Late Sunday evening, we drove through Humboldt Redwoods State Park. The visitor's center was closed by the time we got there, but they had an awesome grassy field for running.
The next morning, I was feeling pretty good about our vacation choices, since La Crescenta had been hit by a heat wave back home. We stopped at Los Bagels in Eureka for breakfast, and I tried the locally famous Larrupin Sauce. It's pretty much just honey mustard.
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| Los Bagels - Veggie Delight and Cucumbin (with Larrupin) |
At Redwood National Park, we got the kids' Junior Ranger books, then went for a walk in Ladybird Johnson Grove. The kids were really excited about the gigantic trees, along with all the ferns, moss, snails, insects, and other life that we just don't get in Southern California.
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| Rattlesnake Grass |
I had one main goal on this trip: to see a live banana slug. After looking under rocks and on ferns all day, I finally saw two on a couple of fallen redwood trunks. Not quite as big as I expected, but impressive nonetheless. We also paid money to drive through a tree.
Passing through Klamath, we stopped at the Trees of Mystery. Twice, actually. The first time we got there too late, and the second time the line for the tram was way too long. We gave up and made do with climbing on Paul Bunyan.
On Tuesday, the kids turned in their Junior Ranger books at Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park. The park ranger was one of the better ones we've had - he made a big deal of swearing everybody in.
Later that day, we visited what is supposed to be one of the best redwood groves in the region - not because it has the biggest trees, but because periodic flooding keeps the underbrush down, and makes visibility much better. Connor and Elise dared Evan to crawl into a hole under a stump, and when he survived, the others joined him, along with a couple of random kids that were passing by. They took Ryan's phone in with them to document their discovery. Just so you know, I was NOT there when this happened - I was listening to a Ranger presentation. My kids have much more fun when Dad is in charge.
We spent Wednesday in Eugene, where my dad has lived for the past four years. We hung out at his house, walked to the park, and were able to go hiking on one of his favorite trails (my dad hikes every day with his dog, Brody.) It was incredibly green everywhere, and the local elementary school was like a mountain resort. It was fun to finally see the things my dad has talked about so much.
On Thursday the 23rd, we drove west to the coast, where Ryan very kindly gave in and stopped at Darlingtonia State Park. It's a tiny natural area filled with wild carnivorous pitcher plants.
Afterwards, we stopped along Highway 1 at a seafood restaurant and ate shellfish in the rain. Propane heaters made it super cozy!
I spent the afternoon drive putting together a photo album of the old family pictures I got from my dad in Eugene. Then we did the tour at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. It was fun watching the machines repeatedly jam up, and seeing how workers would quickly try to clear the obstructions and reset everything. In the cafeteria, we had grilled cheese, macaroni, and ice cream for dinner.
We spent the night in Astoria, then Friday morning we stumbled out of bed early to get to the beach before low tide ended. Ryan's primary goal for this vacation was to dig for razor clams, and it turned out that the beach near Astoria was a prime place to do it. He bought himself a permit and a clamming gun, and we all marched out onto the rainy beach. It wasn't clear what to do with his catch, so Ryan ended up giving the clams away. It was pretty fun, though.
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| Moon Jelly |
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| Clams, Rain, and Sand Dollars |
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| There was a mountain of oyster shells next to this oyster farm. |
We travelled northeast across the Olympic Peninsula, and spent the night near Port Angeles, where we were scheduled to do a whale watching cruise the next morning (Saturday). We spent four hours out on the water, admiring the ocean and watching the occasional humpback whale pop up. We all had an amazing time, but I kept worrying that my kids had fallen overboard.
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| The kids were kind of sleepy. |
After whale watching, we drove up Hurricane Ridge Road to a summit on the Olympic Peninsula, then took the ferry across to Seattle.
In Seattle, we stayed at a rental house in the suburbs. Now that we had a kitchen, Ryan saw an opportunity to prepare the oysters we had collected on Friday (after we had gone clamming.) He dared Connor to eat one. Connor ended up spitting it in the toilet.
On Sunday afternoon, I met my childhood friend and her family at a park near Lake Washington. Beth and I were best friends when I was in first and second grade in Pullman. After my parents divorced and I moved away, we kept in touch, but I hadn't seen her in, like, 22 years or something. She's married and has an eight-year-old son named Calvin, and works for Puget Sound Clean Air. After hanging out with them, we drove past Ryan's old workplace (used to be the depot for Gray Line of Seattle,) climbed on the Fremont Troll, and visited the Seattle Aquarium.
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| Beth and Erinn, age ?? |
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| Gray Line |
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| Poking Anemones |
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| She insisted that I take this picture. |
On Monday, we did the Space Needle (including the amazing playground next door,) then drove south, stopping by Mount Saint Helens. I told the kids everything I remembered about the eruption, including the black cloud that made it dark in the middle of the day, and watching my mask-wearing parents sweep ash like snow on the sidewalk.
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| Mount Saint Helens |
Tuesday and Wednesday were mostly just travel days, but we did stop at Voodoo Donuts in Portland, and spent a couple of hours at Crater Lake.
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| A Pine Sawyer Beetle landed on me. |
On our last day, we braved hundred-and-five-degree weather to visit Sutter's Mill (now technically named "Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park"). The kids got to pan for real gold, and had varying degrees of success, but they all loved it. We made it the rest of the way home that night, to a house that had gotten nicer wood floors in our absence :-)
