crater lake and redwood forest (vacay part 4)

At this point in our travels we were all starting to feel a bit like Liv in this photo here:

The drive from Sequim, WA to Medford, OR seemed very long; we had lots of traffic in Portland.  We made the decision to stop in Salem for some food and to show the kids the house Rob grew up in (not in our original plans).  Rob and I were here just last July, and were surprised to see this new gate/entrance:

The backside of the house (again, no one was home when we rang):

We stayed that night just outside of Medford, OR and drove to Crater Lake, OR the next day.

I have never been to Crater Lake and the size and color is pretty impressive!

You can really tell that the kids are getting tired of having their picture taken...and were also just plain tired!  

Hewitt does not look happy here (he is usually the kid most interested in being photographed):

Burke 'holding up' the island:

We stopped at a cute little cafe outside of Crater Lake for lunch.  The kids had fun with this 'vintage' phone while we waited for our table:

After lunch, we grabbed some ice cream next door:

Liv's eyes are so cute in this one:

Mmmmm.  Ice cream.

The drive from Crater Lake into Northern California was really scenic.  We passed by Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park while driving to our hotel in Crescent City, CA.  We pulled off when we hit some amazing trees and got our first glimpse at the amazing Redwood Forest (get ready for lots of tree photos!)!

Liv brushing my hair at the hotel that night (it's so fun having a little girl):

The next morning, we drove from Crescent City to Pleasanton, CA (outside of San Fran).  This was probably one of my favorite days.  I have wanted to go to the Redwood Forest my entire life (well, ever since I learned the song, "This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land").  It was very foggy as we started our drive along HWY 101.  We pulled off at some random unmarked place to get a picture of the foggy trees:

We ended up staying at that place for about 90 minutes or so; just walking along the trail and trying to take in the beauty of this place.  It is impossible to capture in photos just how grand and amazing this forest is.  The fog just made it that much more magical.  The kids were in heaven:

Our 'Harry Potter lovin' boy' pretending to be riding off in a game of Quidditch:

We set the camera timer to try to get some family photos:

Liv really cracks me up in this next one:

Spectacular trees (this isn't in black and white, it's just that foggy!)!

We kept driving south and came to some signs advertising the "Drive Thru Tree" and figured it was worth the $5.00.

Another scenic view along HWY 101; this time of the ocean:

I had read good things about Lady Bird Johnson Grove in Redwood National Park; and so we stopped there and did the nice little hike (1.3 miles).  There were tons of millipedes on the ground and the kids had fun looking at them.  Tosh really wanted to keep two that he named Joe and Ken.

Should I leave out the part of the day when Burke and Hewitt got really far ahead of us (and were not answering when we yelled for them several times) and so I ended up running half of the trail (as fast as I could) to catch up to them?  It was one of those times when my disappointment and tears of worry probably communicated more to these two boys than any yelling or punishment could have... Not really the best part of the day.

More pictures of the kids at the end of the hike.  Sure love these great (and sometimes disobedient) kids:

The Redwood Forest truly was spectacular.  I'd love to go back when we have even more time to soak it all in, and hike more of the trails.