Carpinteria camping (how to...)

Our family has been camping at Carpinteria since I was about 4. We took several years off when we were all young, but for the past 10 years or so, it has been renewed as an every other summer tradition. It is really quite the process, but this family (my mom's cousins, their families, friends, etc) has it down to a science. I always say that this is the only kind of camping I really enjoy. We are right on the beach, yet close to Santa Barbara and some good shopping, bathrooms at the campsite, and warm water (that you pay for in quarters) in the showers. You still leave smelling like campfire and feeling sandy and dirty, but considering I get to spend all day at the beach and all night around the fire, while eating well the entire time, it's a pretty good deal.

I decided to document a little bit of the process.
Set up:
-Empty campsite (we try to secure as many sites as possible, but the process for reserving them is ridiculous! We were lucky to get 2 large adjoining sites and then 2 others nearby). We made the largest site the central location where we set up picnic tables, food tent, etc.
-Tent: When it comes to tents...in my opinion, the bigger the better. Karleigh "stole" my parents' old tent to use in Utah, so they bought a new tent this year, a 10-man tent-and the 4 of us shared it. It was perfect size. Enough room for 4 air mattresses, all of our stuff, and still room to walk in and out. The greatest part of this new tent, the hinged front door. I didn't realize how nice it was going to be until we set it up and started using it...SO nice!Karleigh and I took the smaller "room" on the side with it's own escape door, and we could close it off with the zipper room divider.

My parents enjoyed the luxurious larger room ;)We set up the "community site" which takes a bit of time, but is so worth it for the enjoyment of the rest of the week. We get the picnic benches from all of our campsites, but them together, cover with table cloths, and put up shade canopies (which double as beach shade during the day). We have a huge camp grill and several little stoves with burners.

-Meals: Breakfast we occasionally do cereal, but more often have awesome breakfasts full of pancakes, french toast, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns and/or eggs. Lunch we have chips and sandwich goods for everyone to take down to the beach. And for dinner, each family takes a night and makes something of their choosing. Our family did carnitas burritos, which were awesome!

-Campfire: Everyone brings a camp chair and we set them all up around the fire pit (again, double as beach seating during the days).
Days: Like I said, our days are full of beach time. I was really bad at taking pictures (partly due to the fact that you are camping and don't feel cute)... But, I did take a few...

This is a bit of our group, all out enjoying the beach.

The kids were all out in the water...with Karleigh the "teacher." I think she should forego a teaching job and just come be my nanny when we have kids ;)

The waves weren't great there this year, so playing in the water wasn't as fun, but we had a great time on the beach. Played some smashball, did lots of reading, and drank Cherry Coke Zero and ate candy on the beach...hard to get much better than that :)
My friend Jeff (from Davis) called one day, said he had seen on facebook that I was in Carpinteria (sometimes it pays to put stuff on facebook). He and his wife Klisa (who we were also friends with in Provo) were driving up the next day to look for housing as he had just landed a job in Santa Barbara (congrats!) He just graduated from dental school and made us look forward to a year from now even more :) They went to dinner with us and hung out for a bit before heading out for the night.

And in case you weren't sure how beautiful the Golden Coast was...here is some evidence.

Hope to see you again in 2 summers!