Seeing the coast and the Magical Redwood Forests

D had been wanting to go to the Redwoods for years, but I thought it was just another National Park he was dragging me to.  That's where I came up with the bargain of going to San Francisco and then we could go to the Redwoods.  Thing is....I liked his part of the trip even more so than mine.  This day was awesome and perfect and I could actually live there it was so beautiful and my children were so happy.

The kids loved the ocean and the beaches along the coast, while D was a good sport considering he is a "mountain" kind of guy.  He would get out of his car and watch as the kids got in the water, played in the sand, looked for beach treasures and discovered birds, sea lions and sea creatures.  Their favorite beach was just south of Crescent City.

We saw herds of elk throughout the day and even saw this calf just a few feet from our car.

We saw thousands of wild raspberries everywhere.  Would have been so fun to gather them later in the summer when they were all ripe.

We found Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox near the Redwoods.  They weren't very big though.

Oh, yes they were!  haha

We found a "drive through" tree in Klamath, and the kids thought is was great.

I loved driving through this tunnel of trees.

And then there were the trees at the Redwood Forests.  Pure awesomeness!

As we were driving along we saw a river off to the right of us.  We pulled over with the boys hesitant of another stop.  We hiked down the hill where the kids enjoyed skipping rocks, getting their feet wet, taking off their shirts, girls taking off their pants, to swimming to cliff jumping to having one of the best times of our entire trip.  It was the Smith River near Myrtle Creek Bridge.  The river was gorgeous and a crystal clear green.  G wants to go back next year for our vacation and camp there all week.  I wouldn't mind that actually it was that beautiful and the kids were so happy there.

Always on the look out for birds.  Saw some vultures.

And then we hit Oregon.  :)

Such a fun day with so many things we hadn't planned on seeing.  That is what I love about a road trip.  You yank your car here and there, brake suddenly, back up, turn around and see and experience the most amazing things.  LOVE Northern California!