When I loaded the car – yes sometimes I’m helpful and I do stuff around the house – for our trip to Big Sur it was 99 degrees. And we have heavy stuff. And a lot of it. Crikey. But then! Then! Then there was fog. Lovely, glorious fog! And it was 57 degrees! Gorgeous!
Friday night we met up with David’s brother and his wife and kids. A lot of tents were set up and s’more were made. Then we all crashed. And seriously crashed. I don’t think anyone stuck their heads out of their tent until after 9:00 - unheard of when camping! We had a big campingesque breakfast and then we packed a sack lunches and did some sightseeing. We drove up to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park and hiked, ok walked, out to the waterfall and cliffs. Then we packed everyone back into the cars and drove down to Andrew Molera State Park. We walked a mile over a stream, 
through goregous meadows and a forest before we ended up on a lovely beach strewn with driftwood. Over time people have constructed these fantastic lean tos with the driftwood. We claimed one for our base and the kids took off doing whatever it is that kids do. The grown-ups sat around and chatted. Or, in my case, knit.
Back at camp the boys lit a fire and then proceeded to cook dinner. I think it took everyone to cook a tri-tip roast, a dozen ears of corn, and some potatoes. No. Really. Everyone had an opinion on what John should be doing. John, for the most part, was a great sport and dinner was awesome. Even if it did take the entire hour I told everyone it would take. After supper half the group left and David and I enjoyed some quiet time in front of the firepit. S’mores!
On the way out Sunday morning we drove up the driveway to Ventana Inn to stroll the grounds. And what did we come upon? 
Nature! And apparently very tame nature at that. Moma, not pictured, nursed these two fawns. Then she sort of kicked them off of her and stepped out of the frame to take a dump. We saw all sides of nature! And goodness gracious is Ventana Inn gorgeous - we’ll be taking a wee vacation there at some point in our future.
In the meantime, Tami asked for the watermelon salad recipe …
If someone told me I’d like watermelon with olive oil and cheese and I would laugh at them. However, you really should dice a small watermelon, or about two-thirds of a full sized watermelon. To the diced watermelon add a couple handfulls of toasted pine nuts, a handful of shredded fresh basil leaves, about three ounces of crumbled feta cheese, a few shakes each of chili powder and cayenne pepper. Stir it all up. Next stir in a few gulgs of a good olive oil - I use garlic infused olive oil. Make sure everything is stirred and coated well. Refrigerate at least an hour to chill and let the flavor mingle. Seriously yummy. Enjoy!
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