Family Beach Trip Part 1

 So for our big family trip this year, we decided to relive my husband's days of yore.

He spent many a summer vacation at El Capitan State Beach, just north of Santa Barbara, so since we did not have a big Disney trip planned, a camping we will go.  We planned a five night trip leaving on Sunday, and heading back to Oak Park on Friday.  There were a few unknowns.  Jason had class on Thursday, and had not yet heard from his instructor if he could be absent.  The original plan was to have my in-laws visit us for dinner on Monday, but we changed that to Thursday since there was a possibility that Jason would have to head down to LB on Thursday afternoon, go to class, and head back up after.  He wanted his parents there to help out JIC.  

We borrowed my neighbor's tent trailer, and after a brief hitch snafus, we were on our way.  To break up the drive a bit, we had a pit stop at my in-laws in Oak Park.  We also picked up firewood from them. Goodbye old gazebo.

 We headed out, and it only took about 1 1/2 hours to get there.  We did stop for fresh strawberries in Goleta.  Then we headed into the park.

It took a few tries, but we got the trailer level and set up pretty quickly.

 K completed her set up.  Poor C.  You can see how little room she gave him.  That was fixed later by mama. 

Dinner was easy - hot dogs.  Daddy and K manned the campfire.

 

We headed down to the beach after dinner.  It was beautiful and we could not have asked for better weather.  Even the tar, which this area is known for, was pretty minimal for most of the trip.

Back up from the beach to roast marshmallows.

 Fun first night.

So this was our first camping trip as a family, and as always, I did a lot of research and planning.  Pinterest was an awesome resource, as was reccs from friends and family.  I will highlight and link things I found particularly clever and helpful.  Five nights at the beach, and we are looking forward to many more.