Big Trees

I have found that there are some things you just have to see to believe.

It is like they aren't really real until you touch them with your own hands and see them with your own eyes.  Like The Redwoods.

We took a nice 10 day RV trip with some of our favorite traveling buddies.  Months ago we made the plan to explore the northern coast of California.  We secured a motor home and reserved campsites.  With plenty of research, we pinpointed the best spots to visit and explore.  This is a rather large blog post about the events of our adventure!

Big trees = Big post.  Ready, set, go!

This was our first trip in a motor home.  It was so great in so many ways!  The kids had a blast walking around during the drive.  They spent time on the bed in the bedroom playing with their little animals and watching movies.  They colored at the kitchen table and we fixed and consumed plenty of snacks.  Natty was able to go potty whenever she needed without us having to stop!  And, we had all our stuff with us all the time.  It was pretty sweet.  On the downside, we had to drive kind of slow and I got a tad bit carsick!  Overall we felt like it was a good choice for this vacation.

It is a stinking long drive to Garberville California, and I think I might have been the happiest of the group to finally make it to our campground!  When we first got into the groves of really big trees it was like our group was watching a fireworks display with all the ooohhh's and ahhh's going on!  So amazing.

We stayed in a campground resort right by the Avenue of the Giants.  It is a 23 mile of road that runs through some of the most impressive Redwoods in California.  We did the whole drive stopping at all the cool sites along the way.

 

 

All of the fallen trees make an awesome natural playground for the big kids and little kids to enjoy!  We walked across a "trunk bridge" climbed on big stumps and hid in and crawled through giant roots. 

 

Our place in Garberville had a pool and hot tub and the kids were loving being able to swim and play after we returned from our site-seeing.  Libby is learning how to swim without assistance.  She loves it!  Gage and I spent most of our time soaking in the hot tub.  It was so warm and relaxing.  Good thing Cord is willing to play in the cool water with the kids.

 

 

 

 

As you can see, the boys didn't let any moss grow under their feet during our down time.

They were smart to wear their helmets!

 

 

There is a river that runs adjacent to our campsite so we took an afternoon to play in the water.  It was super shallow so the kids could splash and play without it being dangerous.  The temperature was great!  Gage got to throw rocks to his heart's content.

  

I think one of the very funniest parts of the entire trip was watching Cord and Dax cross this little river.  They had to take off their shoes and walk across on the rocks.  If you know Cord, you know he has extremely tender feet...sometimes carpet makes his feet hurt.  You can imagine how the rocks felt!  It must be a Belnap thing, because Dax was pretty uncomfortable as well.  Each careful step was accompanied by a grimace or a yelp or a grunt.  I crossed the river carrying kids several times by the time they crossed once.  Monica and I had tears in our eyes from laughing so hard.  They were not very amused.  :)

When we left our fun spot in Garberville, we headed North to Clam Beach.  Cord and Dax were excited to fly their BIG kites they borrowed from Corey for the trip.  We had no doubt they would fly, when we got there the wind was blowing like crazy!

 

The Northern California beaches are so pretty.  I love how the pines meet up with the sand.  The views are so different than Southern California! 

Here is Cord riding the board down the beach.  He was loving it!

We were going to sleep over at the beach that night, but decided there were way too many creepy people in the parking lot to feel safe, so we gave out some food to the starving vagabonds and then found a close campground to crash at for the night. 

We stopped by the beach the next morning for a few more hours of playtime.

It was SUPER foggy when we got there.  So moody.

The kids had fun playing in the sand and running around making footprints.

 

  

And Cord had fun "flying."

 

 

On our way north from there we discovered this amazing city called Trinidad.  It was so charming.  At this lighthouse, we climbed down over 250 steps to the beach.  The fog was just beginning to clear and the view of the ocean was breathtaking.  I felt like an extra in a Pirates of the Caribbean movie!  We climbed around on the rocks and jumped over the incoming ocean tide.  It was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip!

 

 

 

 

We stopped for lunch at the Samoan Cookhouse Restaurant.  It has been around forever and they had tons of cool pictures on the walls of when they used to log the Redwoods.  One of the pictures had like 40 guys standing in front of a tree.  It was insane!  The food was served family style and you just got to eat what they were serving that day!  They kept it coming until you said you were full.  It was great.    

 

 

There was a museum attached to the restaurant with cool logging stuff to look at. 

This was a pretty serious chain saw.

 

We stopped at the Loleta Cheese Factory.  Cord MADE me try a bite of squeaky cheese.  I could barely swallow it because I was gagging, but I ate it!  Go me.  Cheese isn't my favortie thing in the world...

Everyone enjoyed getting some samples and watching the cheese get made!

 

 

Every time I took a picture I told the kids, "Say CHEESE!"  Get it? 

 

Our last stop was at the top of California called Crescent City.  We went to the actual Redwoods National Park.  The trees there were fantastic!

 

 

 

We went to a place called Trees of Mystery.  They had all sorts of fun things along a trail through the trees.  At the top was a gondola that we rode up through the forest.  It was great.

 

 

 

 

We took a jet boat ride up the Klamath River.  It was rather chilly, but totally worth the trip!  The boat was slick as a whistle.  The captain would turn us around in a 360 degree turn.  It was the weirdest feeling.  He also slammed on the brakes a few times and sent water flying over the whole boat.  We saw some cool birds and beautiful scenery.  The kids also got a nap.

 

On our last day there it rained!  I guess that is what you get when you go to the Northwest.  We didn't let it slow us down though.  We took a trip over the the Ocean World Aquarium.  We had a guided tour through a tide pool area where we touched starfish and sea anemone.  Gage tossed one starfish across the water.  Pool little guy.  I hope it has recovered from the flight!  We saw sharks and mana rays and got to pet some sharks!  The kids all took turns touching the shark.  I am afraid I am the only one who didn't give it a pet.  We ended the tour with a fun sea otter show!

 

 

 

We ventured out in the rain for a few minutes to see the Crescent City Lighthouse.  The rain was seriously coming down and for some reason these little dollar store ponchos didn't keep us very dry.  But it was fun anyway!

 

Cord was as dry as a bone.  He had packed his new waterproof Dry Ducks.  We had fun joking with him about how toasty and warm he was.  I guess it pays to be prepared!

The trip went by like a flash.  Before we knew it, it was time to head home.  We took the route home through Oregon and stopped for a while at Crater Lake.  It was beautiful and there was SNOW.  Crazy right?  The water is incredibly blue.  So pretty!

 

 

We had such a nice time enjoying nature and experiencing new places.  There are so many beautiful places to visit, we love having a chance to chart new territory and see new sites.  When Cord and I talked about the trip afterwards, we decided it wasn't like bungee jumping or white water rafting--our adrenaline wasn't pumping!  It was more like a nice cold glass of lemonade....sweet, cool, and refreshing.  And totally satisfying.