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Wednesday, June 6, 2012

My first time glamping




We just had a wonderful weekend in the great outdoors.  We headed out Saturday morning for a night at Costanoa, a luxury camping resort (glamorous camping or glamping).  Our first stop was at Swanton Berry Farm to pick delicious, juicy, organic strawberries.  While picking the strawberries, we had a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean just across the road.  When we headed in to pay for our strawberries, we couldn't resist sampling the jam and ended up buying the olalllieberry jam (which according to wikipedia is "a cross between the loganberry and the youngberry, each of which is itself a cross between blackberry and another berry (raspberry and dewberry, respectively).") and a chocolate covered strawberry.  It was a great start to our weekend!


Next, we headed to the Harley Farms Goat Dairy and saw some baby goats and where they were
milked and where the cheese was made, then we got to the point of this stop and tasted some yummy goat cheese!  We had several different cheeses and they were all fantastic.  We decided to get a small round of apricot pistachio goat cheese and to come back by the next day to get some of the awesome feta cheese to take home.

Our last stop before the campground was the Arcangeli Grocery & Bakery (which ships gourmet breads and foods around the world) for warm artichoke garlic herb bread and a bottle of local wine - Hurtin Head Red (and the name is no lie, as I could easily attest to the following day).

We then checked into our 'tent bungalow' which had a double bed and twin bed, both with electric blankets, a lamp with several plug ins and free wi fi.  Yes, we were really roughing it!  This was my kind of camping!!!

After getting our bags inside, we sat in our airdondack chairs next to our unlit fire pit and enjoyed a delicious snack of our finds from the day - strawberries, artichoke garlic herb bread, and of course Hurtin Head Red.  Reagan enjoyed a lovely bottle of water in place of the red wine (smart girl).




We then walked around the lovely grounds, enjoying the smell of eucalyptus, the views of the ocean and hills, and life in general.  We stopped by for a quick look at the Costanoa farm and herb garden.  They use these products in the meals that are served at their restaurant.








Soon enough it was time to head to dinner.  We were taken to a private room upstairs and greeted with a lovely 2006 Boony Doon Vineyard Sparkling Riesling to Live (I highly recommend it) and an amuse bouche of heirloom tomato bruschetta.  We met some of the very nice people from Edible Monterey Bay Supper Club (which hosted the event) and Reagan made a very good friend in a little boy by the name of Mylo.

After some wonderful conversations (where I got some wonderful advice on restaurants, farmers markets and Brazilian music) we were served a  salad of shaved fennel, endive, goat cheese from Harley Farms and lettuce and herbs grown right there at Costanoa.  The salad was served with a nice 2010 BD Albarino white wine.  The entree was a filet of tenderloin cooked in a port reduction and topped with portabella mushroom slices and served with whipped potatoes and asparagus and was accompanied by a 2007 BD Le Cigare Volant. Then for dessert, we again visited the Swanton Berry Farms for a delicious strawberry shortcake and a very nice 2011 BD Vin jGris de Cigare. The dishes and wine were wonderful, the conversation engaging and best of all, the child (aka Reagan) was entertained and well behaved!

After such a lovely meal, we headed back to our tent bungalow.  We promised Reagan and Mylo that we would make s'mores and sit by the fire, so that is what we did.  We sat around a roaring fire, watched the stars and the sheer happiness that Reagan experienced while eating s'mores and running around with Mylo waaaaaayyy past her bedtime.

The next day we took a short hike to the tide pools, let Reagan play in the sand then headed back to pack up, picked up feta from Harley Farms and head home.  It was such a lovely weekend that I wouldn't change a thing about it...except may pick up more of that delicious feta cheese!


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