Redwood National Park

We left Portland on Monday morning and headed south leaving I-5 for a bit to see the coast line and some Redwoods. We drove through Redwood National Forest and Park on our trip home. The trees were huge!

Here come the big trees! Everything was so green in Oregon and California compared to the desert brown we have here in Yuma.

The coastline.

Ben standing on the beach in CA. It felt great to get out of the car even if it was a bit chilly and windy.

The boys would run back when the waves would come in. Poor Matt and I got our feet a little wet. It is tough being slow!

Ben, Dan, and Matt

Ben, Hollie (crazy hair due to wind conditions), Dan, and Matt

Where Klamath River meets the ocean. Sometimes you can see animals. We did not.

Another picture.

Huge trees!

A waterfall along our 1.3 mile hike down to see the tallest tree. Luckily we found it pretty easily along the 1 mile loop at the base. We then hiked 1.3 miles back up (elevation change > 600 ft). It was a pretty good hike for two kids and a pregnant lady. There were also signs about ticks, bears, and lions - oh my! Luckily, we did not see any of that wildlife. We saw a few birds, toads, and centipedes.

Dan, Ben, and Matt hiking down the trail. We started the hike at 5 pm. We were hurrying to make it back up with daylight. The guide said to allow 4 hours. We drove away at 9 pm as it was starting to get dark.

I thought I might try counting the rings. Some of the trees are almost 800 years old. They grow about 6 inches a year. Joshua trees only grow 1 inch per year. They're a little on the slow side. The tallest tree was measured to be 365 ft. tall.

The easy part of the hike. My camera battery died shortly after this point. Note to self: Charge battery after letting kids play with it all weekend. We left Redwood at 9 pm. Drove across some crazy mountains and arrived at a hotel near Redding, CA at 2:30 am! Windy roads, sharp curves, car alarms, driving in clouds... slow travels.

Day 3 of driving was very long and all business as we wanted to get home as quickly as possible. We left Redding at 10 am after a good nights sleep and got to our house at midnight. We drove 3,467 miles on our 7 day vacation. We ate at Chickfila twice!

Luckily, Dan had today off so we caught up on yardwork, groceries, mail, and laundry. We had a great time and are exhausted. I have a doctor's appointment on Friday - just a checkup. I hope to schedule my ultrasound soon. Dan is leaving Friday for a cross country to an air show near San Francisco. He should get to fly in the show on Saturday. He'll be home for a late Father's Day dinner on Sunday!