Day 2 - Avenue of the Giants

Our day started in San Jose and then we drove and drove the day away around the bay away from San Fran and connected to the 101 near Novato, CA. Driving the 101 up to Eureka was a treat. The scenery changed from urban to rolling hills with vineyards to slow winding hills through thick forests.

As usual, we made a stop every hour to two hours to stretch and such.

snack in a grocery store parking lot. It was about 80 degrees.


we stopped here for a picnic snack where the temperature was in the high 80's


Next, we drove through Richardson Grove State Park. Hwy. 101 goes right through it. Just beautiful!

I loved seeing the Redwoods. Next time I go I will be there for a week so I can hike all the trails and see some of the super giants in the more remote groves. I also missed Fern Canyon in Redwood National Park (day three). Next time.



I had the hardest time taking pictures in the Redwood Forest. It was so dark!

We stopped and hiked in Humboldt Redwood State Park. It is along the Avenue of the Giants route.



Avenue of the Giants




When we reached Eureka, our next stop, around 6ish the temperature was in the 50's. Of course our kids still wanted to go swimming. And they did.

Day 1 - Lots of driving and Fort Tejon State Park

Day one we drove mostly on California interstate highway from our house to our destination, our friend Carly's house to stay the night.

Our first stop was several hours into our drive at Fort Tejon Historic State Park. I have driven past this park many times and never stopped. James and I are glad we stopped as this park is a great place for a picnic and pit stop.



We toured some adobes from the original fort which was established around 1854 and looked in awe at the 400 year oaks on the property. The history is interesting (the camel experience) and we also enjoyed some much needed exercise.



this little guy was looking for handouts as we ate


A man named Peter Lebec was killed by a grizzly in the area. Someone created a ceramic man and grizzly which details the event visually. Serena loved it. For days after our visit to this park and even at the end of the road trip she would say her favorite part of the trip was the man who was killed by the bear.

Three year old children say the darnedest things.

approx. miles driven - 400
about 7 hours

one awesome road trip

I have been on vacation from work for the past 19 days and just returned today. I survived. Enough about work.

Our family ventured on an 11 day road trip and we saw so many amazing things! I will be posting lots of pictures and details. In fact, this will help me with my journals later on when I create an album for the trip.

Here is a summary of what we saw and where we went (I am sure I am missing a few things):

• 2000+ miles
  
• 2 National Parks
  
• Avenue of the Giants
• 4 California State Parks
• Oregon Coast
• 1 lighthouse
• many bridges
• 1 Oregon State Park
• multiple scenic highways
• multiple National Forests
• public transportation in Portland
• Portland tram
• visited 7 friends, 1 cousin (and her friends), and met my parents for 2 days along the way
• factory tour
• music in the park
• brewery tour
• food carts
• OHSU tour
• International Beer Festival
• Sacramento delta
• multiple rivers
• stayed in a yurt
• stayed in a historic cabin
• we saw snow (and touched it!)
  
• day 2 of our trip it was cold 50 degrees at night
  
• day 9 of our trip it was hot and 108 degrees
• we had no car trouble or highway incidents
• a resevoir
• and so much more...

The most important thing I enjoyed on this trip was spending time with my family and teaching my girls about the world.

Surprisingly, they adapted quickly and I am not kidding when I say they rarely asked, "Are we there, yet?" This may be due to the fact that I packed a ton of fun stuff for them to do in the car which is necessary for 6 and 3 year old. We spent many days driving and sometimes we drove 6-7 hours in a day. We did allow a small DVD player to enter the car for this trip and I am glad we did. It helped on some long stretches. Julia liked it of course, but Serena wanted nothing to do with it. In fact, Serena did not want to listen to any music or books on CD. She would rather play with a doll, color, play with her car, or read books.



The biggest hit for Julia are the Adventures in Odyssey Cd's. She LOVES them and we have been listening to them over and over and over. I bought the car travel pack and we will be getting more of them.

Crystal Cove State Park

Yesterday my sisters and I took a hike in Crystal Cove State Park, the Moro Canyon side, not the beach side.



We hiked approximately 6 miles with the first part of the hike up a steep incline with wonderful views from the top. The park is huge and we really only hiked a small portion.



Even though it is summer and it is July there was a terrific gloom settled over the coast which kept us cool. This made the hike much more enjoyable for sure. We did see plenty of people on the trails with it being a holiday weekend and all.

There were still plenty of wildflowers to be seen.

monkey flower




obligatory shoe shot (in first position, no less!)

dancing with benefits

Meeting new people and making new friends is one of the many perks of dancing at Highland Games. This is a plus in J's mind. She loves nothing more then making a new friend.

a new friend from on holiday from Australia.


discussions include Disneyland rides, the fact that Australia is on the other side of the world and so much more





After all that fun and one more dance, and she won this...