Saturday, July 26, 2008

Redwood trip continued

Day 3
So we woke up and had the breakfast offered at Clarion in Eureka. Not bad, waffles, biscuits and gravy, cereals, etc. We headed South looking for The Avenue of The Giants. This is a road about 33 miles long right off of HWY 101. It was great. I had bought a book on great hikes in the Humboldt Redwoods. This really helped us find some hiking paths that are not clearly marked. We had such a good time looking at the huge trees and trying to find as much wildlife as we could. We found bugs, a banana slug, deer and a snake. The trees in this area are HUGE and there were a lot that have fallen over so we could walk on them and check out their roots. We also went through a tree with the van towards the end of the trip. Alicia was not real happy about this. I think it scared her pretty good. :) It was a tight fit. The truck in front of us had to back out as they could not fit through. We were tired by the end of this "avenue.". We headed back home to Eureka. We stopped of at a small town that had a cheese factory. Ben and the kids had their fair share of cheese. When we got back to Eureka we thought we would have the light dinner offered but we tried their chicken nuggets and decided we would go out to eat. They were hard as bricks! So we headed out to the Samoa Cookhouse. It is VERY well known in this area. It was so good. YUMMY. They serve it family style and you eat whatever they are serving that night. We had fresh made bread and a soup. Then they brought salads. Next was 2 different kinds of meat and baked potatoes, and a side vegetable dish. We then got our choice of desserts. So good. And the restaurant is in a building with all this history. Lots of pictures of men cutting the Redwoods down, old saws, anything you might find at a logging camp. Just really cool. After dinner we headed back to out hotel for another swim in their pool.

DAY 4
Today we had to check out of our hotel. We went down and had breakfast. Then they decided to go swimming again. I kind of cleaned the van out while they swam. Then we packed up and headed to Brookings for our next part of the trip. We were going to stay in a yurt in Harris Beach! The kids were looking forward to this most of all. On the way up 101 we stopped off at a Redwood hike in Lady Bird Johnson State Park. It was really foggy and made for some really cool pictures. BUT the Redwoods on the Avenue of The Giants are some of the BEST in the World so these Redwoods fell a bit short. I guess you should leave the best for last. After the hike the kids were tired of hiking so we headed North again.
We got to our yurt about 3 and were allowed to check in early. We loved the yurt.We kind of unpacked and headed to the nearest Fred Meyers to buy bike helmets! We had packed the kids bikes but forgot the helmets! So we got helmets and when we got back they rode bikes and checked out the park. Then we headed down to the beach on feet. We got down there at low tide so we looked at some tide pools. It was a great time. It was getting late so time for some hot dogs and smores! YUMMO. Then it was time to try those beds in the yurt. Boy, yurts are great. You get beds, a heater, electricity- which we used to recharge phones and camera batteries!

Day 5
This morning I was trying a new camp recipe. I put eggs, cheese and ham in small freezer ziploc bags. Then you throw them in boiling water for 15 minutes and out plopps an omelet.
Ben was a bit leary of this but he ended up loving it. Easy clean up as well! After breakfast we rode bikes, played in the playground and went to the beach throughout the day! We also took a nap so we could stay up late for the seal and seal lion show at 9. That nap was the best thing we did all trip. We all woke up with energy and in great moods. The show was fun and the kids keep bringing up information they learned that night. Like elephant seals can go almost 1 mile under water! We then got back to camp and had smores and hot chocolate. This was our last night of vacation! So sad. Where does the time go?! We headed off to bed and all fell asleep fairly quick.

Day 6
We woke up and started to clean up. Alicia was going to the State Parks Jr Ranger program at 10 so we had to stick around for that. She had a great time and we are looking forward to more years of this. Sadly she lost her passport somewhere along the way back to our camp so we will have to start all over next time. We took off ad decided to go home back HWy 101 rather then I-5. We are glad we did. It was fun to kind of remember parts of our trip on the way home. We stopped off at Cape Blanco for a potty break and fell in love with this beach/camping area. Next summer we have decided to go back here for our summer vacation. They even have small cabins instead of yurts here. We stopped off for Ethan to go potty and 2 hours later we were on the road. :) We all had so much fun on this deserted beach. LOVED THIS PLACE.

We continued on home and made it around 7 o'clock. We were so excited to go see what our back yard looked like.

So that was our trip. Ben and I have thought about this trip a lot. We adults enjoyed the Redwoods but the kids could have cared less after the first few BIG trees. To them after you see a big tree there is no need to see more. :) They did like to hike but we may have hiked a bit much for them. They loved the beaches and hotel pools. And of course all the animals we saw. We even got to see the Roosevelt elk along the Hwy on our way home. That was fun. So now we are looking forward to taking the kids to Yellowstone in 3 years. They will be older and get to see so many cool animals. Before we can take this trip we are going to the Grand Canyon with my family in 2010. Don't you just love vacations?!

3 comments:

momaof4 said...

I AM HERE!!
I have been super busy to I have just been reading and looking at pictures and then running on. I'm sorry.

Looks wonderful, and maybe a good lesson to wait till the kids are a bit older to do those nature vacations :) they just don't get the bueaty of it all.

Reading on! I might be gone this week as the kids will be gone and I have a big MOPS thing this weekend. But don't give up!!!

KLB said...

I am sorry too Dee. I also look forward to comments, but don't get many. What a great trip for your kids. I would love to drive through a tree! I am going to have to remember the omlette idea. where did you find that?

Love you!

Hi said...

Hi! I stumbled upon your site randomly while googling "yurts and harris beach." My boyfriend and I are heading up there from Southern California (we've never been to Oregon) and we are looking to stay in a yurt. What site was it that your yurt at? I'm trying to get a sense of where the "best" locations are. Yours looks great, nestled in all the woods. Are all the yurts like that? Would you say B or C is better? I don't think there are any in A. Thanks a bunch!