Hello everyone, so much has been happening as it does in life and my husband and I were able to sneak away so I could take him on a bucket list trip for his 50th birthday.
I finished our beautiful camp kitchen box and put the Malibu tile in the galley so I was feeling very good about how the guppy is coming along so with reservations made we were off to our favorite KOA in Manchester. We arrived very late but I had called ahead and as always their great staff took care of us and left our packet for us when we arrived. A very quick set up since their spaces are very level and we got a quick 2 hour rest before we were up again and off on our outing.
What do you get a man who has everything for his 50th birthday...... CRABS! I had booked a crab fishing trip which has been on Bill's bucket list for some time. This was quite the weekend I found to do this as it was in the middle of Fort Bragg, Little River, and Mendocino's Crab festival weekends. I was able to find the only boat going out for crab and quickly booked us on the Telstar with Captain Randy. Now it's much better to catch crabs in a group than by yourself and we had 3 other couples on board for the fun! We found out one of our guests is a coastal celebrity, Miss LaLa was on board with us and the Captain and crew were excited because when you have LaLa on board you are in the fish!
We left out of the Fort Bragg harbor and started North to collect the 50 pots that had been soaking. The crew was friendly and gave a rundown of the different jobs for this trip. Bill and I were put in charge of measuring and bucketing the crabs though it ended up being all Bill since one of the measuring sticks were missing and on the small boat it was too crowded by the rest of the group doing their jobs.
On our way to the pots we were able to get alongside three whales who were feeling frisky offshore and since this is a family blog I will not post the mating video. The whales run up and down the coast annually but this action was a first for all of us.
Three whales and a very frisky sea lion mating off the coast.
The blue bucket was for females and the grey buckets for the males. Since we limited with males all the females were released.
As we pulled pots in they were checked, repaired, rebaited, and reset for the next group to haul.
Each crab had to meet the legal size limit and we needed to make sure they hadn't just shed their shell and were still soft. A lot goes into fishing crab.
Bill enjoyed every minute of the trip as did all on board.
This guy had a lot of fight in him and would chase anyone who got close to the bucket.
On our way in the local sea lions sunning on the buoy.
While we were fishing the crab one of the gals on board got "bit/pinched" by a large crab. It was the first time this happened on the boat and my Mommy skills kicked in when I saw she was going into shock. I sat her down and cleaned and wrapped her finger which was split wide open. She turned pale and I asked her if she has any candy or soda. She said she had a Sprite so I told her to start sipping it while I grabbed an ice water bottle from my bag for her to hold to her finger. The sugar in the soda brought her slowly out of shock and her color returned. I told her she'd need to clean it again and suggested some good spirits and that crab as dinner because tomorrow she was going to feel that finger. She thanked me for mothering her while on board when we got to shore and I told her she had a heck of a story to tell for many years. We limited and after an ice cold Anchor Steam and an hour long cook we collected up our bounty and drove back to camp.
This is the off season for camping along the Northern Coast of California which makes it nice to have the campgrounds almost to ourselves. This has been my favorite KOA for the 10 years we've been camping with them. They sit just off the beach which is a preserve for snowy plover and the coastal beaver both of which are endangered. There are trails you can walk from the campground to the beaches and if you're lucky you'll spot both. Wild turkey, deer, and other creatures are everywhere in this area and there are several lighthouses and the old Russian fort, Fort Ross to explore.
The spaces are large and clean at the Manchester KOA.
We had folks from larger RVs come and look through our tiny trailer many remarking they wanted to downsize to one like ours. Our flag welcomed guests as the stopped in and chatted about tiny trailer camping.
The new camp kitchen box worked well and the vintage Coleman duel fuel stove I restored worked well for our trip out.
I'm going to build a second box for food storage and add a shelf in this box for the plates and bowls.
On the next box I am going to build in a special top for the stove to rest in.
The stove was great and access to the cooking pots, pans, and gear really made this a great set up. I pulled out the shelf in the kitchen and used it as a prep shelf.
The Manchester KOA has everything from tent sites to deluxe cabins.
The Malibu tile set and grouted.
The galley is so close to being complete and this weekend I am going to finish it off so I can move on to the next big project.
So this camp we ate what we caught and grilled a couple of the crab on the grill along with some buffalo and venison. It doesn't take too long to do and the flavor is outstanding without even the need for butter. It was a very lovely time and one we look forward to doing again with the kids.
In closing I do have to update you all on Crybaby Teardrop Trailers. I've been contacted by several people who have had the same experience with this company and some have left their reviews on Yelp as I have. They have since changed their name to Surfside Camping Trailers and they are still selling these trailers on Craigslist. Please BEWARE others have written stating they made a deposit on a trailer only to have them not build it while others have received their trailer like we did as a mess with nothing but problems and repairs to chase. They may have changed their name but their business practices and quality is the same.
