For my July trip, I decided on a mid-week trip to the Napa Valley, a short trip but a familiar and popular destination.
I made reservations at Bothe-Napa Valley State Park, about four miles south of Calistoga at the north end of the valley. The park has no hook-up so all sites are equal in that regard, but some sites are more level than others, and are more suitable for trailers and RVs. I was lucky to have been assigned a level spot.
Bothe-Napa Valley State Park is one of my favorite state parks, and over the many years I’ve visited and stayed in the valley, I have hiked most of its trails but had never camped there. It’s both an excellent base of operations for a multi-day visit to the famed wine-growing region, and an excellent destination on its own, with swimming and hiking in the forested hills rising above the west side of the valley.
After an uneventful drive out of the Bay Area and up through the Napa Valley, I backed the teardrop into my assigned slot with a fair degree of confidence. After all, I’ve done this before ;-) Well, it took me an inordinate amount of time to get it right, but I was finally satisfied with the placement of the teardrop, and I unhitched and opened a beer.
This summer was unseasonably mild throughout northern California, and the middle of July was no exception. Instead of highs in the mid- to high-90s, I enjoyed high-70s to mid-80s temperatures, which made camping much more comfortable. When I went to the DAM Gathering in April, I had been advised to bring an EZ-Up canopy if I had it because there was little shade. At Lopez Lake, my site had been completely shaded, so the canopy wasn’t needed. But, it was certainly needed here. The site had good shade, at the back where one would set up a tent, but little on the “driveway” where I had to put the teardrop. So up went the canopy.
Campsite at Bothe-Napa Valley State Park
As I said, the park makes a great base of operations for my photography, wine and beer tasting, and general sight-seeing. I paid a visit to Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa (about a 45-minute drive) for lunch and some of their famous beer. Unfortunately the 45-minute, twisty mountain road return to camp limited me to only two beers.
Fortunately, there was an adequate supply of beer, cool, in the original 1948 icebox in the teardrop. The teardrop’s icebox is not adequately insulated to keep food below 40 degrees, so is relegated to beer duty. It’s no harm because the ice in the food cooler lasts longer if that cooler isn’t opened except at meal times. One of the tips I picked up at the DAM Gathering was to make an insulated “cooler cozy” to improve the insulation and help make the ice last longer. I made my insulated cooler cover from some “bubble pack” insulation and a left-over seat cover. I taped the insulation together using packing tape, then sewed up the cover, then sewed them together. A fairly simple project that yielded great results. My two-day cooler became a three-day cooler with the addition of the new cooler cover. I also added a folding plastic table to support the cooler next to the teardrop, instead of having to walk over to the picnic table.
That evening, I was joined for beers and conversation by my camping neighbors, a couple from the British Virgin Islands spending their hot season here in the relative cool of the west coast. The brought bicycles and we talked about bicycling the Valley and which hills were and were not worth climbing :)
The next day, I once again took the back roads west of the valley to reach the Sonoma Valley and Jack London State Historic Park near Glen Ellen. I was aware of London’s fame as a writer and adventurer, but knew nothing of his agricultural efforts and interests. His “Beauty Ranch” occupied more than 1,300 acres of rolling hills and valleys. London invested heavily, both money and effort, in developing sustainable agricultural techniques that didn’t rely on chemical fertilizers and adjuncts. London preferred horses to tractors, breeding giant Shire draft horses to power his farm.
That evening, my camping neighbors and I had dinner at the Calistoga Inn and Brewery, one of my favorite places in this or any other world :) Having had a large, late lunch, I limited myself to an order of the famous Crab Cakes, which were heavenly as always. A beer or two later, we were back at camp and I was headed for bed.
The next morning, I struck camp and hitched up the teardrop after breakfast. My neighbors were headed north, toward Ft. Bragg to continue their West Coast adventure, and I south toward home, so after an exchange of email addresses we were on our separate ways.
Another fine camping trip with the teardrop. This might become a habit.