Our 2nd annual summer road trip is on! The kids and I loaded into the van and took off for 10 days! We made our way from Utah to Washington state by way of Reno, the Redwood Forest and Crater Lake in Oregon. It was a blast!!! Here are the highlights...
We mapped out our travels and booked hotels or houses along the route and figured that 8 hours was about our max for driving in 1 day. So day 1 we took off first thing in the morning and made our way to Reno. We had a couple pit stops along the way and had to take a picture of the mountain that, according to the boys, looked like a volcano. I was prepped with doodle boards, audio books, movies and snacks that were handed out on the hour, every hour. And you better believe that Keen was the keeper of the time when it came to snacks. He did not let us go one minute over the hour. The kids know the routine once we get to the hotel: everyone is in charge of wheeling in their own suitcase and carrying their blanket and pillow. They were pretty good about keeping track of their own stuff and we managed to get inside that first night without any casualties!
Of course, the favorite part of a hotel stay is pool time so we made sure and got some of that in when we got there. It was great to get in the pool and hot tub and just play around after a day in the car. The kids were tuckered out after a couple hours so we wrapped it up and headed to bed.
After a good night sleep (Desh in the closet) and a big breakfast of waffles and eggs, we got back on the road. The scenery through central California was awesome and I made the kids get out for a couple pictures.
We made it to our house in the Redwoods late afternoon and we immediately dropped our stuff and headed out for a hike to see these amazing trees surrounding us! Just steps away from our house was the trailhead for a short, simple hike but it was absolutely stunning!! We were in awe of the size of the trees and couldn't get enough of climbing on around and through them.
The next day we went to another place that we had heard all about called Fern Canyon. It was THE BEST for our group! The hike was easy and shaded and absolutely gorgeous and the kids loved walking in and out of the stream that ran right down the canyon. We spent a few hours just enjoying this lovely spot and being in the outdoors.
As we left the canyon, we realized that we were also just steps away from the beach so that's where we headed. The kids were anxious to get in the water, though fully clothed with no swim suits on. Who cares. They had a BLAST playing in the water, digging in the sand, finding ocean creatures, collecting cool rocks and enjoying the sun. The best day!
The house we stayed at was right in the middle of nowhere and smack in the middle of a the Redwood Forest. We had limited WiFi, no cell phone coverage and felt like we were completely alone in the forest. It was pretty great and so fun! There was a valley just down the road from us called Elk Meadow because there were wild elk that came and went from that area daily. We got to see some really beautiful and huge elk and also got a kick out of this sign we saw warning us to stay away! Josh said it was almost "steal worthy" but we decided to leave it where it was.
After 3 days we said goodbye to the beautiful forest and got back on the road.
We were headed to Vancouver Washington next, but made a stop at Crater Lake in Oregon while we were there. It wasn't really "on the way" or even a shortcut, but we really wanted to see it. So we drove up to the top of the mountain and got to see this...
So Crater Lake is the deepest lake in North America and not one that you swim in, but there are lots of hikes and a scenic road that goes all the way around the lake. Unfortunately the day we were there the road around was closed for "emergency reasons". They didn't tell us why, but at least we got to go to the look out point and see the lake. There is a snow bank that goes all the way around and slopes steeply straight down to the lake, about 800 feet. I admit I was a little nervous playing around there too long in case one of the kids slipped and slid down the bank. That made my mommy heart too scared to even think about! So we hung out for a few minutes to take in the scenery.
The rest of the drive up to Vancouver seemed long and started getting late. This was the hardest day in the car just because we drove for so long. But we finally made it to Sid and Dan's house and got a super warm welcome from them!!! They had rooms all ready for us and we all crawled right into bed that night
It was so fun visiting with the Wolfley family and they were so great to let us barge into their home and busy lives for two days. We went to a swimming hole one day and spent all day in the water. The kids could not get enough jumping from the cliffs, skipping rocks, floating down the river, head dunking and any other sort of thing crazy kids like to do. And it was such a warm, beautiful day that we did not want it to end!
After two days in Vancouver we had a special visitor join us! Josh flew in early one morning and joined us for the rest of the trip and it was so great to have him! Of course as soon as he got there we had to hit Burgerville. One of his favorites growing up and we always try and eat there at least once when we're up that way.
Sid and Dan have a beach house a couple hours away in Long Beach Washington and were kind enough to let us go stay for a few days. So the last few days of our trip we spent out there at the beach. We drove through beautiful Astoria on our way out there and took in some amazing scenery.
And once we got to the beach, that's all we wanted to do. It was chilly and overcast but that didn't stop us from running and playing and getting in the ocean anyway! There's something about the beach that is pretty enchanting. And we took it all in. We enjoyed the isolation of it all playing for hours in the sand and chasing seagulls, but also loved going into the small town and shopping at the shops, eating ice cream at Scoopers, and even heard about a dead, beached whale that we drove on the beach to see. Long Beach is called so because it is the world's longest beach. It looks like it goes on forever. Josh and I loved walking along it in the mornings and collecting sand dollars for the kids. It was so great to have him there with us.
One day we drove down to Cape Disappointment State Park and thoroughly enjoyed our day. We found this coolest cove to play in and the kids built lots of sand castles and dug lots of holes to play in. It was absolutely gorgeous! And I'm not sure why it's called Cape Disappointment because it was as far from a disappointment that I can imagine. It was our last day in Washington before heading back home on the road and we loved every second of it.
Sid and Dan's beach house is darling, and perfect and such a fun getaway. They have put a lot of work into it and were so kind to let us enjoy some time out there. We are so grateful for the time we got to spend there and also spend with them and their cute family. After leaving the beach, we stopped back in to see them all and say goodbye. We love them and can't wait for another trip out to be with them!
The drive home went really smoothly with Josh there as an extra driver. We drove through the night while the kids slept and got home with most of the day ahead of us still. We were tired and exhausted from a long 10 days on the road, but we had the most amazing trip and made so many fun memories together! Can't wait to see what next year brings!
