Camping in Lake Cachuma was surreal. and hot.
The campsite was full, but we decided to head up on Saturday morning anyway and take our chances.. (and I had been preparing the menu, and I wanted to eat my marinated lamb and corn on the cob grilled over a campfire! We don't have a grill..). Luckily they had some available spots once we arrived. We moved to a spot with a huge tree for shade from the intense sun, and we soon realized tree = tree + the twenty ground squirrels living in tunnels below it. Luckily they weren't scavengers like I thought they would be (brought flashbacks of the baby squirrel we rescued from a tree who chased us until we had to stand on our picnic table for safety...I think he thought we were his human foster parents?).
Squirrel fears aside, we could move onto more gooey fears, like nightcrawlers on hooks.. Fishing turned out to be a bust, although still fun and relaxing. In one of the coves we saw some huge bass (maybe), but they were definitely uninterested in our tasty bait. I think the summer sun was killing their appetite. It's a good thing we weren't fishing for survival, because I definitely still had MY appetite. KT did manage to catch one, but we threw him back. He was only 12" or so - hadn't seen the world yet.
The morning we got there, a Jersey Shore "Situation" doppleganger and friends was leaving the campsite next to us (backing into a baby tree as he left) and some less annoying people came for Saturday night. They had their camping down to a science and were in and out faster than Kenny and I could catch a fish. Made me wonder how we could camp without bringing all the stuff we brought. A challenge for next time.
We grabbed a bite to eat in Santa Barbara on the way out of town to wait for the Sunday night traffic to subside. That city is great. Next time our excuse to go up there will be wine tasting.
