4th at Fort Bragg

It was a weekend where NOTHING went as planned, but everything seemed to work out perfectly.

The 4th of July is a very busy time in Lake Tahoe.  Since it fell on a Saturday this year, it was expected to be especially busy.  So, we decided to leave town and head to the coast with some friends for a little camping by the beach.

We left Thursday afternoon as soon as I got out of work.  We passed a huge line of cars headed into the Tahoe basin as we were leaving so we felt like we had made a good choice to leave town.  Some of our friends left Thursday morning with a list of places to "check out" for camping since we didn't plan this getaway in time to make reservations.  We ended up just North of Fort Bragg... California.  Not North Carolina.  These 2 Forts with the same name are 2,951 miles apart.

Anyway, back to our friends... all I have to say is BLESS THEIR HEARTS!  Since they were first to the coast, they ended up with all the pressure to find us a campsite.  No big deal... they had just spent 9ish hours in the car (with a baby).  After scoping out LOTS of potential places, they called us with good news: they found a campsite, but it has a sign on it that says "No Camping." They stumbled across a gravel side road and it turned out to be an entrance to the beach for 4x4 vehicles.  There was definitely a sign that says no camping, but there were people camping right next to it!!! So, we decided to risk it.

No one bothered us ALL weekend.  Let me clarify: No one ran us off.  Plenty of people bothered us.

To say that this was redneck camping would be an understatement.

There were TONS of people on this beach.  And they were camping for a WHILE based on all the stuff they brought with them. So we found a spot among them and  set up camp for the night.  Luckily, Mike and I recently purchased a "carpet kit" for the back of his truck so we quickly fixed a sandwich for dinner, set up our bed, and crashed for the night in the back of the truck.  Well, we tried to sleep.   There were fireworks and obnoxiously loud four wheelers driving up and down the beach ALL night long.  Our poor dog was super stressed out and refused to lay down at all.  So, not much sleep for us that first night.

GROWN MAN ON A KIDDIE BIKE

CONFEDERATE FLAG & a "S*IT HAPPENS" FLAG!
AND THAT BASKET ON THE BACK?  THAT'S
WHERE THEY PUT THEIR SMALL CHILDREN...
NOT A JOKE. 

The second night we headed to the other end of the beach which was a GREAT decision.  It was slightly less obnoxious... SLIGHTLY.  But we had a much better view from this new spot, and we were able to claim a larger piece of the beach for ourselves.  Happy with the decision to move, we set up an awesome campsite.

OUR NEW VIEW

OUR AWESOME CAMPSITE

Mike and I felt like we were "glamping."  It was so nice to sleep in the back of the truck and for my birthday Mike gave me a solar shower which we were able to try out.  It worked so well!  Even on the cloudy day it got warm enough to use.  On the sunny day, the water inside the black bag got really warm... like a perfect shower temperature.  It was so nice to be able to rinse off with fresh water each night.

 Friday was cool and cloudy most of the day.  We relaxed by the campsite and Mike and I ventured out to the closest town of Westport.  Calling it a town might be a bit of a stretch.  It's more of a small tiny village.  It was super cute, but there wasn't much there.

WESPORT POST OFFICE.
THAT'S ALL THE PO BOXES THEY HAVE!
AND THEY ARE THE "OLD SCHOOL" BOXES!

 The general store was attached to this post office and it was tiny.  However, they sold CHEERWINE!?!?!?!  Seriously?  I could not get over that.  I think someone made a mistake and the shipment was supposed to go to Fort Bragg NC but got sent to Fort Bragg CA instead.  I have no idea if that's true, but it seemed so random to see Cheerwine in this TINY little village. 

This whole area is just off of Highway 1 or the Pacific Coast Highway.  It's a beautiful drive.  There are lots of Eucalyptus trees with beautiful bark.  There were also lots of tree canopies to drive under.  

LOOKING DOWN FROM HIGHWAY 1 ONTO THE BEACH WHERE
WE CAMPED. 

BEAUTIFUL ARCHED ROCK NEAR OUR SITE

 There were so many people with four wheelers and dune buggies and motorcycles and trucks.  And I guess they were all bored so they just drove endlessly up and down the beach, as fast as they possibly could.  We kept saying, "someone's gonna get hurt."  

 Unfortunately, we were right.  Even more unfortunate, it was a kid.  He was in a dune buggy and collided with a motorcycle.  He was wearing a helmet but still lost consciousness.  He was air lifted off the beach.  You would think that would SLOW people down, right?  You would be wrong. 

After another night of poor sleep, we woke up to more cloudy conditions on the 4th.  However, the clouds didn't last. The sun came out.  We soaked it up on the beach, then we headed into Fort Bragg to eat at a local brewery.  Lots of people had the same idea.  It was busy.  We were hungry.  We discussed some other options, but they were closed, etc.  It was a mess.  By this point it's almost 4:00 in the afternoon and we are all "hangry."  Mike found a wharf area with restaurants and we settled on the one we thought would please the most people in our group.  I feel like it was a complete "hole in the wall" type of place, but the food was pretty good, it was really cheap, and they had cold beer.  We ended up sitting at this restaurant for a couple of hours.  It actually worked out kinda perfectly.   

 Saturday night we expected the WORST night of sleep.  We knew there would be fireworks and lots of them.  We knew there would be rowdiness, and we figured it would last all night.  

Unfortunately for you blog readers that love pictures, I didn't take a single picture on Saturday or Saturday night.  But, I had an absolute blast Saturday night.  We made a huge campfire.  We played beach games.  We watched VERY close fireworks.  We drank.  We laughed.  We made s'mores.  And we went to bed.  SO DID EVERYONE ELSE!  It was awesome.  Sunday morning we all woke up shockingly well rested (even the dog).  

Sunday morning we packed up early, took a drive down the beach to scope out the wildlife during low tide, and then Mike and I headed south on Hwy 1 to see more of the coast on our way home. 

BEAUTIFUL STARFISH

 We made one last stop at Glass Beach in Fort Bragg.

It used to be the town dump, but the ocean has worn away at the glass and smoothed the edges.  

 The drive down the coast took us by some of the most beautiful scenery: 

GOLDEN WILDFLOWERS BY THE RIVER

POINT ARENA LIGHTHOUSE

SO MANY ARCHES!

SEA LIONS

IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY YOU CAN SEE THE SEA LIONS ON THE BEACH

ANOTHER ARCH!

 We made our last stop in Bodega Bay.  We ate a picnic lunch and then headed inland.  

BODEGA BAY 

Despite not having a campsite, and not getting to eat where we wanted for lunch, and not getting much sleep, etc. we had a WONDERFUL 4th of July.  Our country is in a little bit of a mess right now but I'm so grateful for our independence.  We live in a beautiful country and I feel blessed to have the freedom to be able to explore it.   The biggest thanks goes out to those who have fought, and those who continue to fight for our freedom!