Our Family

Wednesday Adventures: Part 5

We were SO glad we chose to take this route (a dirt road going parallel to the highway we needed to take to reach the next city on our list). It probably added 30 extra minutes to the drive, but it was 30 minutes well worth it.

Earlier we had stopped at a Visitors Center in the park to get directions to the "Drive-through" Tree, while there the "Ranger-lady" suggested I take this dirt-road that would allow us to see the "ancient" forest up close. At first I thought... "She must not know I am driving a mini-van. There is no way we could make it. And I don't know if we can afford to lose another 30 mins."

But after talking with John we decided to give it a try. We were so glad we did.

The forest was AMAZING! The pictures can not do it justice. The trees were huge and expansive. Because it was a dirt road and we were traveling slowly through the trees, we let the kids (Abby and Dallin) undo their buckles and hang out of the window for a better view. I don't think we could have found a better spot to really "experience" the Redwoods. I highly recommend this route to anyone that heads this way.

This was our final adventure for the day.

Next stop Grants Pass, OR.

And from Grants Pass, OR to Medford, OR

There we settled for the night.

Wednesday Adventures: Part 4

Tour-Thru Tree

Before we left Texas, I told John - "If we were going to be that close to the Redwoods, we HAVE to drive through a giant tree!" We found our tree... it was amazing! Can you see how tight it was?? The last two pictures are of an actual working bathroom carved right out of a Redwood stump.. crazy! And yes, it does work... John made sure :).

Wednesday Adventures: Part 3

Agate Beach

This is the "Luckiest" Rock in the World ... picture taken for Grammie :)

The boys were content just digging... and that is what they did most of the time.

For those who know Abigail well.. know that she has a LOVE for water. She spent most of the time searching for treasure and running from the waves... until the waves took her in :).

Dallin wanted in on the wave chasing fun

Such a beautiful beach....

Finally, Abigail decided she was freezing and couldn't play a second more... so back to the car we went. Luckily for us, we had a car full of clothes and clean shoes :).

Wednesday Adventures: Part 2

The kids loved this replica of a "Sumeg Village." The kept running from one little building to the next. Maybe they were just excited to be out of the car :). Either way this was a fun and educational thing to do. (It should count as a field trip for Kindergarten, right?)

Driving through the park... on to the next fun thing....

Wednesday Adventures: Part 1

We woke up in Eureka, had a great breakfast, and headed on our way. We decided to add a little bit of "vacation" to our journey by driving up the Hwy 101 into the Redwood National Park. What a great day we had!

Brushing teeth and watching cartoons... a great way to start the day.

Our First stop: Patrick's Point State Park

Abigail and Dallin were enthralled with this puddle full of earthworms.

I decided to post Wednesday by events...

so you wouldn't have to deal with too much picture overload :).

The Journey Continues

Tuesday we decided to head up to Redding and see if there were any possibilities there....

El Dorado Hills, CA to Redding, CA

Redding, CA to Eureka, CA

One of the Orthodontics in the area

Redding Views.. I was surprised at how close Redding was the foothills in the area.

We actually liked Redding a lot. Both John and I were pleasantly surprised. The city size seemed about right for us, there were trees, lakes and possibly some opportunity.. maybe.

Driving on Hwy 299 toward Eureka - A beautiful drive

We spotted a waterfall and river off to the side of the road...

and had to stop to stretch our legs. Bummer for Dallin... he was sleeping.

Above: Connor checking out the waterfall.

Pictured Below: John helping Abigail get a better view.

We decided to stay the night in Eureka.

Not much to see there... a typical small West Coast Ocean City.

Spring Break 2010: The Journey - Part 1 and 2

The Journey

Covered over 5,083 miles

87 hours of driving

Part 1: Getting to CA

Pearland, TX to El Dorado Hills, CA (just outside Sacramento)

We left Friday, February 26th, after John was done with school at about 5:30 pm. Stopped for dinner and drove straight through to Sacramento - 31 hours later - arriving at 12:30 am.

We are so grateful for great friends, the Clarks, who let us crash at their place and use their home as "home base" for the week. We hadn't seen the Clarks for about two years, but things hadn't changed a bit (besides Owen now being a "toddler" and them meeting Connor for the first time). Good friends are comfortable, easy to be with and fun.

It was as if we still lived right next door :).

The kids had no trouble picking up where their friendships had left off. Abby and Ella were constantly beautifying themselves in dress-up and new hair-styles. Owen and Dallin had fun being boys running around, playing cars, and riding trikes. Sean was a good sport to humor all the kids and play with them too. Connor just "toodled" around enjoying the new friends.

We spent Sunday recuperating from the long drive and hanging out with the Clarks.

Monday

Part 2: Exploration Begins

El Dorado Hills, CA to Placerville, CA

Placerville, CA to Carson City, NV

Carson City, NV to Reno, NV

Reno, NV to Grass Valley, CA

Grass Valley to El Dorado Hills, CA

The streets of Placerville, CA

The views of Placerville

Running out of gas...

Let me tell you... we were SO LUCKY!!! We had been driving around the outskirts of Placerville locating different homes and trying to get a feel for the area, when all of a sudden the car would not accelerate! In John's defense the steering wheel does cover up his view of the gas gauge. Who knows how long we had been running on fumes! Luckily, we had just passed (300 yards back down the hill) a state park with a small store and ONE pump gas station. John was able to run down, fill up a gas can, and hitch-hike his way back up. We were so lucky!!! We were in the middle of nowhere!

Here the kids and I are waiting for John to run down the hill and hitch-hike his way back up with some gas.