When My Mind Is Still...: Camping at Samuel P. Taylor

For Memorial Day weekend we went to Samuel P. Taylor State Park near Point Reyes, north of San Francisco. We made our reservation 6 months ago and this was not our first choice-- New Brighton was, but they were already full and so I decided on Samuel P. Taylor. We have camped in the area before-- at Olema Ranch- a private campground and higher priced. We ended up really liking Camp Taylor. We stayed at pull-though site 41, it was beautiful, peaceful, and quiet. This is about 50 miles from our home. We definitely will come again.

At the entrance-- see the "Camp Full", not what you want to see if you did not make reservations- we had that experience the first time we tried to go camping. We ended up coming back home and setting up the tent in the back yard. Holiday or summer weekends at popular California state campgrounds must be reserved 6 months in advance. However, you can get lucky like the people camped next to us. That space was originally reserved by us so we could invite some friends to go camping with us. We never found anyone to come with us-- so we canceled it on Thursday and some lucky last minute campers camped there each night.

A creek/river runs along the road and bike trails. This park had hands-down the best family bike trails we have seen. They are flat and run on both sides of the river- a north and south trail. The path is either gravel or paved and level. While riding along it reminded us of our stay in Portland Oregon. The lush greenery, the smells and the sound of the creek.

Chance is looking for wild life--he spotted tiny fish and tad poles.

Having a snack and water break at the end of the North trail. Jordan stayed back at the campsite, finishing up his book that he read in two days.

On Saturday we went to the Point Reyes Lighthouse. We had never been there before and Scott kept wondering if were going the right way. Because we kept driving and driving. We drove through ranch after ranch. The last five ranches were dairy farms. Each ranch had a sign and would tell you when it was established. They were established during the gold rush around the 1850-60's. Below is a picture of the cows going from pasture to the holding pen to be milked. I had Scott take it for my family- a little blast from the past. I told Scott we should see if we can go in and watch them be milked! These are the Happy California Cows. They are feeding on the open pasture lands- the rolling hills and clean ocean air.

Okay... I see my pics are out of order. I have not quite got the uploading down and they are not so easy to move around. So I will keep it like this for now. We are back at the campground.

This is our home away from home, our 30 ft Airstream Classic. We do not really rough it. And since the first day was misty-- it was really nice to have a dry place to cook and eat. Sometime I will need to give you a tour of the inside.

See how beautiful the campground is. On Sunday morning after breakfast I went back into the bedroom and read a book. I loved how I could look out the windows and see the trees-- I snuggled under a blanket- it was heaven.

Back to the Lighthouse. We arrived at the parking lot and walked 1/2 mile on this road.

You can't tell in this picture, but through the trees is the ocean.

Looking about half way down to the lighthouse. 308 steps! This is what most impressed me-- how far down the ocean is-- you can't tell the distance from this picture. The hard work and loneliness of being a lighthouse worker. The dangerous and treacherous place Point Reyes is for Mariners. And how big whale lice is- they had some in a container in the visitors center. To read more about the Lighthouse at Point Reyes go here.