Camping In The Redwoods

Relax into a peaceful guided visualization by the campfire. Sip a cup of hot chocolate as you listen to the crickets and the owl in the nearby trees, enjoy the clear night sky and relive the amazing memories of a day of hiking, laughing, and enjoying spending time in the woods.

Transcript

What a great day it's been.

All six families were able to make it here for the camping trip.

And day one has been wonderful.

Everyone is in their tents now,

And most everybody is asleep.

But I just couldn't pass up the chance to come out and sit for a while and enjoy the night sky before going to bed.

I grab my chair and a blanket and set up near what's left of the campfire.

It's mostly just embers now,

But it's giving off just enough heat to keep me warm and cozy.

I love the smell of the campfire.

I'm sitting here with my hands wrapped around a cup of hot chocolate.

The heat from the hot chocolate is keeping my hands warm.

I take a little sip.

I can feel the warmth of the liquid as it goes down the back of my throat and warms up my tummy.

So good.

Just the right amount of chocolate.

Just what I needed.

It's just so peaceful here.

So quiet with just the noise from the crickets.

I can hear a few of the families talking quietly as they're trying to get the last few of the kids to go to sleep.

And of course there's the owl in the tree across the field.

What an amazing view.

All around me are the redwood trees.

They're so huge and beautiful.

Just majestic.

Earlier today we were hiking around and we were able to see how big around their trunks were.

It took five of us to be able to hold hands and wrap ourselves around one of the huge tree trunks.

Some of them must be hundreds of years old.

It was amazing to be able to touch the bark and be touching something so ancient.

My mind wanders to thinking about what this area must have looked like hundreds of years ago and about who the people were who were living on this very spot.

I take a deep breath in and I can smell the scent of the trees mixed with the smoky smell of the dying fire.

Take another sip of my hot chocolate.

So good.

Past the tops of the trees I can see the stars.

The night is so clear and so beautiful that there are millions of them.

I can even see the Milky Way,

That bright band of stars that lights up the sky.

It's so clear here that it looks unreal,

Like a photograph.

The twinkling of the stars against the deep black of the night.

I look around at all the stars and I'm able to locate the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper and the North Star.

I can see lots of other individual stars,

Some brighter and bigger than others.

I know that I learned all the different constellations as a kid,

But I can't remember their names.

But I still just enjoy looking up at the stars.

Off in the distance I can barely hear the sound of the ocean on the other side of the dunes.

What a blast the kids had today playing in the water.

I love the sound of all the laughter.

Even now it brings a smile to my face.

They enjoyed chasing each other and playing frisbee,

Getting in the water,

And trying to body surf.

After all those face plants in the sand,

I kept thinking they'd want to call it quits and head back to camp.

But no,

They just kept going and having a blast.

It was so much fun.

We only came back because it got so cold they were turning blue.

And it was time for dinner.

Camping dinners are always the best.

The guys were in charge of cooking,

And the food was amazing.

We each put pieces of chicken along with pieces of onion,

Zucchini,

Carrots,

And then some spices and wrapped them all in foil pouches and threw them into the fire.

They smelled so good that it was hard to wait until they were done.

Our mouths were watering just waiting.

Then when we pulled them out of the fire,

We had to wait till they were cool enough to open and eat.

The patience was hard,

Especially for the kids,

Who were so hungry from playing all day.

Then after dinner,

We threw a few more logs on the fire and brought out the marshmallows,

Chocolate bars,

And the graham crackers.

What's camping without s'mores?

A couple of the adults had never been camping before,

So had never heard of s'mores.

So they really got a kick out of watching us all get so excited about fixing them.

The kids took their jobs seriously and worked hard to put the marshmallows on the skewers.

They worked hard to hold the marshmallows just the right distance from the fire.

But impatience usually won out,

And the marshmallows ended up on fire.

Everybody laughed and enjoyed the silliness of it.

Of course,

Several marshmallows ended up in the bottom of the fire pit,

But nobody worried about it.

We still had plenty.

Then we started to put the s'mores together.

The marshmallows went between two pieces of chocolate.

Then the graham crackers on the outside.

They were so yummy.

The marshmallow was warm and sticky.

Then the chocolate was just the right amount of gooey.

And then the crunchy of the graham cracker.

It was perfect.

And there were lots of stories around the fire as everybody relived the highlights of the day,

And then the little ones started to drift off.

What a great time.

As I sit here now,

I'm really enjoying the quiet.

Although it's not really quiet.

I can hear the owl in that tree not too far away.

We saw her and her babies in the nest earlier today when we were hiking.

There were several photographers gathered around taking pictures of her,

Hoping to see her fly out of the nest so they could get some good pictures.

They were all older,

Retired folks who traveled around in their RVs photographing wildlife.

What a great life that would be.

Being able to travel on different adventures wherever you wanted to go.

And of course,

If I really stop and listen,

There really is a lot of nighttime activity going on around me.

There are tons of crickets.

I remember the time we had a couple of crickets loose in the house.

I thought we'd never find them.

It was hilarious,

Thinking we'd found them under the couch just to pull the couch out and then hear them over behind the TV.

It was too funny.

I can also hear some noise over by the bathrooms.

It's probably raccoons going through the trash,

Looking to steal some scraps of food.

They're such cute and crafty little guys.

I love their little masked faces.

They even look like little bandits.

They're just such characters.

And it's so cute to watch them when they eat.

As their tiny hands with their cute little fingers that hold the food.

They're just such adorable little guys.

As I look over in that direction,

I can see what looks like a mama and her two or maybe three little ones scurrying around the corner of the bathroom and back into the woods.

Mama looks pretty roly-poly,

So I'm thinking that they are well fed by the scraps the campers leave laying around.

It looks like they're heading over to the neighboring campsite to see what else they can find.

I take a sip of my hot chocolate and snuggle deeper into my blanket.

The air is starting to get a bit cooler.

As the evening breeze blows on my face,

I get another slight whiff of the redwood trees,

Mixed with the smoky smell of what's left of the fire.

I watch a few of the sparks fly up into the air and dissipate.

It looks like there are only embers left.

If I stay out much longer,

I'll need to put another log on the fire.

It's hard to leave such a peaceful spot.

This is my favorite part of the whole day.

To just sit here and savor all the great memories.

My mind starts to wander to tomorrow,

Thinking about what adventures we'll have.

More beach,

Some hiking,

And of course the hanging out at the campfire after dinner.

As I'm starting to drift off,

I decide I'll head into the tent for sleep.

I set down my cup on the rough picnic table,

Wrap myself in my blanket,

And head toward the tent.

What a perfect,

Peaceful ending to such a fun and adventure-filled day.

Reviews

I've never been camping, but I could imagine the whole day and then the evening by the camp fire. Very relaxing thank you for taking me with you 😊