(11) Chino Hills State Park

April 16, 2021- April 25, 2021

Chino Hills State Park is the hidden gem right in our back yard. Rolling M. Ranch Campground is 19 miles from home, and about 2.5 of those miles are travelled inside the park. There are 20 campsites. There are no hook-ups for RV's which was nice since it meant that most of the campers were in tents (also means that reservations are much easier to get). We stayed in campsite 12. A year ago I might have had some trouble backing the trailer into the site, so it just shows how far I have come ;-). All the sites seem good but we will make sure to stay away from the campsite near the bathrooms when we go back. 

Luca was a big help getting the trailer set up. He is going to be in charge of making sure that everything is level.

The wild flowers were in bloom, so the park was packed with visitors. Quite of few people were dressed up in their Sunday best for photoshoots. Tiago enjoyed hunting for ladybugs and going on "bear hunts" through the tall flowers.

Food: We decided to keep track of meals so that we remember what works and to take a little of the thought out of the mean planning. Don't worry I won't let it become another food blog. Ideal camping meals need to be quick to put together and easy to eat off of paper plates.

Friday night dinner was honey bourdon pork belly brussel sprouts, grilled corn, and marinated shrimp. I roasted about a pound of pork belly in 7 tbls of bourdon and  a star anise for about 3 hours at 320 a few days before and then stored it in the fridge. Before the trip, I cut it into 1in squares and saved some of the fat to use to sear the brussel sprouts. I made a simple sauce to top the pork belly out of reduced bourdon, ketchup, soy sauce and honey.  It was yummy. The husked corn went right on the grill. The kids both love corn. Tiago eats it off the cobb, but we cut it added it to the shrimp for Luca. The marinated shrimp came pre-packaged from Northgate market which I got when I went to pick up the beans and pan dulce. It came out great over a flying pan. I can't take any credit for it.

 

Saturday breakfast was scrambled eggs with ham (cooked with lots of butter) and refried beans with crumbled cheese and pan dulce. The beans from Northgate need to be a camping stables since Luca enjoys them so much.

Lunch was tortas on bolillo with breaded chicken, ham, beans, cojita cheese, red peppers, tomatoes, and avocado. Chips on the side

Dinner was potatoes (in the cast iron using more of the fat from the pork belly with the left over red pepper), more corn, and shrimp again (cooked with butter and red bell peppers on a frying pan). That wasn't what we originally planned, so we had a lot of food left over. The grilled skirt steak, and stuffed pepper tacos will have to be on the menu next time

Santa Barbara (8)

 11/13/2020-11/14/2020: Santa Barbara, Earl Warren Showgrounds.

We decided to break up the trip to Morro Bay with a quick stop in Santa Barbara. The stop in Santa Barbara was a last minute decision and worked out perfect for Friday night since our Morro Bay reservation did not start until Saturday. We stayed at Earl Warren Showgrounds, found through a quick google search. There were only a handful of people there, which I assume is because there are no events going on with Covid. It was just a parking lot with RV hook ups. But it was clean and close to where we wanted to be. It worked out perfect and we will likely be back.

We went by the historic courthouse after breakfast in downtown. This is the first time we have been back to Santa Barbara since our wedding. We were hoping to take a picture in the clocktower and do one of those side-by-sides "where we started; where we are now" type pictures, but unfortunately it was closed. Another likely causality of the 'Rona. This section of the blog is officially subtitled "Travel in the time of the 'Rona."

We stopped by the Santa Barbara museum store to get a gift for Aunt Susie's birthday, and got a wooden block figure that turns into a block. The "robot" as Tiago referred to him was the star of the car ride home, where Tiago fought between one hand and the other on who got to hold the robot. Luca just thought that he tasted good. 

Calico Ghost Town (7)

The wind was out in force. Today we it was official that Joe Biden won the election. I guess you could say that change was in the air. Our attena picked up ABC so we got to see Biden's acceptance speech.

This is the first trip that Nathan joined us on. Due to his new found crawling skills, Luca had a hard time losing his independence.There is no where to crawl in the trailer. Next weekend we might set up a tent to give him free range. 

Tiago made s'mores for the first time. The marshmallows were a hit. Luca will just have to wait since they don't make baby food pouches in that flavor.

Tiago warmed up to Calico when Lupe pointed out the old train tracks. Trains are always good for his mood. Capitalizing on the trains we stopped by the Train museum in Barstow. The actual museum has limited hours and is probably closed due to Covid, but there were lots of old engines outside, which is really what Tiago is interested in so it worked out great.