Crescent City Vacation Part 4 (final post in this series)

Our last day in Crescent City was great.  We started off with a short drive to the nearby Jedediah Smith Redwoods park.  There was a river there that was green, the same river is green for many miles.  It was very cool.  We wondered why it was green and Andy said it was because they put food coloring in it 😊

Then we went to the Crescent City Aquarium, which wasn't my favorite, but the kids enjoyed it.

The kids especially liked the trained seal and sea lion.  They could do some great tricks.  When the trainer asked the sea lion how it felt about sharks, it swam around with it's tongue stuck out.  Very funny.

After the aquarium, we went back again to our favorite beach.  It was supposed to rain all day that day, but it turned out to be beautiful with just occasional rain.  Mark took some great pictures of the beach.

Up until the last day, Daniel had spent all of the beach times either napping in the car (Mark or I stayed with him) or in his stroller.  Since it was the last day I thought it would be fun to let him get out and play for awhile.  He very quickly got very messy, but it was so cute.

Another beautiful shot of the beach by Mark-

 Pretty Joy at the beach.

After the beach, everyone needed to get cleaned up, so we went back to our rental house (just 5 minutes away) and got changed.  Then we went out searching for a place to eat. We found a great place called North Coast Ocean Sports and Grill.  The food was so good and reasonably priced also.  After dinner, we saw this beautiful rainbow over the ocean.  As we drove away, the rainbow seemed to end right over our favorite beach.  

So after a short pit stop back at the rental house we went to the picnic area by our beach one last time to roast marshmallows (with the strict understanding that the kids needed to avoid the actual sand).  They didn't mind though, and we had an amazing time watching the sunset as we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores.

 "I'd go anywhere with you"

It was truly the perfect end to a wonderful vacation.  The rain which was supposed to have lasted all day, came back just as we got in the van to head back to the rental house after sunset. It was a vacation to remember forever.  I'm so grateful for this sweet family and that we had the opportunity to go on this vacation and feel the blessings of Heaven in little tender mercies every day, especially in the beautiful weather we enjoyed.

Love,

Aubrey

Crescent City Vacation Part 3

The third day of our trip was Sunday.  It was a stormy day, but the worst weather happened while we were at the rental house or at church.  The ward there was small but there was a strong spirit there.  A new family had been baptized and was confirmed that day.  After church we had a soup and sandwich lunch at the rental house and then we went to go search for more big trees.

 We almost got our big van through this tree, but we didn't want to risk it.  We got through halfway though.

At Trees of Mystery on Saturday, a local man was admiring our van in the parking lot.  He said we needed to check out the Newton B Drury Parkway.  It turned out to be a great suggestion, it was one of our favorite parts of the trip.  We liked this sign. 😊

 The "Big Tree" trailhead is off of the Newton B Drury parkway. The Big Tree was at the end of the best hike ever (it consisted of a very short walk on a flat trail).  Then we walked another looping trail through the trees.  They were amazing!

 Here are the girls in between two trees (or one that split?).

 Joy is dwarfed by these trees.

   Daniel thought our walk was lots of fun.

 Some of us wore ponchos, Andy loved his purple poncho, but I don't think it actually rained while we were on the trails.  Another blessing from our angel in charge of the weather on the trip.

 I thought these signs by the Big Tree were great.  They say "The Big Tree," "Even Bigger Trees," "Another Big Tree," "That's A Big Tree Too," "That's a Very Big Tree," and "This Way to More Big Trees!"

 These trees are spectacular, I highly recommend this trip to everyone.

 Mark took this great picture that shows how big the trees are and just how beautiful it is to walk those trails.

That day we also tried to see Tall Trees Grove where Endor from Return of the Jedi was filmed.  That road turned out to be blocked, only passable by permit.  But we took a parallel road that took us very close.  We didn't get any good pictures from that drive, but it did look like Endor, and next time we're going to try to get the permit to see the actual location.

It was another great day.  After our drive and another picnic dinner (inside the car) by the ocean, we went back to the rental house and watched The Gnome-Mobile which was fittingly filmed in the Redwoods.

Crescent City Vacation Part 2

On our 2nd day, we spent some time in the morning on the beach.  It was a beautiful morning.

 Then we drove to see Trees of Mystery, less than 1/2 hour away.  There's a huge Paul Bunyan and Babe statue at the entrance.

One of the main attractions at Trees of Mystery was this "Sky Trail," a cool sky ride that takes you through the trees to an observation area.  Andy thought it was one of the best parts of the trip.

Joy and I on the Sky Trail ride

 Daniel loved the Sky Trail ride!

Daniel liked Trees of Mystery in general.  Who doesn't love a stroll through large trees on a beautiful day?

 Andy in front of a big tree at Trees of Mystery 

 Cool view looking up at the other side of that same tree

 The trails were well-groomed, which we appreciated. And the scenery was pretty awesome.

Sweet People

 Kids by a large tree stump

On the way up to trees of Mystery we saw a neat looking beach, so we stopped there on the way back.

 Daniel and I chilled on the beach (kind of literally because it was getting chilly) while Mark and the kids played on the beach.  The sand was much darker on this beach and there weren't as many sand dollars and shells, but it was a fun beach anyway.

Stay tuned for Part 3, The Redwoods!

Crescent City Family Vacation Part 1

It's been quite awhile since we went on a family vacation and it seemed like the right time, so we made plans to go to the Redwoods (which we've wanted to see for a long time).  After some research I found that Crescent City, California (on the coast) is close to the Redwoods, so you can spend time on the beach and also see the Redwoods.  We found a great deal on a rental house in Crescent City and it turned out to be a great location, just about 5 minutes from a fantastic beach.  The whole trip seemed like angels were orchestrating it.  After I booked the trip, the forecast said that it would rain for most or all of our trip.  I was disappointed, but we bought some ponchos and decided we'd make the best of it.  Then we were able to go on our trip a day early and the owners of the rental house let us have the extra day for free.  During our trip, the only bad weather was either in the night or when we were at church.  Some of the days were so nice, you didn't even need a jacket.  It was a sweet blessing.  Even the last day, which all the forecasts said would be rainy, turned into a beautiful day, topped off with a rainbow leading to our favorite beach. 

We drove to Crescent City on a Thursday.  It was a long day, the 10 1/2 hour drive took us 13 hours.  But the kids did so well and Mark was an awesome driver. I spend the drive in the back keeping the baby happy, which kept everyone happy. 

There was a bit of snow from a recent storm on the drive.  It slowed us down a bit, but not too much and it made for some very pretty scenery.

At one point, Daniel just needed a break, so we pulled off the road and he got to "drive' the (stationary) car for awhile.

 Here's Andy by a large ceramic owl at the rental house, one of the many breakable decorations that we moved temporarily so the baby couldn't get to it.

This great tree was in front of the rental house and Daniel was afraid of it. :)

 On our first day, we went to see Battery Point Lighthouse.  It was constructed in 1856, and it's been operational and occupied since then.  It's only accessible at low tide.  Volunteers live there for a month at a time and give tours

 The walk up there was a bit of a hike (Mark got lots of good exercise carrying the stroller. And he never complained). But there were some great shells and rocks on the path that is covered during high tide.

After the lighthouse, we went looking for a good beach, and soon we found a great one that was beautiful, mostly deserted, and right by our rental house.

 Beach fun!

 Pretty Grace

 Every time we went to the beach (which was most days, often multiple times), Andy would find a stick and dig and draw and build and whatever else boys do.  It was so cute.

 Each of the kids had a bucket for finding sea shells, rocks and sand dollars.  The kids learned that after a wave went out, they should run and look for sand dollars.  They found lots of them.

 I love this picture that Mark took of me and Grace, very cool.

 BethAnne spearheaded the construction of a sandcastle.

While one of us would watch the kids on the beach, Mark or I would often sit in the car while the baby took naps and this was our view.

Mark was on baby duty in the mornings, which was a bit of a challenge at the non-babyproof house, but again he never complained and was always so cheerful, the whole trip. Here's a picture he took one morning.

Stay tuned for Part 2, our day at Trees of Mystery...