’re still reading… hey, thanks for sitting through all my travel pics!

24 comments:

Hannah said...

I thoroughly enjoyed looking through all your pictures :D So much to comment on.. it looks like you had an amazing trip and you have now completely put me in the mood for camping. I love how your step sister made it look so cozy even though you're in the great outdoors! And I can't believe you were camping next to a strawberry field! I actually find the natural history museum really inspiring for home decor purposes. I would love to have those drawings of the petals(?) hanging on my wall. It would actually be really nice to have a little set-up (like the one in the fifth picture down of the museum) on a desk somewhere looking like the abandoned works of a great naturalist!

Andrea said...

Sounds like you had a great time! Love the cabinet of curiosity style pictures.

Manja said...

What lovely pictures! They really make me wanna go camping, too :)

muchlove said...

This is such a lovely post. Sounds like you had a great time. Awww @ Clover playing in the sand, looking very happy indeed!
Those museum displays look really cool too.

Anonymous said...

Looks like an utterly magical time, Missa. Wish I'd been a mouse in your pocket. And Clover looks darling in her Crocs. ;)

meg said...

oh, this all looks so ideal to me! i LOVE it when you share this kind of stuff (even if it's not specifically "thrift" related!) i can't get over that pic of clover laughing - so adorable and happy! :)
when you get a chance, go to the year of frugal living (there's a link from the fashion maven site) to see my new post!

elena-lu said...

oh oh i love your phots of trips i love your photos period! and clover's smile is sooooooo beautiful it really makes me smile right back! those are the best moments you captured of her!
i love how the "mess" was beautiful! and indeed it does look beautifully composed does it not?! i think sunlight does that to a lot of objects though! sometimes magic happens when sunbeams hit!
lovey pics! thanks for sharing :)

fern said...

Lovely! Glad you had a good time!

PS, my daughter has some crocs too, that's the closest I'M ever going to get to them.

Unknown said...

oh i love camping!

Diana said...

you had such a great trip from your photos and that exhibit looks amazing!!

Andrea Eames said...

It looks like a magical trip!

Eyeliah said...

Lovely recap! I am so itching to camp, but my silly husband will not get on board!

Thrifted Treasure said...

Gorgeous photos!! All looked so lovely, I can't wait to do a camping trip with my boys.

ashley said...

that trip looks amazing, i love that you had a beautiful tablecloth and flowers even camping, its the little things sometimes!
clover looks so cute, as always, and you are one stylish mama!
hope you are doing great darling,
x ashley

Sonya --Dime Store Thrift said...

I am drooling over your trip, what a wonderful time! Thank you so much for sharing your pictures, they are all so beautiful!
And oooohhhh, camping buddies sound WONDERFUL...esp those who can cook:)
Hugs, Sonya

kimvee said...

Aww it looks like you had so much fun. I've never been camping, I really should do that this summer :)

sarah said...

Delightful post, I so enjoyed looking at your pictures. What a lovely camping spot...makes me want to camping, haven't been for ages, I think next time I go I'll have to take your sister in law with me :)

Parapluie said...

This sounds so lovely!

Anonymous said...

Oh it all looked and sounds so lovely! Unfortunate for the car to be stolen! Miss you Guys, can't believe how big Clover is getting!!

Caroline said...

That exhibit looks great! I really like skulls for some reason. Glad to hear you had a nice trip. I haven't been camping in a looooooong time...maybe a couple years? I need to get on that. And you better believe that when I do, there will be a vase with flowers on site.

roberta jane said...

I was also in Santa Cruz last weekend - That's where my husband grew up :)

Skye said...

Love those Duck adventures!

I remember when the little dude was Clover's age he had a little pair of knock-off Crocs and I felt a bit funny about them since I'd been so scathing about Crocs for so long. But they looked pretty cute on those little stubby feet!

Unknown said...

Hellooo! Sorry I haven't written in a long time. I have to tell you how much I enjoyed looking at all these dreamy and wonderful beach camping pix! I dream of camping on the beach one day. Being from abroad we don't know how to go about setting up a camping site, etc. but these photos are truly inspirational. ^__^ Thank you for sharing!

katrina and the king said...

this looks like so much fun!