What Fun We Had! part 2

Yesterday we covered all of July so in todays blog we will cover the wonderful adventures of August.

In august we had a visitor, My cousin came and stayed for several weeks and joined us on our camping adventures. I love camping! It is the best place to discover life in its simplistic form. It is easy to imagine what life was like out in the west when people came out with very little and had to make things work. It also lends itself to scientific discoveries very nicely.

So in the beginning of August we went to a little camp sight off of highway 101 in the north part of the state. We camped at a state park called Standish-Hickey. This land is beautiful. near the giant redwoods of California as well as near several wonderful natural attractions.

Here is our tent after we got to camp and set it up!

This tent is a giant 3 room tent and slept 8 people very comfortably! we could have fit 2 more easily. We had a boys room and a girls room and then us moms shared a room. My cousin had his own little tent, which he would probably die of mortification if I showed you the only shot I have of that one. :)

On our first evening there we walked around the camp site after we set up camp to get our bearings and enjoy the nature around us. We found lots of poison oak growing so stuck strictly to the trails. We did spot wild berries growing but they were not ripe yet. we had fun taking snap shots posing in the trees as well as of the trees.

Snap shot of the trees at dusk

When we were preparing to go camping we sat and discussed exactly what meals we wanted while we were there. It was a great idea as we were able to prep most of our food in advance and then just have it packed according to days in the ice chests and tupper container. On the first morning we had from scratch blueberry pancakes over the open fire, made on my cast iron griddle. Everyone swore they were the best pancakes they ever ate!

There just seems to be something so wonderful about fresh pancakes hot off a griddle that can make your mouth water! Later that day we went and discovered the drive through tree It is called the Chandelier tree because the top of it has many full size trees all growing off the one stump.

looking from the ground up very top of the chandelier tree

We took pictures standing inside the drive through tree.

Then we adventured into the gift shop to see what interesting discoveries we could find there. I saw this "logging truck" toy and thought it was cute.

We headed back to camp where we spotted interesting tree growth like this

as well as some beautiful shots like this

We headed back to camp had lunch and then decided for an afternoon hike. where we learned that the law of gravity is completely true. If you go down you have to go back up! We were completely deceived by this sign : .3 miles should not be far, however what the sign does not tell us is that nearly the whole trail is down a steep hill that we had to hike down, with 6 children! This picture is taken as we are coming back up the hill shortly after going down it. we also discovered what several insects while on our adventure hike into the woods, as well as markings left by the bugs. this wood has trails left by termites. And this is a dragon fly that matches the wood so well its almost hard to see him sitting there. Nature at its very best!

The next day of our camping adventure took us to discover a strange spot where gravity seems to be defied.

The kids are at the base of the totem pole that is carved out of one tree.

We spent several hours exploring the confusing area, as well as the beautiful tribute to 9/11

Once we left Confusion Hill we headed back towards camp with a quick lay over in the woods where they filmed part of Star Wars, home of the Ewoks.

and we discovered just how small on this planet we really are.

What Fun We Had!

In store for todays blog is a peak back over our summer. Starting in July and working straight through till August.

July started with a bang! My Brother in law and niece came for a visit for the first time in 8 years from Nebraska. Together we caravaned up the state to Eureka Ca to visit my husbands parents and have a family reunion. The first time my husbands siblings have all been home all at the same time in nearly 20 years!

The drive is always beautiful as we wined our way through the mountains going to the coast. Along the way we discovered bigfoot! He resides in a little town on Highway 299 in Northern California. He is very friendly as you can see.

Once we arrived in Eureka the gathering commenced. We took family portraits at a professional studio where lord help that lady there was 13 of us, 3 of which were grown men who behaved as if they were 3! We watched the fireworks from the front yard and promptly returned inside for hot cocoa with whipped cream on top.

We went and discovered the Loleta Cheese Factory where you can watch them making the cheese right there in the shop, as well as taste all the delicious fresh cheeses.

We wandered out into the garden at the cheese factory where we enjoyed the beautiful landscaping

I just loved these bottles nestled in between the plants

The gardens were such a delight, my beautiful daughter had to stop and smell the flowers.

The garden was filled with beautiful bright flowers.

We also explored the Gem & Mineral shop where the kids got grab bags of beautiful stones, and we enjoyed the museum.

These are stones made to look like food.

The vase is carved out of solid stone!

Beautiful gems inside the stone.

My youngsters looking over all the solid rocks that might contain their own gems.

We spent more time with family and then traveled home again, concluding our July trips. More adventures awaited us in August where we had a birthday to celebrate and a nature trip of grand proportions to enjoy. I will blog about those adventures tomorrow. For today I hope you enjoyed going back in time with me to relive the adventures of July.