The Redwoods

The drive from Grant's Pass, Oregon to Crescent City, California may very well be the creepiest stretch of highway I've ever driven. It is heavily forested and while you drive along you get glimpses of these barricaded, ramshackle houses OR mini shanty towns surrounded by barbed wire. Way weird. Jeff and I must have said a thousand times, "Who lives out here? Where do they work?" Oh, and don't forget the "RafterB" store in town with a sign on it stating something about the evilness of the United Nations. We did not stop until we hit the ocean.

Crescent City has some wonderful tide pools. The kids (and Sara, AKA Rockhound) found hundreds of shells, hermit crabs, tiny fish--and the sun was shining! Lots of wet shoes and socks, but very happy faces. I think Sara almost cried she was so happy about her shell collection.

 Jack thought he could step easily across the rocks, until the tide came in and soaked him up to his calves. He's pondering the dilemma in this shot.

 This isn't even close to how many she hauled home...she had gallon bags full. Oh, and I had to laugh because she kept her's separate from the kids'--wouldn't want to contaminate the collection with inferiority. Too funny.

The face of a proud collector.

I wondered if the Redwoods would really look different enough to notice without signage--it's obvious. And humbling. These are the tallest trees on earth and there are few ways to describe the immensity of such an incredible organism. I would have loved to stay for a month and just explore the trails. It's definitely the kind of place where I feel overly emotional at the scale of nature. I didn't see ONE pine cone. I was able to find some Sugar Pine cones--Jeff only let me bring four. I wish I could have hunted one Redwood cone down.

Jack was in heaven. It was an explorer's paradise!

 Random tree off the side of the road. The kids were so excited! Below is actually the inside of a massive tree. I didn't even think about bats living in there until we got home and I saw a science clip on the news about studying bats inside Redwood trees. Kind of glad, cause I wouldn't have let them get way up in there.

And now, prepare yourself for an obscene number of tree photographs. My favorite hike was almost four miles though the Cathedral of Trees. It was phenomenal!

 My favorite tree shot.

 Walking through the Ewok forest--where the Return of the Jedi was filmed. I'm telling you, Jack was in heaven. Lachlan was more concerned that Ewoks were "real"--"Are they real, dad? Cause I don't want to be walking around here if they are real."

 The pictures just cannot capture the size. You can see how small Jeff is at the base of this tree.

 Louisa loves Tyler. She calls him, "Mah, fav-yit." (My favorite) He packed her lazy carcass for miles.

 King of the castle. Standing on the overgrown roots of a felled tree. Sharing the victory with Tyler and Chris.

 Okay, these mushrooms. If you want to see my inner science nerd come out with a vengeance you should see me fawning over these babies. I've since learned that these are "Chicken of the Woods" mushrooms. You can actually eat them. There was a whole rotted stump covered in them. I even broke my own rules of leaving the trail to get some pictures. Fungi are amazing!

"The Big Tree"--actually the end of the hike. Six kids to span the width. I'm not so sure it was the biggest tree we saw as far as diameter is measured, but it was noted at this point for it's height. Fortunately, it was also located near a bathroom which saved us from a major "pants peeing" incident with Louisa. No joke--not one whiny voice on some serious hikes. It was perfect!