Our last full day in Big Sur.
It was our turn to cook breakfast for everyone. We had pancakes, bacon and fruit salad.
Gwen and I decided to ride our bikes to the lodge for a cup of coffee.
Thawing chicken for dinner.
Cousins and best friends.
Usually, we would wake up to overcast skies. Around noon, the fog would thin and dissolve. Sunday, the fog burned off early and it was pretty warm by early afternoon, so we decided to go to a little spot on the river we had discovered earlier when we were hiking.
This couple decided to have lunch in the middle of the river.
Someone put a flower in a film canister and sent it downriver. We examined it, then sent it on its way.
You have to be very comfortable with dirt when you’re camping. In Big Sur, the dirt beneath your feet is like soft talc, consisting of leaves and bark and seeds that have been crushed to powder over hundreds of years. In some places your feet actually sink into the dirt.
This powder lofts up into the air and mingles with the smoke from the campfires. It filters the sunlight and add texture to the air. The light is amazing.
Making friendship bracelets.
Preparing tri tip for dinner.
And grilled chicken.
My favorite time of day was after dinner, when we would all gather at the campfire. We roasted marshmallows every night and on our last night, Denise, our fabulous hostess, made hot cocoa for all the kids. Around 10 the little ones would drift off to bed and the adults would stay and drink beer and talk.
Before we went to bed, we walked out to the open meadow and looked up at the sky. All the stars that are intimidated by the lights of Los Angeles filled the sky and curved all the way to the horizon. Just before we turned to go, a large shooting star slowly burned across the sky. It completely made up for the meteor shower that we had missed on Thursday.