This past weekend, we decided to do something we haven’t really done in a long time (or basically ever, unless you count that one time we went in VA beach and just watched 30 Rock on Alan’s phone, which was perfectly fun): go camping! Our neighbors, Eric and Stephanie, invited us to go with them to Humboldt State Park, which is about 4 hours north of San Francisco. It’s also home to the Avenue of the Giants, some of the most amazing and breathtaking redwood trees. We’ve wanted to go up North for a long time, but we almost always end up venturing south when we do a weekend getaway. Fortunately, the northern California coast did not disappoint!

We started our trip at (long before) the crack of dawn. Because 4+ hours is more than what we’d like to drive for a one-night stay somewhere, we knew we wanted to leave early and maximize the amount of times we’d actually have there. Plus, driving North means driving through San Francisco and getting across the Golden Gate Bridge can be pretty terrible if there’s traffic. But leaving at 6 in the morning really isn’t that bad. We were the first people to get coffee from Philz (mmm delicious), and we were able to catch an awesome view of the Bay.

Instead of going straight to the campground, we chose to drive a bit further north to Eureka. It’s technically the largest coastal city between San Francisco and Portland, but it’s a pretty small and slow-moving place. We grabbed lunch at the Fresh Freeze and visited Woodley’s Marina before stopping at Sequoia Park Zoo. This zoo was tiny, and it had very few exhibits. But it had all the exhibits that mattered: an eagle (AMERICA! murca), otters, and… RED PANDAS! (This can't be capitalized enough). We were really worried at first that we would only be able to see the red pandas sleeping, but we got lucky. Right before we left, a trainer came to feed the red pandas and train them so that they are comfortable with the vet. It was all unbelievably cute really, and it’s got us pumped for our upcoming trip to the San Diego Zoo! Here are a few of our favorite pictures from the zoo:

We finally made it to Humboldt State Park and set up camp after leaving the zoo. Although the campground was completely full, it was still remarkably tranquil. It was quiet and peaceful, and the view from our tent was amazing. Stephanie and Eric arrived shortly after we got our camp set up. We spent the rest of the night cooking hot dogs over the fire, falling off a small cliff, making s’mores, and just chatting and catching up. Camping definitely provided a much needed escape from the daily grind in Silicon Valley. (Apologies for the blurry picture of our campsite! It was the only one we took.)

Sunday was mostly uneventful. The drive back from a new place is always more dreadful than the drive there. We did drive through Shrine Tree, which was… underwhelming (terrible) to say the least. (To be fair, I’m not really sure what we were expecting. But it was lame, and I definitely would not recommend it, especially since you have to pay to drive through it). Fortunately, Sunday wasn’t a total bust. Even though most of it was just packing up camp and sitting in a car, we were able to go to Black Sand Beach (spoiler alert: it's actually rocks. No sand.) before driving all the way home. It was ridiculously far out of the way, and there were a few points on the way there that we were convinced Stephanie and Eric had only concocted this plan because they needed a place to bury our bodies (I'm still not convinced otherwise). But it was worth it. The beach was so secluded, and we mostly had it to ourselves. The waves were violent in a very awe-inspiring way. It’s definitely not suitable for swimming. (We were actually warned by a local, who saw us with our pink inner tube and feared we would be taken out to sea). Here’s some pictures and a video so you can check it out too!

So, that was our trip up North. It was a nice little getaway, and we hope to be able to do more camping in the future!