In Search of America: Camping at William Heise in Julian, June 2020

Lunch in Julian at Regulars Wanted. Delicious! Lots of breakfast items even for lunch.
Set up at campsite. Shade under canopy of oak trees!! Saw a mama turkey with babies. Lots of bluebirds while we were there.
Kids played in tent
Stopped at gate to get firewood and see where we could park for trail.
Hiked cedar trail. Harder and longer than expected (a little hilly/steep at some points) and the bugs were sooooo bad. Constantly in our faces. That's my biggest complaint about this place or I guess anywhere in summer.... Anyway just wish I'd been prepared with water and hiking outfit cuz got sooo sweaty (it was 80°).
Back at campsite, snacked. Got cleaned up settled and the kids played, got fire going
Roasted hot dogs and smores.
Kids played in meadow selling beds and Christmas trees
Bedtime: the kids took foreverrrrr to go to sleep. It maybe was 8:30 before they did? SO late for Ryan. They (mostly Ryan) woke up a bunch in the night, and Cliff had to take Ryan to pee once. I was relatively comfortable on the sleeping pad except my hips hurt. Crows started cawing loudly and fighting right at our campsite at 5am............ Ryan was the only one to briefly go back to sleep. Sigh. Played cards in tent/Tried to keep kids entertained until quiet hours over at 8.
Cliff cooked eggs and sausage. The camping stove is reeeeally powerful. Orange juice and coffee. Oh I opened wine and had a little while waiting. Crazy I know. But it was a crazy night (and coming off a sleep deficit already!) and I figured why not.
Got packed up a bit (such a process!) and then the kids and I painted with my watercolor travel set. Grabbed a latte at Regulars then got in the road; the kids didn't sleep. Played lots of eye spy.

For next time:

Wish we had a camping table. Picnic table is a bit far from tent. Also need when roasting things at fire pit.
We were basically between two bathrooms, and both were a bit too far to quickly walk to. Kids used the potty seat/woods, and I mostly used the woods... Not ideal.
Chairs for the kids.
Really need a space (container w lid) for stuff--can't stow everything in tent and picnic table esp overnight
Flip flops for all. The kids keep wanting to take shoes off and it's a huge process. What to do about stickers 🤔
Need rubber bands or bag clips.
Hooks to hang things to dry.
Picnic table was on a slant. Way more annoying than you'd think!!! Everything tips esp cuz it's hole-y.
Does ANYTHING work to keep gnats/flies away?? They were constantly swarming us--SO annoying. I saw mosquitoes but I think the bug spray worked to prevent bites.