California Trip Part 4

Friday July 3
One of our kids' biggest wishes for this trip was to find seashells and to see a starfish.  So we found out that low tide was about 7 am and Reed and I took off early with the boys to go find some shells.  We left Brooklyn at the campsite, sleeping, with grandpa and grandma. 

When we got to the ocean we found a ton of sand dollars.  We had fun looking through the shallow pools for them:

 

Micah:

Conner hurt his foot the night before and the sand and water was bothering it so Reed carried him across the wet sand.  I liked this picture of the sand, water and sky:

After we were satisfied with our collection of sand dollars we went further up the beach in search of tide pools and starfish:

We found a place to park but you had to walk about a mile down to the beach.  Conner didn't want to walk that far so Reed stayed at the top of the cliffs with him and Alan, Micah and I headed down.  We walked along the beach for a little while before we saw a starfish!:

Then we saw more and more of them!  So much fun!  We found that the starfish on that beach were orange and dark purple.  Here is Micah pointing at a purple one (they were tough to spot):

Alan crouching down by a starfish:

Two starfish buddies:

anemones:

The tide started to come in so we headed back to see if we could convince Conner to come down.  A picture of Alan and Micah on a rocky ledge overlooking the ocean:

On the way back up the trail we found a banana slug!:

We got half way up the trail and met Reed and Conner coming down.  So we all turned around and went back to see the starfish together.  Then we went back to the campsite to meet up with Grandpa, Grandma and Brooklyn and eat breakfast.
After breakfast we decided to go and see Paul Bunyan and Babe.  By the time we got there Micah and Brooklyn were sleeping.  We decided that Reed and I would go back to camp and let them nap for a bit while Grandma and Grandpa took Alan and Conner and went exploring.

Here is some pictures from their adventures.  They saw Paul Bunyan and Babe the blue ox:

Alan and Conner sitting on Paul's foot:

After that they found a beach to enjoy.  Alan and Conner surveying the ocean:

It was kind of cool that day so Alan, Conner and Grandpa were content to just get their feet wet:

Soon the boys started building something in the sand:

 

Ahhh, the waves are coming!:

Safe behind their walls:

Meanwhile we drove back to camp.  After a little nap the kids were ready to go on an adventure of their own.  Reed took them to the Junior Ranger program while I stayed at the campsite and started the dutch oven dinner.  When Brooklyn and Micah came back they were so excited to show me the pin they received.  It is a little star that says Junior Ranger on it.  They were both so proud of those pins!  For the rest of the day Micah would only respond if we called him "Junior Ranger Micah".  They were both eager to tell me about the animals that they learned about.  Reed said they were the only ones there so the Ranger was able to give them lots of attention. 

Being silly by our tent:

That night we had a delicious dutch oven dinner and then we had smores - YUM!

Micah found this little nook between some tree trunks:

 

July 4th (Independence day)

The next morning we had breakfast and then we packed everything up and headed home.  This time put some kids in Grandma and Grandpa's truck, which made the trip more enjoyable for our family, but maybe a little more stressful for Grandpa and Grandma.  They were good sports and we appreciated the help!  That night we stayed in Kennewick, Washington.  We stayed in a hotel by the river.  That night we walked down to the docks and watched the fireworks.  Here's a picture of the dock during the day: 

It was fun to watch the fireworks over the water, and nice that we didn't have to walk very far, so when it was over we all walked back to the hotel and went to bed.  

July 5th
The next morning we ate a yummy continental breakfast at the hotel and got on the road again for the final stretch.  The kids traveled pretty well. 

Alan and Conner showing off their pipe cleaner creations:



We made it back home, where it was rainy and cool.  We said goodbye to these two at a gas station on the edge of town so that they could keep going home.  Thanks again!:

It was a wonderful trip and now we have many fun memories.  Right after the trip I asked everyone to write down their favorite part (Micah and Brooklyn told us and we wrote it down).  Here are the answers:

Brooklyn:  Driving with Grandpa and Grandma.  Eating snacks.

Carissa:  I liked watching Brooklyn give Grandma and Grandpa zerbitz on their cheeks instead of kisses.  I loved watching the boys play in the ocean and sand and seeing how excited they got about little bugs and sea shells.  It was really nice to see family that I haven't seen for years.  It was amazing to see the Redwoods and to feel a sense of awe when you think about their size and age.

Micah: The surprises that Mom had for me on the long drive.

Reed:  My favorite part of the trip was watching each of our children get excited about new experiences, like seeing a sandy beach and then feeling the sand and then smiling and laughing like they'd found the best treasure ever.  I also really liked exploring with Alan and Conner on the beach, one on one. 

Conner:  I loved everything!  I liked the campfire with smores.  I liked all the candy!  I liked seeing fish off the dock while we were watching the fireworks.

Alan:  I liked most of it.  But I especially liked camping and going to the beach!  When we were camping we made a camp fire!  I also liked sleeping, that was fun too!  The beach was a blast!  We found a lot of sea shells!  I also liked building stuff in the sand!  O, I almost forgot, we slept in hotels!  The beds were comfortable too!  The breakfast was pretty good as well!

I thought it was interesting that the two youngest said that their favorite part was the drive - I would never have guessed that.  I guess it was worth planning and packing those surprises!

California Trip Part 3

July 2nd
Reed and I and Brooklyn and Micah stayed in a cabin and Grandma, Grandpa Alan and Conner stayed in a hotel room at a rv park.  It was comfortable.  We had breakfast outside on a picnic table the next morning:

Today was our Redwood day.  We drove up the Avenue of the Giants in northern California and stopped at a few interesting places.  First we stopped at the Shrine Drive Thru Tree.  It is hard to fathom how old some of these trees are.  The drive thru tree is 3000 years old (and it is still alive and growing):

Our van squeezing through the tree:

Conner and Micah climbing on a cut-down tree:

Alan, Conner and Micah walking through a tree:

The park had made some "houses" out of tree trunks.  Micah and I are looking out the bottom window, and Conner, Reed and Alan are on the top story looking out the windows (Brooklyn fell asleep in the car and we decided to just let her sleep, so she isn't in any of these pictures)

Micah and Conner climbing one of the stumps:

Micah really liked these carved bears and wanted his picture with them:

While we were there we drove onto one of the logs:

 

Then we drove on until we got to the visitor center.  We went inside and looked around and then walked around outside for a while.

Brooklyn woke up and was ready to explore.  Conner and Brooklyn inside a rotted out log:

Micah and Brooklyn inside the log with Alan sitting on top:

Grandpa and Grandma standing on a huge stump:

Our family showing how big around one of these trees is.  All of us linked together only made it halfway around the trunk:

Our family on the big stump:

Silly picture:

Then we went a bit further to Founder's Grove.  We stopped and had a picnic:

There was an easy self guided hike.  We found the founders tree:

It was once thought to be the tallest tree in the world but it's top fell off and other taller redwoods were found.  Now it's only a measly 346 ft. tall:

We walked around looking for an albino tree but never did really find it.  We walked past the Dyerville giant tree that fell in 1991.  On the informational pamphlet it said that a local that was 1/2 mile away when the tree fell thought that a train had wrecked because it was so loud.  It was truly mind boggling to see how big these trees really were - you could see the huge root system and then walk the length of the tree.

Here is Grandpa standing next to a fallen tree.  You can see new plants growing on top of the fallen tree:

Here is the base of the Dyerville giant redwood, with Grandpa off to the side to give you a size reference:

We were surrounded by huge, awe inspiring trees and what do the kids notice?  The sticks on the ground:

Micah found this piece of bark and pretended to surf on it:

Then we headed to a Redwood State park and set up our tents to camp for a couple of days.  It was pretty fun to camp amid the giant trees.  Here is Brooklyn helping Grandpa set up his tent:

 

After we got the tents up we went into the nearest town for dinner.  No one in our family is a huge seafood fan but we decided that we needed to try a seafood place.  We found a place that you could see the ocean across the road from the restaurant.  There was a wait so we took the kids for a walk down to the dock to see the boats.  When we got back it was time to sit down.  Reed got the fish and chips and I tried a salmon with a delicious sauce on it - both were very good.  My parents and Reed and I enjoyed the seafood but our kids were not feeling adventurous and none of them ordered anything seafood related (I think they mostly ordered spaghetti).