Road Trip Home

After a few days of enjoying the Redwoods and hanging out with family, we said our goodbyes and headed back home. The camp was only a few hours north of San Francisco, so on the way home we decided to drive through the city. 

We stopped at the Palace of Fine Arts where they held the 1915 Expo. My art history professors would have been so proud.

After walking around for a bit, we stopped at Ghiradelli Square for sundaes - the kids were thrilled with all the free chocolates the employees kept giving them.

We wound up driving around town for awhile and apparently I do not do well on those super-steep roads. Travis was beside himself with laughter at my near panic attack as we went up and down those giant hills. Apparently, I have no problem with roller coasters or heights but those near vertical streets send me into a panic. Who knew? 

The kids slept most of the way home but we woke them up to stop at the Natural Bridges State Park. This was a gorgeous beach with beautiful rock formations.

I think we were all pretty exhausted after that much travel and fun over the past week and that was our last stop. There were still a few more places I had wanted to see but they will have to wait for our next adventure!

The Redwoods

We wound up driving until about 2am that first night trying to find the camp on some windy roads way up in the mountains. Although we did spot tons of wildlife - foxes, owls, hawks, deer, wild pigs.

Tired but happy to be with the rest of the family, we spent the next day in the river and playing kickball with the family. And of course, eating!! 

The Redwoods were HUGE! 

Peter loved these kid sized kayaks and has been begging us for one ever since we got back. I hate to break it to the kid that we live in the desert and he won't have much opportunity to use one!

All the older cousins and Travis' siblings were jumping off this big rock and we finally convinced Peter that he could do it too. I was so proud of him!

 Nora was pretty tired with all we had done that she fell asleep while I was paddling her and Benji around in the canoe. She slept through the entire ride, then the whole way as I carried her back up to the cabins and then for another hour in her bed! I couldn't believe it!

They also had a rock climbing wall -- which I didn't get any pictures of the kids trying out -- but Travis let Benji test out his gear and the kids climbing harness we bought for the trip.

Travis got really excited about all the stars and the lack of ambient lighting and spent a few nights playing around with the camera trying to get some pictures. He got a few really beautiful shots.

Roadtrip!!

The week after school got out, we took a roadtrip up along the CA coast taking the PCH to the Redwoods. Travis family was having a reunion at a camp up there and we had a wonderful time together.

It actually turned out pretty well. I had previously looked up various points of interest along HWY 1 and we just stopped whenever the kids started to get restless. Our first stop was at Carpenteria State Beach - which was gorgeous! 

We loved checking out all the beautiful rock formations

 and the kids had a great time skipping rocks

and found lots of little crabs in the tide pools

A few hours later we stopped at the Elephant Seal beach near Hurst Castle. The kids were fascinated by the huge seals hanging out on the beach.

As we passed Hearst Castle, how surprised were we to catch a glimpse of the fabled zebras grazing with a herd of cattle?? Apparently Hearst brought over tons of different types of exotic animals for a personal zoo and sold most except for the zebras which were already out in the pastures. We never saw them on our last trip but Benji spotted them with his eagle eyes on our way north.

Sadly, as we were on some of the curvy mountain roads, I ran over some rubble and we ended up with a flat. After a brief stop to fix it we were off again.

As it was getting late, we decided to make one last stop to see the picturesque 17 Mile Drive and Pebble Beach where they host the golf tournaments.

 We drove through just as the sun was setting and got a glimpse of the famed Lone Cypress. It was truly gorgeous!

End of School and Baseball

Peter earned another 4.0 award from school for his good grades. We really liked his teacher Mrs. Miller this year. Here he is next to his best friend, Carter McWhorter.

The boys had their last baseball games too and were so excited for their trophies. Both had so much fun and we really liked this low-key league and the awesome coaches. 

Celebrating the end of the season with some shaved ice.