A Night at the Park

Not surprisingly, my memory has by now faded. But I've still got photos and warm memory of good time with great people, however hazy my recollection may be. One Saturday morning at the end of August, we got up early and hit the road down on California Highway 1. 

Oh, I lied. I was supposed to get up early and bake muffins before the pick-up, but by the time I got out of my bed, I had less than an hour to shower, pack (which should've been done the night before) and bake (Banana Pecan Muffins and Blueberry Muffins). I'm "sort of" used to running late, so I calmed down and took care of them all.

As if the company of great friends were not enough, we were blessed with beautiful weather - the reflection on my muffins was quite telling of the sky under which we drove that Saturday.

The boys were a bit miffed that we the girls ran a little late. Behind the schedule we were, but the morning had to be awoken with some strong coffee, or some refreshing tea for Barbara who doesn't drink coffee. We asked our "designated" driver and the creator of the perfect plan for this trip, Jaehong, to drive several blocks out of our way to grab coffee at Peet's. Yes, we did bypass a nearby Starbucks and drove some extra miles for Peet's.

Then on the rental van, I fell asleep in the backseat until these guys caught Barbara's attention by the highway:

Everyone got off the van and went up close to see and hear sea lions talk some undecipherable language. The sun was bright but it was too windy for me to appreciate their cute grunts. I hurried back to the van and finished the now tepid coffee from Peet's.

Then, our next stop was Trader Joe's, one of my favorite grocery shops in the US. I especially love their store-brand wine which they sell for $2.00 in California (and slightly higher in other states), hence named "Two Buck Chuck."

We filled lots of food in this pretty red cart, enough to feed 4 girls and 3 boys for one night.

Jaehong did all the research and made reservations for this trip. I was so grateful!!! Sorry, but I don't really enjoy making travel arrangements. Whenever I can get away with it, I would welcome the luxury of tagging along other people. Like most things in life, it's who you go, do, eat, live with that matters. Once that's taken care of, who cares about where and what?

Anyway, this was where I was brought to:  Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.

Neighboring campers. I shivered all night, but the experienced campers knew enough to bring all their blankets and comforters. See left to the green tent.

Unlike most other state parks, Pfeiffer Big Sur requires reservation and fees for using a campground. By the time we made up our mind on this park, it was all booked. But thanks to Jaehong's tireless research, we were able to get one from someone who had his reservation but had to cancel the trip. Hence, Site 146 was to be ours for the night.

Yes, we were hungry. Before we put up our tents, we unpacked our groceries and fixed up some quick lunch. Good bread, cheese, nuts, peppers, carrots, figs, pita bread, hummus, mango salsa.

Then it was time for a fire. 

Well, actually between lunch and the fire set up, we did spend a few hours at the Pfeiffer Beach.

Hyunmo and Jet were about to show off their (more than) decade-long experience of barbecue set up. At the beginning, it looked promising.
 

Jet had picked up a fire starter from a nearby camping store to help ignite fire on the charcoals. It looked like a votive candle, only it melted away a lot quicker than a votive candle might have. Melted but without setting the charcoals aflame.
 

Jaehong joined Hyunmo with some scraps of paper...

Then, Jet gingerly fanned the little flame in the middle in hopes for spreading it farther out.

But the fire didn't really catch on until I stepped in. Haha!
(Note what Hyunmo's holding in his hands. : ) )

Anyway, setting the fire took us longer than we thought, but we managed to grill the beef and sausage for dinner. And we ate it before I could take any pictures.

Once the grilling was done, we added some wood to the embers. In between the burning pieces of wood were placed two cans of soup (one lentil and one clam chowder), sweet potatoes, and asparagus, all wrapped in aluminum foil.

Oh, we had some garlic too. This is how they looked when they came out of the burning wood. Garlic, I wouldn't have to describe. Asparagus was nice and crunchy, leaving refreshing taste of juice in the mouth when chewed. I just wished we had got more of these at Trader Joe's.

What we thought were sweet potatoes were unveiled and proved to be yams.  Disappointing. But we shouldn't have expected the real yummy pumpkin potatoes only available in Korea.

The bellies are now filled. Time to actually enjoy the fire.

And, of course, it would be remiss to do without marshmallows at camping. Hyunmo, a big time s'more fan, even brought long wooden sticks for toasting the marshmallows. Those did come in very handy that night.

All ready to be squeezed with another piece of graham crackers on top.

The toasted marshmallow squished out perfectly.

As fun as the making of s'more sandwiches is, I don't really enjoy them in my mouth. I think marshmallows are best served in rice krispy treats.

The top of s'more sticks were snapped several times after each toasting of marshmallows, and now they were abandoned to disappear into ashes of the charcoals and wood. As the fire was dying out, we all gathered closer to it to feel the last bit of warmth it was giving out. Jet told us some ghost stories which I don't really remember by now. Sometimes, short-term memory can be beneficial, too.

We sat and talked while the fire was dying out. (It had the normal reddish fire hue, nothing like this purplish laser look; it was the camera's work.) 

Lying in the tent, I looked up. It was pitch dark, but when captured in my camera with flash, it told me a little bit more about what was like it up there.

Nigh nigh...