Carpinteria Camping

Carpinteria State Park from CA.gov
Reviews from Trip Advisor While I don't disagree with the 2 low ratings I fell in love with the place.
Carpinteria Wiki

What an adventure!
Set out with an overloaded/over weighted car. I've already found a better way to deal with our 3 bikes + cargo carrier on my car.
On the way up a fire in Santa Barbara was reported, now known as the Jesusita Fire (1:45pm 5/5/09 With SB being about 10-15 miles from Carpinteria if I recall correctly.
Set up camp. Oh! I love setting up tents and organizing camp.
The afternoon of 5/6 the fire grew rapidly and made for a beautiful and ominous sky line. With the wind blowing straight out to sea we were spared most of the smoke and ash.
Sundowner Winds. WOW. My first experience with them. The roar of the wind off the ocean was intense and scary until we figured out what was going on.
I opted to take down one of the three tents (didn't have enough good stakes for it) and then spent quite some time + group brainstorming :) attempting to get out a stake that I had driven into a tree stump. Note: I don't recommend that for future staking. lol quite the experience.
We found on on 5/7 that although all our pre trip research indicated conditions were to be Mild and in the low 70's 5/6 had hit 103! Gosh it is no wonder we were all hot and out of sorts. It wasn't just the wind and fire.

Kid highlights:
A sick bunny.
New friends.
Boffer (called something else) battles.
Munchkin, the card game.
Slamwich, the game.
5 Dollar Foot Longs at Subway
The candy store.

Mom highlights:
Hanging with some of my favorite adult and kid friends.
Erick's Coffee
Sundowner Winds
The stake in the stump.
Julia & her buddies.
A new cooler/basket from Albertsons (picts at another time)
Thursday Farmers Market. Magnets & necklace! (picts at another time)
Friendly locals that made me feel right at home.
Finding a special location to run away from home to, should I ever need it.
Finding a special location to camp with the kids. Solo or with friends.

I only took pictures as we were leaving.
This is my car with12" less height on top than on the way up.

From 2009 May

How about some happy yet tired kids on the way out :)

From 2009 May