Family Vacation - Merced CA & Bakersfield CA

We noticed this fine how-do-ya-do as we loaded our van to leave the hotel. It's a "This Pool is Condemned" notice that was NOT on the pool gate the night before when our family swam in it for hours! I quickly took this picture as we left so I could call the number and find out if we needed to stop somewhere and get shots or anything. Turned out they just had a repair to their water pump that they had to have done before the pool would be opened again. I know, I know - that totally sounds like crud! But "Jessica" with Solano County Environmental Health promised we had nothing to fear!



We stopped for lunch in Merced. It was really, really HOT in Merced! A lot of people have asked on how earth we fed our family on this trip. Tip 1 - We only stayed at hotels with continental breakfasts Tip 2 - We did a lot of grocery shopping and meals like this in parks along the way. I don't think any of us will crave a sandwich for a while, but it worked!



We drove down Hwy99 to get to Bakersfield - which means we had to drive through Fresno! Holy TRAFFIC Batman! I think of our entire trip, this was the worst leg traffic wise! If I never drive next to, behind, in front of, or within 100 miles of another Semi Truck as long as I live it will be too soon!

The plan for Bakersfield was simply to get to our hotel before we melted! It was time to do laundry and everyone was very tired from the heat. (Tip 3 - Make sure your hotels have guest laundry. Tip 4 - Pack your own laundry detergent, but don't pack your microwave popcorn in the same bag. Tide scented Jolly Time is just gross! No joke!) It was 105 in Bakersfield at 7pm. Crazy! The pool was great!




Because I loved these shower curtains! I am totally putting one in our master bath when we finish it! No hooks and the bar curves out from the tub so the curtain doesn't smother you. Magnets at the bottom to weight the curtain inside the tub during a shower. Genius! (Simple minds!)



And so I didn't forget where to find these little gems:



ArcsAndAngles.com

Family Vacation - Avenue of Giants (Redwood Forest) & Jelly Belly Factory, Fairfield CA

This was a fun stop. We had "planned" to work Sequoia National Park into our trip, but by this day (abt 5 days into our vacation) we realized that cramming one more bigger day into our week would probably kill us. We considered maybe stopping at Yosemite National Park which is north of Sequoia, but we couldn't jive the timeline with hotels. We had made peace with bagging the idea when we saw a road sign that said "Avenue of Giants" - yeah for a smart phone. We googled it and quickly learned that we were approaching a Redwood park - it didn't have a cool Native American name, but Avenue of Giants seemed to speak to us, so we took the exit and spent an hour in the largest trees we had ever seen!



Once again, we lucked out and had this entire area to ourselves! The kids ran and climbed and walked the pathways...



...they humored mom and posed for frequent snapshots.




Went with B&W because it's forgiving! :) A lot of our pictures were taken with our cell phones and they turned out great for the most part, but if you try to zoom much, it's hard to keep it clear.



As if all of the texting with my Scoutmaster back home wasn't enough on this trip, I had a moment of personal gratitude for Jim, Jr as my Eagle Scout husband, who once had Jim as his Scoutmaster too, sprung into action with a remedy for Stinging Nettle. Use the plants own leaves to relieve the pain! Who knew...besides Jim & Brandon? (Joseph was totally grossed out by this! But very happy to have it work!)



You can take the boy out of the country...



We did it! I don't know how many rings this tree had, but I know it was 22 Lee Arms around!!



Meredith had a love/hate relationship with the forest. She loved it, but only for about 18 seconds. Luckily, I snapped this picture at about 12 seconds!!



We did some more driving south and finally arrived in Fairfield CA where we met up with Brandon's brother Brian and his family at the Jelly Belly Factory.



This portrait is made of Jelly Belly Beans!! Useless trivia: I am a total Royal fanatic! I may start calling my sister Pippa!



These hats serve ZERO purpose! They insist that you wear them through the tour. The tour consists of walking through a totally enclosed hallway that overlooks the factory floor. There is no way on the planet that a hair from any one's head could fall into the Jelly Beans! I just know the tour guides get together on their breaks and compare how dorky their tourists looked! Of course MY tourists looked adorable in their useless hats - I looked absolutely dorkish!




Just because she's so darn cute...

Family Vacation - Myers Beach, OR - Crescent City, CA & Samoa Cookhouse, Samoa CA

Today we went to Meyer's Beach, OR. The locals told us that we had just missed the wind-sailing competition over the weekend - oh, darn! However, it took us all of four seconds to figure out why they held the wind-sailing competitions here!! MUCH WIND! Meredith could barely keep her hood on!




Joseph continued to build his confidence. He hunted for starfish and sand dollars!




Remember we drove this trip - the wide open beach cried out for cooped up kids to RUN!! And RUN they did!



Madilyn is our Ocean girl. The whole family LOVES the Ocean, but I truly think Maddie would have chosen the Ocean over coming home with her family!




Because of the wind, we didn't spend as much time at Meyer's Beach as we would have liked, but we did stay long enough for everyone to do the things they enjoyed most! I found more Agates!



Melanie jumped waves until she had successfully soaked her jeans - maybe shorts (like mom suggested) would have been a good idea? Luckily, our hotels all had laundry facilities, so it was all good.



And SAND! I'm pretty sure we brought another person's weight worth of sand back home with us in the carpet and seats of our van!



We stopped in Crescent City, CA for a picnic lunch. It was still pretty windy and we were all disappointed to finally be IN California and the weather was worse than it was back home in Washington that day.



Maddie in the hollow Redwood at the park we ate at.



The park where we lost Joseph. Oh yeah, I still can't talk about that! Longest 3 minutes of.my.life!! (Obviously it all worked out!)



We really liked the stops where we could get out of the van and stretch! Speaking of stretch - Malorie is going to pass me up before 4th grade if she doesn't stop growing!



Funny story - see the guy behind Melanie? He and his "wife" had a total domestic dispute in the parking lot just feet from this playground. In case you were wondering, he can't be counted on for anything. And he doesn't care about anyone but himself! (So said the screaming shrew who @#$!@#'d him as she peeled out of the parking lot and drove into the sunset...I mean, drove around the block and came back for more - that's when we left!)



That night we stayed at a hotel in Eureka CA. We visited with some other hotel guests in the hot tub and they told us about the Somoa Cookhouse restaurant. From their website: "Every large or small logging or mill operation in the redwood country had a cookhouse. It was the hub of life in the temporary community, if it was in the woods. If it was located in a substantial settlement, it served as a "community center"." It was a LOT of fun! We were so glad we went!



We did have to wait to be seated. The lady in the picture with us, Trudy, was visiting from Turlock, CA. Her family owns a motorcycle repair shop. I know this because as we visited and she asked about our family and our vacation, she felt we should have someone "familiar" to call on in case we experienced any car troubles (thankfully we didn't). She has a large basement if we needed a place to stay. I have her business card if anyone local to that area needs a mechanic! I also have her cell phone number and home phone in case the office is closed and the cell phone number of Carolyn, who was dining with her! There are still good people in this world!




We were served family style - so much food!! Salad, homemade bread, stew, chicken parmesan, roast pork, corn, red potatoes...and chocolate or vanilla pudding! My stomach just cramped up (again) just typing that all out! You didn't choose which of those items you wanted! They brought out enough of everything for everyone. I can't do it justice - you'll just have to go there!

Family Vacation - Lincoln City, OR & Dunes City, OR

Father's Day 2011 was spent in a hotel...no waffles and strawberries this year! Instead a card plus a box of chocolates that was carefully hidden away in the back of the van the first 2 days of vacation!



We spent the morning at the beach in Lincoln City, OR. I loved it here. I discovered the joy of Agate Hunting!!



After Ecola Beach the day before - in the rain - everyone really enjoyed this beach in such a different way! Gracie squealed every.single.time a wave came in!



Joseph had seen Jared knee-deep in sand at Ecola and it really bothered him. We were happy to see that by the next day he was over the fear and enjoying the sand with the rest of us!



I've mentioned Jason's growth spurt, right? He's officially 6'3" and apparently has no plans of slowing down...



And Brandon, well, he's topping off at about 3'5" these days!



It was amazing having the beach mostly to ourselves that morning. A very memorable Father's Day, for sure!



When we finally forced ourselves to bid farewell to Lincoln City we traveled south, and on a whim stopped near Dunes City OR, where we had a picnic and an amazing afternoon walking the beach!



The kids played and played in the sand!



Yes, every single sea shell (and more) rode the entire rest of the vacation (12 more days) with us in the van until we got home!!



Such cute sisters!