MM&C Adventure

This was not a very exciting day. Work and school this morning then we packed up and checked out of the hotel. We swung by the post office and sent off a few post cards and did a small clean out of the car. It was good to vacuum it out, at least partially. We then headed out of Arcata on 299 towards Redding. And we drove and drove and drove. Stopped to go potty and then drove some more. We got to the hotel and set up to do some work. Maria discovered NaNoWriMo and is working on writing a novel. Our hotel room is a little bigger tonight which makes Cooper happy because he can use his VR without fear of hitting the walls... and with the pools closed it's good for him to have some way to get out some energy. We did that whole adult thing and got the tires rotated. Bless Les Schwab and all their tire glory! They got us in, rotated, and out in just over an hour. The kids had their books to keep them entertained while we waited. On ...

This morning we got up early. Another cold night. We packed up... it was hard to get the cartop carrier shut again. We had to shuffle things around 3 times before we were finally able to get it closed. We went to the pier again for breakfast today. It was foggy and a little chillier than yesterday. Church was at 10 am and things here in California are very similar to how it is in Washington. Church is something that I need and enjoy. The speakers talked on love, acceptance, self worth and striving for perfection. The first speaker referenced a talk from October 2017 conference called "Be Ye Therefore Perfect - Eventually" by Jeffrey R Holland . The second speaker's talk referenced "Pressing Toward The Mark" by Edward Dube We then hit up the Redwood Visitor Center in Crescent City for directions to the Howland Hill Road that takes you thru the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park to the Stout Trail. It's about a 6 mile drive on a dirt road that wi...

It was cold last night. Mid 40's cold. Cooper said he was warm and toasty in his sleeping bag. Maria said her sleeping bag didn't work. She also didn't like that she was trapped inside her sleeping bag. She's slept in a 'sleeping bag' before, but they were fun ones.... that had unicorn pillows or made of fancy material. This one was utilitarian... maybe that's what the problem was... maybe she just needed one that had a unicorn pillow attached to it!! We woke up and headed into Crescent City. We picked up some breakfast and headed out to B Street Pier. The tide was out and Cooper climbed down the rocks to play in the sand. He took some pictures of the pilings that had starfish on them. Maria and I walked along the pier while he played below. We met some people walking around with a bucket and they were checking their crab pots from the pier. We stopped by the p...

So, I did not get my tires rotated today.  By the time work/school was done and we got checked out of the hotel and made it to Les Schwab the wait was 2 1/2 hours... And I wasn't going to wait that long.  So we'll have to be adults on a different day. We made it to Crescent City and got set up at our camp ground.  And we had to buy wood...  It was so strange.  Back 'home' we have 20 acres of wood, but I didn't pack any wood... And the bundles that are sold are a rip off!!!  It's cold today and we would need much more than one bundle for cooking and keeping warm.  We made grilled cheese sandwiches in the pie iron... I think we will have to do apple pie tomorrow. We went for a walk and the kids LOVED finding all the climbing trees.  Those kids are hilarious trying to climb trees. Then we hung out in the hammock and tried to take selfies.   Looking up at the trees reminded m...

Going to Crater Lake has always been something on my bucket list. This isn't the best time of year to visit. There is still a bunch of snow and some of the roads are still closed... but it sure was beautiful. A place I'd love to come back to when the snow has all melted. On the drive there were little evergreens growing along the side of the road like weeds. We stopped at a park/recreation area along the side of the road to use the restrooms and ended up staying an playing in the river a bit. Cooper found this weird animal, built a fortress and protected it from all the bad guys, Maria worked on writing her story and I got my watercolors out. We then had to do adult responsible things and get the oil changed in the car. Tomorrow before we head out of town I'll need to get the tires rotated... so exciting! 

On the way to Medford we made a little detour and stopped by the West Coast Game Park in Bandon, Oregon. It was really cool. There were a ton of goats, deer, a few donkeys, and a llama all roaming free. We bought some ice cream cones filled with animal treats for 50 cents each to feed the animals. The deers were little piggies. I think that it helped that they were taller than the goats... they just pushed their way to the front to get the treats. They had a wide variety of animals there... lions and tigers and bears (Oh My!) Maria's favorite was Rocket the racoon. Rocket was a girl, not to be confused with the cybergenically engineered Rocket from Guardians of the Galaxy. I think my favorite was the fox... because I learned that foxes are a little bit klepto (Swiper no swiping!) and that they make LOTS of different sounds (What does the fox say). Cooper's favorites were the baby goats. Maria is terrified of goats... it...