Friday 5 August 2011

Close, but no raccoons

China Camp State Park is so close that we've never bothered going there.  This is a big mistake, which has happily now been rectified!  It's an old shrimp fishing village, just over the Richmond Bridge, where a community of 500 Chinese immigrants lived in the 1900s, catching shrimp in the Bay, drying it, and exporting it to Asia.  Everything was going very well until the US decided to pass lots of anti-Chinese laws.

The remains of the fishing village are still there, and surrounding it are gorgeous beaches, wooded hills, and a fantastic camp ground.  For somewhere so close to civilisation there's also no mobile phone reception, but then nowhere's perfect.  It was also a little dusty, which meant that people closer to the ground than me got covered head-to-foot in mud, leaves, etc.  This bothered me a lot more than it bothered them.


The start of every good camping trip - breakfast at the Hubcaps diner.


Oliver fills up.


Arriving at the camp.


It's a walk-in camp site, so you park your car, fill a wheelie bin with your gear, and drag it up the hill.


The children quickly established their territory.


And so did Uncle David.


The view from my hammock.


Rebecca after three minutes of playing.


Breakfast on the second day.  It didn't last long.


Tree pixie #1


Tree pixie #2


Hannah on the beach.


Due to a cold wind, it felt quite like an English summer.


Shrimp, what made this place great.


I get a little arty.


Dan and Fiona popped by, and I quickly lost my hammock.


And again.


Oliver delivers a fire safety talk.


Grillmaster Jacob passes on some tips.


Marshmallowmaster Scott sees to the smores.


Lord of the Flies.


Brotherhood is the rock on which we build.


More visitors!  Arbel wasn't sure why he was awake in a forest in the middle of the night.


Anat brought me a birthday cake!  Why does it say 3 when I'm 27?


Raccoon locker.


The critters.


The end of every good camping trip - lunch at In'n'Out.


Scott reacts to the news that we've decided to add another night to the camping trip.