Total time in car: 8 hours 27 minutes
Total miles driven: 439
While we didn’t quite make the planned o’dark thirty departure, we still managed to leave at a pretty early hour, allowing us a quick stop in Grants Pass for lunch at – wait, you’ll never guess – a brew pub! Grants Pass has grown up a bit since I moved away – gulp – 20 years ago.
The boys handled the first leg of the trip pretty well. I think the books loaded to their respective mp3 players made a big difference. We did have to declare an IPod free zone for a bit to re-engage Ben after 3 hours of the "BFG". Ry fell asleep with a little Jack Johnson keeping him company.
After leaving I-5 behind, we followed the Redwood Highway to California. Along the way, we stopped to check out GINORMOUS trees. I’m pretty sure this word had to be added to the dictionary just to describe Redwoods. Using Ben and Ry for scale really shows off their impressive size. Here’s more pictures than you probably wanted to see, but I was a little stricken by the impressive scenery, to coolness of the new camera and the extra special lenses on loan from Mom.
This giant bug (has to be big to fit with the trees, I guess) jumped down onto Ben. Ben and Ry are not included for scale here, but it was at least five inches from antenna to toe. Any ideas? It JUMPED! Really not cool.
It was awfully pretty as well.
No visit to the Redwoods would be complete without a stop to the Trees of Mystery. While we didn’t fork over the bucks for the tram or hiking tour, we did stop in at the museum (which has some nice stuff) and the required visit with Paul Bunyon and Babe the Ox. The Paul Bunyon's on the west coast are so much better than the ones on the east coast, don't you think?
The highlight of this stop for Ben was seeing a “real, casted Big Foot footprint”. Ben also made his first purchase, a Big Foot magnet. We’ll see how well he does with money management and whether or not there’s anything left by the time we make it to Lego Land.
On our way to the paradise that is Eureka, we spotted some Roosevelt Elk conveniently located next to the road. Yellowstone this isn't, but the boys still enjoyed our wildlife encounter.
Until tomorrow ...
Oh, one more thing. When I preview the pics on my free VERY SLOW wi fi, it's not looking so great. Let me know if you have the same issue and I'll try to fix it.
5 comments:
Wow, big trees and big boys! Great pictures Sarah. Looks like you are having a fun trip. I didn't know you lived in Grants Pass, probably at the same time Jeff did (he lived there from mid-grade school through high school).
I have total camera (and vacation) envy. Enjoy both!
Photos are Gorgeous!!!
one more question - is the bull still anatomically correct? ;)
Great photos... where were you when you took the Redwoods pictures... Jedidiah Smith St. Park?
Post a Comment