Bringing the Inside Person Out

It’s no secret that being outside in nature benefits our mental and physical well being. Designers always want to “bring the outside in'' with natural light, materials, plants, and so on. As an indoor person, I’m a big fan of this because it means I can enjoy the illusion of being outside without being exposed to the elements of wind, bugs, and varying temperatures. Yep, I’m a hardcore indoor person. 

In the spirit of exploration and pushing limits, I reluctantly welcomed the RoofNest Condor XL to our fam in December. My outdoor-loving husband Cam introduced me to this tent that was to live flatly on top of our Nissan Rogue, with the ability to evolve into a tent that sleeps 4. We made several other purchases to help us thrive in our new camping life like this pretty 2-burner cooktop and my most dreaded addition, the portable bucket toilet. 

RoofNest in action with a separate privacy tent on the ground level for the portable bucket toilet

And reader, I did it. I survived a gorgeous evening on a cliff along the coastline. We spent our new year’s eve at this magical private campsite called Separate Star Point Camp in Jenner, CA that we found on HipCamp. The car (and thus, our bedroom) had to be parked close to the house on the property, which was okay with us since our tent opened up toward the ocean and it was a quiet evening. We brought our dinnering gear down to the firepit near the cliff, just a short walk down from the car. The trees were less dense the closer we got to the edge, and we were met with a phenomenal panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean sunset. 

This view was just steps away from the campfire!

We made a fire, set up our table, cooked fajitas, and drank a miniature bottle of champagne. 

The star of the experience was an outdoor calico cat that hung out with us all night. We nicknamed her Ernesta. Cam started whistling and she jumped into his lap to meow along!

Ernesta enjoying the smell of our fajitas-in-progress

In total, we probably spent 4 charming hours sitting around the fire. It took me about 2 of those hours to get my mind off of bears. Our spot was on a tiny 30’ wide peninsula with water on 3 sides of us, so not a lot of opportunities for a large predatory animal to pounce. Still, I kept my eyes on Ernesta. If she ran, I was also ready to run. (BTW - why do cats stare off into the distance sometimes, seemingly at nothing? Very unsettling.)

Unsurprisingly for an indoor person, tent time was my favorite. Hear that, RoofNest? You win. It’s awesome. “Fits 4” - not sure about that, but it definitely fits 2 comfortably #glamping. We slept on 2 sleeping bags that zip up together and had 2 accessory blankets. I needed to unzip because I don’t like to feel trapped by my bedding. It wasn’t cold and I suppose camping in January is part of California’s appeal. 

On new year’s morning, we ate potatoes, eggs, and smiley fruits by the cliffside. We didn’t see Ernesta again, which was a huge bummer. 

Someone got one less banana chunk, but who’s counting.

We started our camp life journey with just one night. Our next trip is a whopping two nights, and this time, this indoor cat is pretty excited to go.