Big Trees Grove

Next up, is the Big Trees Grove that we visited in May. 

Up past Foresthill, is a small grove of the Giant Sequoia redwood tree.  We've never been there, and although a small grove, we decided to take the trip through extremely windy roads. The drive itself was the adventure.  This place is way off the beaten path.  The road is a paved road, but at times very narrow, and on the sides of mountains.  We went on a Saturday and we were the only ones there.

The grove of Giant Sequoia is the northern most grove in the United States. We took a picnic and made a day of it.  We had a great time hiking and relaxing in the forest...sprinkled with a few Giant Sequoia trees.

Wow- Time to Catch Up!

Jacob and Hannah were bored today and Shelley wanted to plan our activities for the next few months.  Jacob and Hannah said they didn’t know what they wanted to do.  Shelley suggested they look at the blog to find things we’ve done in the past and ones they want to repeat.  Hannah looked at the blog today and was very disappointed.  She came and told me that the blog was dumb now because there wasn’t anything on it that was recent.

I then came and looked, and it was April of last year that anything was added to it.  Now, to be fair, I was sick most of 2014 going through chemo and surgeries, so I think I have a decent excuse.  I did keep my cancer blog up to date during 2014, so that should count for something!  Anyhow, Hannah asked me with sad eyes if I would please update the blog.  So, I have a lot of catching up to do.  I will just post the highlights.  Even though I wasn’t feeling good most of the year, we did manage to do a few things.
First up, was Point Reyes in May of 2014.  This was a special trip to Point Reyes, because it’s where Corey proposed to Meghan.  It also was the first time we met Corey in person (we skyped a lot before this). 

Corey told Meghan he liked lighthouses and they were coming for a short visit so we could meet him. (They already knew they were going to get married, but he never proposed to her yet).  So we said we’d go to Point Reyes.  Corey had never geo-cached either, so I told Meghan we would find a geocache for Corey to find while we were there.  Corey really had never geocached, but we told him about it, and he brought a few things with him…that Meghan didn’t know about.  He brought some sparkling cider, some glasses, and a big sparkly diamond ring.  We put it in a box and while Corey and Meghan were down at the lighthouse, Marissa and Jacob and I hid the fake geocache for Corey and Meghan to find. 

I wasn’t feeling good, and definitely not good enough to walk down and up 300+ stairs, so I told Meghan I was just going to wait up top.  That was the signal for Marissa and Jacob and I to go hide the fake geocache. 

We found a good spot on an overlook.  The day was overcast and super windy and fog was rolling in all around the hills.  We placed the geocache, and by the time we were done, Meghan and Corey were just coming back from the lighthouse.  Marissa and Jacob hid in the bushes near the geocache.  I told Meghan where the geocache was that I found.  I gave her fake instructions that I told her I printed offline. 
Corey and Meghan found the cache and she opened it and didn’t believe what she had found.  She couldn’t understand what was happening.  Jacob and Marissa were practically standing up videoing them, and Meghan didn’t even notice, as she had other things on her mind.  Anyhow, she said YES and was SUPER surprised and we had a super happy great day! 

And we loved meeting Corey and they are a perfect match!



The kids ran in the cold sand for awhile….

Off in the distance, Corey and Meghan were taking a little walk.....

Time to go the lighthouse..

Time to go find the geocache:

Had to stop off and get a little treat on the way home:

Spring Break

 

Ok, for most of Spring Break, mom and dad worked, and the kids just had days off for school. But we did want to do SOMETHING, so we turned to our favorite day trip area – the bay area. There is always something to do there.

 

We started out with a walking tour of Fisherman’s Wharf, more of a behind the scenes type thing and it was pretty good and we learned some stuff about the area that we never knew.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While we were walking around the area, you always see people trying to make money by singing, dancing, being a mime, etc.  But this was a new one.  Some guy sat next to a garbage can, and had branches that he put in front of him to “hide” behind.  When people would walk by, he would yell out with a growl and move the branches and scare the people.  It worked, because he had a jar full of money!  And we saw people who were scared, and then laughing, pull out their wallets! 

 

 

We went to the world’s only Pez Museum in South San Fran, and saw the world’s biggest working Pez dispenser.  The museum was a little underwhelming, but it was something we’d never done before!  He claims to have every Pez dispenser ever made, but we aren’t so sure. He didn’t have a BYU Football one that Jacob has.

 

 

 

Here is the view from our hotel, which of course, we got on a screaming deal – $50 a night for Hilton…can’t beat that!  And since there were only 4 of us, nobody had to sleep on the floor or the hard sofa bed!  Yahoo!  Although we did miss Meghan and Marissa GREATLY!  Our family adventures are not the same without them!

 

 

The next day we went to the coast along Highway 1, and first stop was a Marine Preservation Center where there are huge areas to tide pool. The tide was coming in when we got there, but we had a blast tide pooling. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we drove up Highway 1 to Devil’s Slide where the road often would have land slides that closed the road.  Finally, they built a tunnel through the mountain and the road portion was turned into a hiking and biking trail.  It had amazing views and the weather was awesome!

 

 

 

 

 

 

After that we stopped at a homestead thingy, (that was a tad dorky), and then on the way out of San Fran, we stopped off at Treasure Island, the island in the middle of the bay bridge and drove around.  Amazing views from there too, but it was SUPER windy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And for dinner on the way home, the car automagically drove us to guess where?

 

 

We had a great little break and had a lot of fun!

Just wish Meghan and Marissa were there with us!!!