California part 2, Redwoods

Our time in San Francisco was short & very touristy. These bi-annual trips are mostly spent in National Parks, so we are usually anxious to leave the city behind and head for the woods. If you are going to San Francisco and not taking the long drive up the coast to the Redwood Forest, you can see some of the big trees in Muir Woods just outside of SF. Our drive north took us past many vineyards, though we did not stop to sample any wines along the way...that was later! The towns you pass through are far & few between and small. Here is small town with a big sign that welcomes you to the Redwoods.

The Redwood Forest is located on the coast of Northern California, so you get beaches too. These aren't the beaches for getting a tan or swimming. We did glimpse a few surfers, wearing wet suits. The beaches here are similar to those in Oregon & Washington state, but the tide pools aren't as rich. We still enjoyed the views and exploring among the rocks. The larger rocks on the Pacific beach are called Sea Stacks. Again you need to go further up the coast for that view.

Emily left our calling card in the sand.

We found starfish, sea anemone, snails, seaweed and lots of rocks. We could stay at the tide pools for hours!

The house we rented was just north of Orick, California...population about 650. Just a wide spot in the road. This house is part of Redwood Adventures. The house slept everyone comfortably, with 3 bedrooms and a pull-out sofa. Well, maybe Emily & Carrie didn't sleep as comfortably on the sofa bed. The kitchen was well equipped and it had a washer & dryer. The only catch was, it was a stackable W/D...and you could only wash OR dry - not at the same time. Also, the dryer took FOREVER to dry.

The Redwood Forest has one of the largest herds of Roosevelt Elk in North America and they were literally right outside our door! This was our view from the deck. Most were female, but we saw our share of bulls too.

Alyssa, Carrie & Emily eating at the kitchen bar the first night.

We cooked chicken enchilada...here's Alyssa's presentation of it.

It's an easy dish to prepare and very tasty (spicy). We had stopped in McKinleyville to shop at the Safeway (like Kroger), so we had all the food we needed for the next several days. We made sandwiches for lunch and had cereal, cereal bars, fruit & yogurt for breakfast.

Our house had Wi-Fi and the girls enjoyed using mine & Stephen's iTouches to do Facebook updates.

sOr they wrote in their journals. They have done journals on every trip, but Emily wins the prize for being able to locate all of her journals!

The house was wonderful...UNTIL....I got up just after midnight to go the bathroom and noticed it was REALLY dark. I found my way to the bathroom & flipped the switch...nothing happened. Oh well, I flushed & went back to bed. I knew the power was out and began to wonder how long we would be without power. I got up again around 5:30, it's beginning to get light so no need to flip the switch. The toilet flushes but the I can't wash my hands because their is no water. Then I realize the house is on a pump. I grew up on septic system and well water, I knew the implications and with 9 people it wasn't pretty. I woke Randy and told him...others began to get up and we alerted them not to flush. Then I thought of ALL the FOOD we had just purchased in the refrigerator!!!

Stephen went down the lane to talk to Grant, the guy in charge of our lodging. The bad news was there was a tree down and we may not have power until 8 p.m. The good news was they had a generator and hooked it up so that we could have water! Randy & Stephen drove north to Klamath (Orick was without power too) to buy ice. We packed our perishables in our insulated WalMart bag that I brought from home & put it everything back in the frig.Our adventure had truly begun!

One of the adventures we had hoped to have was to go horseback riding through the Redwoods, but because of unusually heavy rain the terrain was too wet & unstable to ride. The kids were disappointed, but no worries!

Cell service in remote areas is spotty, but you can guarantee that Randy would find the perfect place to get reception. He was often on the phone with someone back home! In this picture he is talking to Aaron, giving him the update on our loss of power. The power came back on that evening after dinner...luckily we had planned to grill out hamburgers & hotdogs, and the stove was gas. We had purchased slice & bake chocolate chip cookies for dessert, and were trying to figure out how to do that on the grill when the power returned. HURRAY! We could make cookies and the girls could Facebook!

Kate beside one of the ENORMOUS trees. The little girl in the picture was walking with her parents seeing the big trees and took up with Kate for awhile.

TALL TALL TREES! . The coast redwoods can soar to more than 370 feet tall!Everything is so green, lush and cool here.

These elk were Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park & greeted us after our hike through the old growth forest.

My next post takes us to Lassen Volcanic National Park. This park is not widely known, and not heavily visited, but well worth the time & effort it takes to get there!