We recovered pretty well from the crazy lady experience, the kids were very glad that we reported her to the police, and I think they were glad to all be sleeping in the same tent with us and nobody wandered off on their own the whole trip. They now understand why it's important to have a bathroom buddy and to stay together. Our new campground and site again was right by the bathrooms and the trees were even taller. We drove to the visitor center to see where to go and we were on our way.
We drove on the old horse and buggy road into Crescent City and had to stop to look at some of the huge trees. The kids loved it until #2 got stung and then #4 got stung twice. We checked him and he looked alright, but he was ready to drive all the way back home to Utah. We stopped at Stout Grove and finally got him calmed down enough to agree to go when he got stung again. We quickly took his shirt off and sure enough, a yellow jacket fell out-- it had been caught in his shirt. Now he really did not want to go- so Ryan took the other kids and I stayed with #4 and the twins, they came back and said it was so awsome, Ryan promised #4 a new wii game if he would come. He came very reluctantly, but it was awesome. It was so beautiful, it was just like being on a movie set. The trees were so huge it felt like we were small insects and a big dog could come bounding out at any minute. He had a good time and everyone agreed that if we did nothing else, that walk through Stout Grove was worth the long drive and the misadventures we'd had so far.
We finished the drive into town- it was just beautiful and we had a picnic lunch on an overlook to the ocean. The waves were wild, but it was beautiful and peaceful and spectacular really. Then we drove on down through other parts of the park, we had to stop at one of the beaches it was so pretty and I love the ocean. We were disappointed however, to find out that there was a large swell coming in for a direct hit on the beaches while we were there and it wouldn't be safe to go tide pooling. We were educated on sneaker waves and decided against going into the water. However #5 fell in and got soaked, but we had extra clothes and shoes for him and he liked the idea of being the only one to go into the Pacific Ocean.
We drove on down some more and paid $5 to drive through a tree, but our van was too big, so we just walked under it and got sap dripped on us. Then we were pretty much done for the day and drove back through the forest on the old horse and buggy route the other way. It was spectacular. We let the kids take turns riding up front to stick their heads out and we let them all be unbuckled for most of it which the twins especially loved.
We packed everything up in the morning, ate breakfast and hiked down to a beautiful river beach. The kids found some frogs and stayed mostly dry and threw a lot of rocks in. It was very relaxing. We drove on down through the rest of the park and stopped at Wayside tree and hiked around. It was surreal- lots of moss, greenery and huge trees. We ended at the opposite visitor center, watched a video on the Redwoods and the kids got their Junior Ranger badges and bought their souvenirs. We ate lunch on the beach, read an Indian legend about a girl who turned to stone because she cried about nothing, and watched the waves some more.
Then we drove on down the 101 through Indian country, then more forests, hills, trees, eventually small towns, then vineyards, then bigger towns and finally into Marin County. We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge at night into San Francisco, drove along the Embarcadero, pointed out places we used to go when we lived there and the building Ryan worked in. We explained a lot about cities and boats and people and buildings. We decided not to get out and try to find a place to park or anything, but we think it gave our kids a better perspective on what a big city is. Then we drove out across the Bay Bridge to San Ramon where we lived and Ryan worked most the time we were there. It was fun to remember our time together there- having our first baby, Ryan working his first "real" job out of college. The kids got bored looking at our apartments and work places there, but I remember thinking the same thing when my parents would take pictures of there first houses and other stuff. I understand now- guess I'm getting older.
Well, there was no where to camp around there at all, so we just kept on driving, it was all pretty much on the way home anyway. There were probably places around Reno and Tahoe, but by the time we got there it was going to be morning soon, so we just kept on driving- switching off. The kids slept through most of it, we had to wake them to see the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco so it wasn't too bad, but we stopped at a rest area and slept for about 2 hours. We got pulled over in Nevada, because Ryan thought the speed limit was 75, but it was 65 through there- fortunately the kids were all buckled in and the cop let us go when we couldn't find our registration. We had had to stop for the bathroom often throughout the whole trip, and true to form our last stop was at the rest area right before Tooele, Ut at the rest area where the salt flats are. Then it was a 2 hour drive home, where we turned the TV on for the kids and crashed for a couple hours and said-- we're not really home yet!
The kids were great. We listened to a lot of music along the drive and there was plenty to see. We all loved it and would do it again-- but our next road trip will probably be to Colorado or Idaho! :)
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