In May of 2012, some new friends asked us out on a double date…a camping date!  We love to camp and were excited to spend time with these friends, so this sounded like the perfect weekend getaway: hiking, s`mores, the scent of fresh redwood trees—ideal.

We`d never been to this campground before, so we called the ranger station to make a reservation.  The ranger assured us the campground never filled up so early in May, and said we didn`t need a reservation. (You can see where this is headed, right?) We checked out an online map of the campground but couldn`t get a good feel for the different campsites.  We didn`t want to make a mistake picking the wrong one; this was our first double camping date, after all!

With hope in our hearts, we packed our bags and headed toward the California coast.   We arrived at five o`clock, with just enough light to cruise around the grounds and pick the best-looking site. The night was dreamy.