The great Bay Area/Sacramento Pitch and Bitch!!! (kudos on the name Lilyblue!)

Punky and I have been emailing about this. What with summer approaching soon, and a lot of us showing interest in this, we wanted to start organising this, and making camping reservations. And what with me having a boring job, and Punky a busy one, I'm gonna start it off!
I'm posting this on both Neighbourhoods and Lifestyle, feel free to give your answers here on the thread, or to email them to me - joanne_quinn@hotmail.com

1. What weekends are bad for you (or if you only have a few weekends free, you can let me know those instead)
Could you take Friday, or Friday afternoon off? (to claim a campsite)

2. Where do you want to go?
Would you fine with anything, or do you only want a certain region, or a certain distance away?
Below are some links to various places -
>http://www.ca.blm.gov/caso/fieldoffices.html
click on Folsom and Hollister and then go to their recreation sections>http://www.ca.blm.gov/folsom/yubacampground.html>http://www.ca.blm.gov/folsom/mercedriverrec.html>http://www.ca.blm.gov/ukiah/knoxville.html>http://cal-parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=494 -Malakoff Diggins, near Nevada City, and near the Yuba River>http://cal-parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=540 -Big Basin Redwoods>http://www.reserveusa.com/camping/

I think we might be out of luck with Big Basin tho, it's quite popular, and seems to be mostly booked out already for summer.
I think Malakoff Diggins, or the BLM Yuba River Campground might be good. They are both near Nevada City which is a really nice town in Gold Country. Would be a bit more of a drive tho, 3 hours? But would be good for the Sacramento gals.
BLM campgrounds tend to be first come first serve, so it would be good to have at least one person going up Friday to get a site.
Let us know if you know a good place!

3. Can you drive? How many people could you take with you?

4. What camping gear do you have? Do you have any extra you can share? Do you know anyone you can borrow a tent from?

5. Do you have a preference on food options? We can have people volunteer to do a particular meal. Or we can pre-set some dishes and just have one or two people go and buy the supplies, then everyone chips in some money.

Any other comments/issues?

cheers,
jo

Jo, you are wonderful!

1) I'm unavailable the weekends of June 8-9, and June 15-16. Also July 27-28 doesn't look good. August 17-18 isn't good. I'd be fine to take off on a Friday morning most likely.

2) No particular preference as to where we go. I just don't want to go to a campground that is all asphalt, weeds, dirt and RV's. So no Clear Lake, ha ha!

3) I can drive my monster '76 Nova. It can probably fit two others and their supplies.

4) I have a two-person tent and I'm willing to share. I can probably score an extra sleeping bag and a large ice chest if necessary.

5) As far as meals go, I'm down with whatever other people feel like doing. Whether we pool our money for groceries or do potluck, I think it would be fun to share the meals. B.Y.O.Food wouldn't be as much fun or yummy!


Edited to add: Those July dates are when Elf Chick is coming, so think about a SnB , ladies! Also, some people might be going to Vegas.

i'm interested. though i'd prefer july or august for camping. june is gettting booked up solid with graduations and stuff. i could leave on a friday morning if i have advance notice.
i have a bunch of tents, some army issue, some not.
i have a camping stove, lanterns, and a couple of big coolers.
i would like to be in a foresty type area that has access to creeks or water of some sort. a beach could work, but they book up ages in advance.
my only real request is that there are toilets and showers.
potluck meals are cool. i think it'll be too much hassle if everyone does their own separate cup of soup thing. i can make some really good desserts....

Guess I could also answer my own post, ha ha!

1. Weekends that are bad for me
Possibly June 8-9 (but only have tentative easily dropped plans for this)
Possibly June 22-23 (ditto, easy to drop)
Sept 21-22 (Desert Dance Festival)
Sept 28-29 (ArtCar Fest!!, woo!)
Is vegas still on, haven't heard anything on it lately.
Would be easy for me to take the Friday off too

2. I'm pretty happy with majority rules on location. I think the Malakoff Diggins looks nice, you can walk a trail along the Yuba River. But I do realise it's a bit of a way and could be an issue for some.

3. Can drive. Have a pick-up truck, so can take large amounts of gear up in the back. Could only take one passenger tho. If we decide to pool food, perhaps I could go get it and take it up in the truck?

4. Don't have a tent, but will check with friends. Do have a kind of shade tenty thing, with netting on all four sides. Could be nice if trees are sparse, to eat under etc.
My truck has a camper shell, and an carpeted insert that has padding in it, so I could possibly sleep in there.
Have two sleeping bags, they are not waterproof tho, they are the big ones.
Have a propane lantern, and a propane stove (can't take a too heavy pot tho) Have a little gas BBQ, and various other camping type doodads.

5. I'd prefer that we all chip in some and have communal food. We could decide on a simple dish for Sat dinner, and what we want for breaky and lunches.

Comments, wow I make long posts :)
--jo

hey everyone? can we please discuss this on the neighborhood board? i hate to ask people to repost, but since we're still figuring out the expiring thread thing, i don't want to take chances losing this thread.

Yeah, let's move the party over there, so to speak! Ha ha!

I second the showers and toilets thing, we go camping at Dillion's beach like twice a year and boy do we get stinky. uummm...i love beaches.

I have 4 person tent so if people want to share, also have lanterns and stove.

I think it would be fun to have each person responsible for a meal, variety, variety, variety :)

Sorry Athos, I wanted to post here too, cause I know some people don't make it neighbourhoods as often.
I'll make sure that I print this thread out tho, so I have a record of it.
cheers,
jo

***posted here and then moved it to neighborhoods. oops!

oh jo, don't be silly! i'm glad it's on this board too, 'cause many more people read it. the expiring thing just has me freaked a bit.

woo-hoo, camping!

i'm only going if punky promises to make marshmellows from scratch for my smores. ; )

Son....of.....a....pitch!

Man oh man have I wanted to go camping lately, but my job is weekendless (I get days off in the middle of the week) and I've shot my wad of near-future vacation days to go see my baby brother graduate from penal colony....er....high school.

Tarnation!

Have fun everybody, and post pictures!