Quintessential Tours Clients - The Weisz Family

One of the Weiszes trip goals was to try their hand at camping. I went through the options with them, explaining that they could "camp" while they were in Yosemite, but that the only available option at the time they booked was the tent village of Curry Village. I explained that while they would be sleeping under canvas, they would have dozens of neighbors surrounding them on all sides, and that it wouldn't be a true "wildernessy" camping experience.

Despite being confirmed city-dwellers, Nicole was gung ho for the family to have a more woodsy experience, and asked about other options. I explained that, while we do have campgrounds like the ones common in Europe, which have modern conveniences, we also have what I described as "wildernessy" campgrounds, where you could achieve a much closer-to-nature experience. I told her that I was not an experienced camping guide, but that I had a lifetime of experience camping throughout the Western US, and would be happy to be their guide, as long as they understood that it would be a first for me. She was sold! We selected a campgrount among the Giant Sequoias in Calaveras Big Trees State Park.

While the Weiszes settled in for the evening in Monterey, I drove to a Saratoga REI to pick up camping equipment. The next day, I suggested to the Weiszes, who keep kosher, that we could get kosher meat at the local Trader Joe's Market, and take it to the Sierras with us. This prospect thrilled them, as they'd had to eat vegetarian since leaving L.A., due to a dearth of kosher eateries outside of California's big cities. We put the meat on ice, and set out for adventure.

3 nights later, we arrived in Sonora in the late afternoon, and picked up some extra groceries to accompany our kosher meat. Arriving at Big Trees just as the evening was drawing in, we set to work on the campsite. I wanted to make sure to get the tents pitched and everything set up before dark, so I enlisted the aid of 4 eager assistants; the Weisz kids. With almost clocklike efficiency, we had the camp set up just in time to start working on dinner.

Now, of course the pressure was on. I'm a pretty decent barbecuer, but hadn't tried to do meat over an open fire in a long time. I got the fire started, and worked on getting the Coleman Stove operating, so that I could get the side dishes started. When the coals on the fire looked like they'd died to the right shade of red, I put the steaks and chicken on the grill, and said a small prayer.

10 minutes later, we were sitting down, eating some of the most delicious barbecue I've ever had. The kids were over-the-moon delighted to finally have a bit of meat, and when the meal was over, I'm happy to say there wasn't a leftover in sight.

Sleeping outdoors, for the first time, along with the corresponding things going bump in the night and such, had the predictable result that nobody could say with any honesty the following morning that they'd had the best night's sleep of their lives. In fact, I'm pretty sure everyone was quite excited to have a proper bed again when we got to San Francisco. Nevertheless, it was clear, as we sat around the campfire after dinner, and Andrew told stories to the kids, this was a very satisfying moment in time for the family, and I'm proud I was able to help pull it off.