Trinidad Beach

On our way home from Fern Canyon, we stopped at Trinidad Beach. Again, hubby took these pictures. Nice backdrop. It was also very cold here, so Dylan and I stayed on the beach for a few minutes, and then headed back up to the car to hang out.

Cool light house.

He's not so bad at taking pictures, right?

After Trinidad, we went back to the hotel to find that either a pipe had broken, or the people above us had left the water on. Hubby's bag was the only one in that corner of the room, but it was pretty much soaked. The frustrating thing was we had to convince the girl on duty to use the driers to dry his clothes. She kept saying "Its policy not to let customers use the dryers." Well, is it policy to frustrate the heck out of somebody, especially when it is kinda your fault?!?! Anyway, so, we got back late anyway, had to change rooms (I had planned on packing up that night anyway, but not quite like that), and then, to top it all off, I had taken my baby monitor down to the breakfast room because Dylan was asleep, and I was not about to wake him up. I forgot and left it down there. And someone stole it. Half a baby monitor, and someone took it, pretending it was theirs. How frustrating!!! We solved the problem by having McBaby sleep in our room, and we all used the same monitor, but still... A frustrating end to a great day. We went upstairs, unwound and finished our game of Settlers that we didn't the night before. And then, on our way back to our room, we realized our vacation was coming to an end. And we got kinda sad....

Fern Canyon

Let me tell you about this place. I found it in one of those pesky tourist brochures, and thought we would give it a try. It was completely worth it! It was Fern Canyon state park and to get there we had to drive up a curvy road for about 3 miles at 20 miles an hour. The interesting part about the drive was how much undergrowth there was. However, it was all covered in (I suppose) road dust. All the ferns, plants, trees, etc were covered in a layer of dirt. I wish I had taken a picture. I can only imagine what it would be like after a hard rain, when everything is green and fresh. We also had to cross over 3 "streams" the park attendant told us about. "Just drive right through them" he said. I am grateful hubby was driving, because when I saw the "streams" I might have turned back. They were probably about 6-8 feet wide and 8-10 inches deep. However, they didn't hurt the car, and again, completely worth it. The brochure said it was an "easy" 2 mile loop. I am not sure I would have characterized it as "easy" but that also could have been due to the fact that I was "wearing" an extra 20 lb little boy. Amazing what that'll do ya.

Our family at the beginning of the canyon. I am not sure these picture do it justice because the canyon walls were so high. And covered with such green lusciousness. Oh, so neat!

Again, for perspective.

Man, this place was a rock throwers paradise. Kari and Kaitlyn picked up hundreds of rocks, just to throw them, and start all over again. In fact, we had to pick up Kaitlyn because she was straggling behind. She had two rocks in her hands when I put her on my shoulders (I passed Dylan to the hubby), and she held them tight. At one point she started slipping, and instead of dropping the rocks and grabbing me, she squeezed her legs and hoped (I guess) I would catch her. The funny thing? As soon as I put her down, she threw those precious rocks and picked up two more. Silly girls :)

I like how hubby and Kaitlyn are over in the corner looking up at the wall.

I also discovered a cool feature on my camera while there. It takes panoramic pictures and will "stitch" them together into one big long one. I don't know if blogger will let you enlarge these, but try. This place was just so cool!

Again, enlarge, and check out the prospective of the people and the plants.

Near the end of the hike we found this cool bridge.

We are such a cute family :)

Elk

The west coast also seems to have an abundance of elk. We were hoping to catch a glimpse of these animals while we were out there. On our way to our next excursion, we had just that chance. There was a pull over on the side of the road, and there were several elk. Basking in the sun. It was pretty great. Also, on our way back home (passing the same place) we pulled over again. The male had decided there were too many cars too close to his heard and he was threatening to charge the cars. Really cool, but kinda scary at the same time...

This picture makes me laugh out loud. Its totally something I can see in a slide show,

with the kids smiling fake smiles in the front, with something

kind of interesting in the background. Just makes me giggle :)

Can you spot the elk, lazing in the grass?

The babies decided to take a walk over to the grass. We didn't know when we got there, but other than the 4 out in the open, there must have been at least 10 over in the grass on the side.

On our way back into town we stopped at this cool 'side of the road' shop.

The owner had taken all kinds of redwood scraps and made lots of cool things.

Hubby and I got a piece for $3 whole dollars and are planning to do

something really great with it. When it's done, I will show you :)

Vacation: Nearly Done

Thursday morning we woke up, and went down the hall to eat a breakfast of all carbs in the hotel lobby. Don't get me wrong, carbs are great, but I do wish there had been some protein of some kind. Anyway. Moving on. We went downtown again to the Discovery Museum. It had lots of cool toys to play with. In truth, I think the adults had almost as much fun as the kids did. I know hubby spent quite some time working on a pretty complex puzzle. He figured it out. He usually does ;) There seemed to be something for everyone.

This was one of my favorites. For some reason, I always thought it would be fun to be a register person. Pushing all the buttons. Bagging according to shape, size, and household location. You get the idea. That, and being a waitress.

*Please ignore the fact that my child is sagging. She can't help it. She doesn't know it went out of fashion. That, and the fact that she has no bum. Even with a diaper.*

See, I told you there was something for everyone.

Hubby is currently making electric sparks.

And look what we "discovered" at the discovery museum.
This cute little girl with two pairs of legs.

Oh, wait. Just kidding. It is Kari, and her cousin McKenna :)

Even the Dyl Man found something interesting. Himself :)

Kari and Kaitlyn could have played with the golf ball thing for days.

Somoa Dunes Park

If you haven't seen a California Sunset, here one is.

Hubby took these pictures... Not bad if I do say so myself :)

Quite different from the beaches of Virginia. Less trash, dirt, and people, for one thing.

Flippin' cold for another. And, my, it was loud.

See, I told you it was loud. And cold....

Note the sweatshirts/sweaters and the hands over the ears :)

Thank goodness you have a translator...

Also, I would like to point out my BIL, Danny Boy, who thought we were gonna take a picture, and therefore was making funny faces in the background, waiting for the flash. I love the things in the background sometimes :)

I think this video is pretty artistic. And, I love how much fun Kari is having.

At the end of this day, we all went back to hotels. Exhausted. Covered in sand. Happy. Again, we put the kids to bed, and taking baby monitors with us, went to the 'rents room to start a game of Settlers. Some friends of ours got us started on this, and we got grandma hooked on it while she was out here to help with Dylan. I'll admit, I didn't think it was that much fun when I didn't understand the strategy. However, now I enjoy it, and think you should all give it a try. Really. Like, Now... Kidding ;) We all went to sleep somewhere around midnight again... One day I promise we will learn not to kill ourselves over vacation. Ok, prolly not. But one can dream, can't one?

Downtown Eureka

The zoo was on the edge of Eureka, so, after we finished with all the animals, we headed downtown. We ate at a little hole in the wall place. I probably wouldn't recommend it. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either. Then, we walked around and looked at some of the old buildings and stuff.

Like this one. I like the color, and all the paint details.

Look. A whole street full of buildings with character!

I mean, look at all those paint details! Love it!

On our way to a pier thingy, we passed through this plaza that had lots of birds.

Guess what the girls wanted to do?

Poor Kaitlyn was in the stroller (don't worry, Grandma pushed her towards the birds).

I love these action shots :)

Here we are on the pier.

Kari and Kaitlyn found this cool cement thingy... I am not sure

what Kari is doing, but I love her imagination.

And then we went for a little photo shoot in the middle of this pier. We put all the girl cousins down, and tried to get a decent shot. Um, they are cute, but, not quite what we had in mind. So, we tried another pose.

Monkey see, Monkey do... :)

Vacation: Wednesday

So after we spent so much time in the Redwoods, we eventually headed to our hotel. We checked in, put little chill'ens to bed, and then, since my parents had a large room, we congregated there to hang out past 8 pm. Good times. We just talked. Again, it always amazes me how short of a time it takes us to get back into our sibling roles, even if kids, spouses, are present. In case I haven't mentioned it before, we had a fabulous trip, and I think it would have been fabulous even if we hadn't done anything. It was just good to be with everyone again.

At the zoo, we saw interesting things like:

This is a monkey of some kind. I don't remember the specifics.

Um, another monkey kind of monkey....

This one I remember. This is a tamarin. And he was very cute!

Barn Owl. He looks kinda bored with us, don't you think?

This is an Ibis. Check out his bill...

Rhea. And those holes kinda below his eyes are his ears. Weird, I know.

There was a petting zoo part, and this was in it. She looks right at home...

Wow, it looks like that horse didn't move at all... Oh wait, it didn't. It was plastic. :)

Also part of the petting zoo thing was a bit on spiders. Kari wasn't feeling it so much.

Kaitlyn, on the other hand, thought it was pretty cool.

Again, not feeling it so much....

But, dang if that isn't the cutest spider I ever done saw!

*Note: I love seeing grandma's feet sticking out and Kaitlyn's not touching the ground*

Getting ready to go into the petting zoo. They look a little nervous.

Good thing Daddy is there to protect them.

See girls, its okay...

That goat was funny. See how his front legs are on a wooden table thing. He kept going around the enclosure and putting his front legs up on all the tables.

Don't ask me... I'm not a goat.

I have no idea what Kari's face is, but I think it is pretty hi-larious!

Dylan and Uncle Jonamon outside the petting zoo. Pretty cute!