Road Trip 2012, Day 10: Mt. St. Helens

So, this is what our tent and site looked like after our nighttime installation. Not bad! We had our blow up mattresses, mattress pad and oodles of blankets.

Miraculously, Grace seems to be up and going strong!

The trees were really, really huge. That blueish speck is me.

There was a nice little stream just over the fallen tree behind our tent. Brad washed his hair in it (OUCH). Grace was sporting her new socks from Brandon & Ayuri.

Since we were now in Washington it was time to mark the window with the abbreviation for the new state.

DUH! We’re at Mt. St. Helens!

…which has these funky lava tubes. We took a drive around the southern side of Mt St. Helens, since that’s where we were camping. Some of the roads were still closed due to snow, but most were open and there were some cool interpretive trails. The photos below show the girls & me crawling through a lava tube. When the hot lava pours down the mountain it will sometimes topple these huge trees then harden around them. The wood will either burn up or decay naturally, leaving only the lava tube behind. Because the trees were so darned big they left plenty of space for us to crawl through. Some trees remained standing and left behind well-shaped lava areas.

Our dear Gary Martin saw this photo and commented, “My Precioussssss.” That cracked me up and I can’t look at the picture without hearing that quote.

The wildflowers were simply gorgeous. It was basically still spring up there. There’s not much of a summer.

There was a beautiful stream and waterfall area that we trecked through. The lahar caused by the eruption of Mt. St. Helens cleared land that had not previously been cleared, showing signs of another volcanic eruption that had occurred 25,000 years ago.

After that we got on the road heading up to the Olympic Peninsula which took us around towards the north side of Mt. St. Helens and the better side to see the massive crater caused by the eruption. Of course, it was too cloudy to see the top. Figured. The visitor center there was very thorough and interesting and closes at 6pm on the dot – don’t try to do anything that might put you over, they won’t let you.

There was an interpretive trail around a small body of water. We saw a garter snake, a rabbit and a huge bass.

We had planned to camp out somewhere around Mount Rainier, but we decided that the crummy weather would probably make a trip to the mountain less than desirable. Camping out would be even less desirable than that! Thanks to my trusty hotels.com app I found us a place in Aberdeen, Washington. We even had an indoor pool and the girls got to enjoy it for a little while after our dinner at Billy’s. Brad had a yakburger, but he thought it was a smidge dry. The service was great and that’s a good restaurant if you’re in the Aberdeen area.

Road Trip, 2012, Day 9: From California to Mt. St. Helens

These trees are huge, like really, really huge. It’s very difficult to comprehend that they are living (or were living!) things.

The drive to Mt. St. Helens was uneventful. We at breakfast  in a little Mexican restaurant in Del Rio and kept trucking. Being the benevolent parents we are, we stopped at a Walmart in Eureka to buy the girls “Breaking Dawn.”

The big highlight of this drive was the Columbia River Gorge. OH MY was it beautiful! I knew it was the windsurfing capital (of the world, maybe?), but I didn’t have any idea it would like like it does.

There were waterfalls scattered throughout the cliffs and the views of the continuing gorge were spectacular.

We finally got to our camp pretty late at night, maybe around 10:30pm. We set up the tent in the dark, drizzling night with the sound of a bubbling creek somewhere nearby.

Road Trip 2012, Day 8: San Francisco and Avenue of the Giants

Oh what a beautiful bright and early morning! So far we have totally lucked out on the weather. We needed to buy more dry ice so we used Skyvie (our snazzy new Android app) to track some down. Along the way we went back to Lombard Street so we could get better photos of the curviest street on the planet (?). The photos totally do NOT do it justice, though, and there’s probably not a more entertaining way to go down it than by GoCar. We didn’t try it with the Sequoia!

There’s Alcatraz off in the bay. These streets really were nuts!

We also went to Golden Gate Park (which, by the way, isn’t actually that near the Golden Gate Bridge) and took a photo op outside the conservancy.

We walked around the park a bit and went over to the California Academy of Sciences Museum. I think this will be one of my very few regrets on this trip. We didn’t have time to really see the museum, so we just visited the gift store. It was also expensive at $100 for the family, so I’d like to get back to San Francisco to spend a full day and truly get to enjoy it.

Sadly, we got back in the truck and started to head out of the city. We went to Presidio Park, which is actually where the Golden Gate Bridge is, and wandered around for a few minutes. The photo opportunities were awesome, and the gift store was nice (I like park and museum gift stores more than any other stores out there!).

So now it was bye-bye San Francisco and on to the Avenue of the Giants, which is a 35 mile trek through some of the country’s tallest trees.

We did stop at a small winery, Saracina, but me being the huge wine-snob that I am, I was bummed they didn’t have any moscato (lol! love the stuff). Despite my depression, we purchased some olive oil made from their 130 year old trees, seen below.

The redwoods were totally and absolutely unbelievable. There is nothing I can write that will do them justice, but to say that you absolutely need to see them for yourselves. The campground, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, Burlington area, was quiet, peaceful and packed (but you wouldn’t know that!). I wish we had planned for a couple of days there instead of one night.

In short, every American citizen needs to visit the California redwoods – but be sure to plan a couple days.

Road Trip 2012, Day 7: Big Sur, Monterey & San Fran

One thing we had discovered on the way to our campground at Arroyo Seco was that we were going to completely miss “Big Sur,” which is supposed to be the consummate Pacific coast drive. We decided we couldn’t be out here and miss that. So, being us, we decided to drive west. No, we didn’t have any clear idea of what road to take or anything, we just knew we needed to be on the other side of the mountain. We took something that seemed to be heading the right direction and happened upon an Army training camp, Fort Liggett. Fortunately, the guy at the gate told us to keep going across the little bridge and on through the mountains. Unfortunately, the MP’s didn’t like our 20 MPH over the 10 MPH bridge and we got pulled over in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately, their radio service was crap and they couldn’t check out our registration and they just gave up, giving us a verbal warning.

The drive was pretty unbelievable: huge drops, scenic vistas and crazy curves. Eventually we made it to the Pacific Ocean.

The drive from there to Monterey was pretty awesome, but I’d be lying if I said it was the most incredible thing I’d seen. Now maybe the hype kind of made it not too jaw-dropping, but I kind of saw it as “west Texas rolling mountains meet the Pacific.” If you’ve never seen west Texas mountains, then maybe it would be more of an OMG kind of thing. Don’t get me wrong, it was worth seeing, it’s just that other things in my life have wowed me more. Neither Brad nor I regret the several crazy hours it took to get us there, but I’m not booking our next vacation along that section of coast.

We finally made it to Monterey. The town was cute, but the breeze was terribly chilly. Even Brad bought a jacket. We decided to forgo the Monterey Aquarium. At first I had been really, really excited about going there, but the more I thought about it the more I remembered all the other aquariums I’ve been to and the diving and snorkeling, too.  Besides, we totally did NOT have the time to spend there…

…We needed to get to our GoCar tour!!!

Thanks to one of those group deal coupon websites, we got a twilight tour of San Francisco for like $30 per car. The cute little car has GPS built in so as long as you’re following its directions it will tell you all about the area, like how Telegraph Hill has a population of wild conures and how the merchants at Point Park would watch to see what types of cargo were coming in. They were a blast to drive and we got lots of laughs and stares, especially as we drove down the curviest street, Lombard.

After our tour we raced back to our hotel to meet my brother, Brandon and his significant other (fiance? girlfriend? Need clarification!), Ayuri. Brandon and I had never met before; he’s one of my two half-brothers who both grew up in California.

We met excitedly and trotted off to find some good grub, ending up at a pizza place called “Patxi’s Chicago Pizza.” We ate way too much, talked tons and really enjoyed each other’s company. The girls were surprisingly well behaved and I think we had a great night. I’m looking forward to keeping in touch with Brandon & Ayuri.

Our hotel, the Capri Motel, was a great deal – perfect location near the marina district, free parking and free wifi. The only issue was that it only had mini-blinds and no curtains. Since it was east-facing this was kind of a huge deal because at sunrise we were utterly blinded. Well, at least that got us up and moving pretty early so we could enjoy some more of San Fran before we had to drive out to see the redwoods.

Road Trip 2012, Day 6: From LA to Arroyo Seco

This day started in a very untraditional vacation manner – with haircuts. I finally convinced Caroline that getting a haircut in Hollywood would be the ultimate of coolness so we walked up the street from our hotel to the Supercuts, which opened at 8am. We literally sat on the curb waiting for the doors to be unlocked so we wouldn’t have to wait – we wanted to get on the road!

Note that I’m sportin’ my new GAP jacket (and like 2 layers under it). Yeah, I don’t know what’s wrong with my family that they all wear little, teensy clothes when it’s frigid and only in the 60’s!

We once again packed up the Sequoia and hit the road. This time – and this is the only time it’s happened – we didn’t have quite the sense of how to get where we were going. The key is that we wanted to get to the Pacific Coast Highway but our GPS was all set on taking us on major interstates more inland. We finally pulled over and a nice police officer helped us get going to the right way.

At a suggestion from Paula & Bob, we drove up the coast to Piedras Blancas beach where there is a population of elephant seals that hang out in the sunshine. It was a great suggestion. We’ve now swum with harbor seals and mooed with elephant seals!

This is a crazy lone male who kept popping his head up and bellowing for 20 seconds or so.

After the beach we headed a good bit inland toward our campground, Arroyo Seco. I have no official idea what that means, but I think it’s something like “deep in the mountain, far from anything and cold.” It’s very difficult to reserve camping spots in California in the summer and this campground was between LA and SF so I figured it would work out. It could have been better, could have been worse. The drive there was a LOT like driving through west Texas: rolling hills of brown grasses dotted with trees. However, we did hit some farming areas and they looked kinda cool.

The night was freezing. Like totally, massively freezing. I think it hit around 42 degrees. Eeek.

Road Trip 2012, Day 5: Hollywood and around

We started off this beautiful day in LA with a trip right down the road, to the La Brea Tar Pits. Now this is my idea of fun! I love the smell of asphalt in the morning…

Seriously, the Pits were well worth checking out. They have made a beautiful garden around the whole area so you have no idea you’re about to step right into goo as you round the corner by the hydrangea or roll/get shoved down the grassy hill – you never feel it coming! The gardens are really nice and the life-sized elephant family on the shoreline of the stinky, black – and fenced – pit of tar is very explanatory.

 

The Page Museum is also right there. We didn’t go in the actual museum but did hit the store for several minutes and left more than several dollars poorer.

From there we headed up the hills to Burbank to the Warner Brothers Studio VIP tour. I took lots of pictures of houses and sets; I’ll probably never remember the importance of most – except I do remember the house from Gremlins, the steps where Ross played his keyboard waiting for Rachel at prom and the tree from The Last Samurai.

We were shown the full sets for Pretty Little Liars and The Big Bang Theory, which is filmed with a real audience. They also have the original Friends set exactly as it was the last day of filming. It was way cool to see how the filming is actually done. I’m not totally sure the kids got it, but maybe someday I can remind them. Warner Brothers is a good tour that I would definitely recommend for anyone traveling through LA.

An added bonus to the tour is that the studio is in Burbank, near the Griffith Park Observatory. We drove on up there and enjoyed views of the Hollywood sign and the whole valley. They have a cafeteria-style restaurant with yummy foods by Wolfgang Puck and an astronomy museum..

After getting all the good photos of the city and The Sign, we headed down to Hollywood to see some stars.

All the stars we saw were built into the sidewalk along Hollywood Boulevard, unfortunately, but it was pretty cool that they made one for us.

We also stopped in at an Army Surplus store and bought me wool socks and a huge wool blanket. I just know I’m going to die camping in the mountains and the canyons.And we got Grace some Converse sneakers just because they were a good deal.

After checking out the utter craziness in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater (the Tom Cruise lookalike was H.O.T.) we headed to The Grove, LA’s cool outdoor mall that’s supposed to the the hangout of the Hollywood Starlings. We got me a jacket at the GAP because I’m always cold and we walked around but we never did see anyone who was anyone except Shrek.

Back to the Beverly Laurel Motor Inn, which was a fun place to stay and in a really GREAT location to rest up for the next day’s trip. Right down the street we had a brand spanking new laundromat where we washed all the icky, dirty clothes. It had big screen TV’s and free wifi!

Road Trip 2012, Day 4 (part 1) –La Jolla

After a good night’s sleep and a great La Quinta breakfast we packed up the truck again and headed off to La Jolla to go snorkeling. La Jolla is a really cute seaside town with tee shirt vendors (note to self, I cannot wear a child’s medium (I hope it was a child’s)) and people crashed out on picnic blankets all over the place. We lucked out and got a decent parking place (Brad spot) and headed along the cliff-top sidewalk looking for a good place to “put in.” We found a beach called “Children's Beach.” Seriously, what could be better? Those waves crashing against the rocks definitely didn’t look like a lot of fun, but Children’s Beach was in a bit of a cove and had a nice, sandy beach. Oh yeah, and it also had a crap-load of SEALS. Yee ha! (OK, so they weren’t Navy SEALS, which would have been kind of awesome, but harbor seals, which were still really cool)

Being the really smart person that I think I am, I opted not to even poke my toes into the unbelievably frigid-OMG-my-toes-are-going-to-fall-off water but chose to sit snuggly warm in the sand near the water. The kids and the man donned their snorkel apparatus and flopped off to the water’s edge. (do realize, of course, that if this water was not already indicated to be SIXTY-FOUR degrees on the sign at the top of the stairs I might have made the plunge, too. But having experienced water below 75 degrees I have no intentional plans to ever do that again in the future)

The seals (beast, not man), were really interested in the kiddos and the Brad-man, which was totally cool. They got some garbled, seasickness provoking underwater video with seals in it, and they also got to see kelp and some fish. At least Caroline and Brad did; Grace escaped pretty quickly and hiked up to a rock ledge to check out all the critters basking in the warmth of the sun. Girl’s smarter than I thought. The other two nitwits kept swimming along until Caroline was blue and shaking kind of like a margarita in our awesome (thanks Pat!) Margaritaville machine.

The water and the whole area was really beautiful to look at, but we were meeting Aunt Paula and Uncle Bob in Malibu (all I could think of was Malibu Barbie the whole way there) so we headed out up the coast.