Redwoods Vacation

We have read things about the Redwoods and we needed a vacation so that's where we decided to go even though it is a 14-20 hour drive from here (Utah).  None of us had been there before. You can read the long version on my other blog: www.todoron.blogspot.com .  We had a great time.  Some of the kids were disappointed that they could see the tops of the trees, but it gave them perspective.  The views were breathtaking and the ocean was wild.  There was a big swell coming in when we were there so we didn't get to go tide pooling, but we went on a couple hikes and saw some HUGE treees-- they were so big and so tall, they figure some of them are 1500- 2000 years old!!  The hikes we went on were so cool and fantasy like.  It was so worth the long drive.

We also realized that our kids had never been to San Francisco since we lived there when we had our first little baby, so we decided to come home through San Fran at night so the kids could see all the activity and bustle of a big city.  We've driven through Chicago before, but San Francisco is really cool especially at night.  We drove across the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges and drove along the Embarcadero.  We looked at the sky scrapers and determined that they were bigger than the Redwoods, but not nearly as nice.  Then we drove out to our old stomping grounds east of the city in San Ramon.  It was fun to reminisce- those were nice carefree days for me with just one kid working in a city organic vegetable garden, giving tours, teaching classes and pulling weeds 5 hours a week and hanging out with other young moms and shopping all day.  It was awesome!!!

Everybody did great.  I think they learned a lot about oceans, tides, swells, forests, rivers, trees, climates, weather, camping, traveling, safety, cities, jobs, bridges, traffic, government, police officers, laws, crazy people, vineyards, Paul Bunyan, the list goes on.  They all traveled well, didn't complain much, took care of themselves as best they could and we had a very pleasant trip although we had to stop for the bathroom a lot!  We're all ready to explore another place, but I think we stay closer to home and do the Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Dinosaur National Park, Colorado, Montana or Idaho next time! It's nice to have the kids getting older and know that they will remember these trips!