SHREDDING, NATURALLY.

With one of my littler dudes puking all through the night this past weekend, Cooper and I took a "big dude day out" down to Cardiff, to get out of the house and check out the 4th Annual CAMP SHRED. This ain't your run of the mill beach camp. Camp Shred reigns as the "World's Largest Surf Demo", and takes place at San Elijo Campground.  We've got a proper camping reservation there later this summer, but we thought it would be a good opportunity to vibe the place out, while checkin out some cool surf gear. 

We arrived just in time to grab a Banzai Bowl (they've got a shop in San Clemente, too) and throw down a towel to check out a live music set from Montalban Quintet. We were bummed to have missed Teenage Burritos (best band name, ever?) the day before, but the vibes were appropriately mellow and introspective with the Quintet playing on the bluff directly over the waves breaking below. 

After the set we wandered around the demo displays checking out some of our favorite stuff. Saw some rad new soft top surfboards with checkered bottoms from Catch Surf, some big ol' fins from Captain Fin, and grabbed some of our favorite sun blockin' Sun Bum sunscreen. I gotta admit, we were also looking to play some games and win some stuff! Every other booth had a cornhole game set up waiting to be played, so Coop and I had a traveling tournament through the campground. Coop also scored a hat from Spy Optics on his first throw, sinking a ball in a bucket. "BOOM," he said, "first try."

We hit the beach to do some bodysurfing, and then made our way back up to the snack bar for a shaved ice before hitting the road homeward. Made a note for myself that they have a Bull Taco built into the snack bar, which may come in handy when we're camping there and I've had my fill of veggie dogs. The snack bar's patio has the perfect view of the beach, so we ate our sugary ice, watched some pelicans and decided to hit Pizza Port in Carlsbad on the way home for a "proper" lunch and some video games. 

Big dude day out, definitely a success. Hoping we'll make it down next year for the 5th Camp Shred a little earlier, so we can jump on some of those Catch Surf boards.

On our way to the car, we decided to start off a new photo series... "Cooper takes pictures with cool VW Buses that we wish were ours". 

Here's number one... 

 Thanks to Surfing Magazine for helping put together CAMP SHRED, and for everybody being so dang cool. Til next year!

HAPPY CAMPERS

Sure enough, we've come upon the time of the year when you have to start booking summer camping spots!  head over to reserveamerica.com to find camping spots nearby, or a good place to take a roadtrip. the site starts booking sites 6 months in advance, and certain spots are tougher to reserve than others. this summer we're aiming to get at least one trip to a beach camping site, and one up to some mountains, and hopefully another trip or two will fall into place as well. 

Although we have a ways to go before we head out on our camping adventures, I wanna feature some of my favorite camping gear to bring out with the dudes. A while ago I came across the brand POLER at the Agenda tradeshow up in Long Beach, CA. They're an outdoors brand, with an emphasis on having a good time and enjoying this amazing world we live in. CAMP VIBES! They make a great range of products from basic soft goods (tees / hoodies / hats / beanies), to cool bags, to some awesome camping gear... which brings me to my favorite thing they make, THE NAPSACK. The Napsack is a hybrid sleeping bag and puffy jacket. It has arm holes, and an open bottom that can be cinched up around your knees. It also has a few pockets, and a hood! Cooper really digs jumpin into his to keep warm when the sun goes down, and then it makes the perfect transition into bedtime.

Poler makes a kids version which fits 3' to 4'6 tall, and they also make a version for adults (I have a matching Napsack, of course)! 

We were able to take our Napsacks on a few trips last summer, and they rule. As I said, it's a great way to transition into bedtime, but it's also a great way to start the day when it's just a bit too cold to get out of your sleeping bag. This way, you can cinch up the bottom around knee-high, throw on some shoes and get breakfast started. 

I love keepin the CAMP VIBES goin at home by wearing by Napsack around the house. It's nice when i'm up late working and end up passing out on the couch... I'm already wearing my sleeping bag!  

Poler also makes a handful of good stuff that will make it on our camping checklist... headlamps, tents, and heat bags.  

Any place you dig camping? LEMME KNOW!