Forest Fires & Redwoods

After leaving the Mendocino Lake we headed north where we encountered a forest fire which had burned for miles and destroyed acres of forest. We had been warned that it was smoky along the highway which we would be travelling.. once we arrived on the scene, we were surprised that the California State Police had not shut the highway down because of how poor the visibility was.

 

 

At the situation camp. We were surprised the number of fire fighters..

 

These guys looked so exhausted!

Keeping little ones happy in the car proved to be a bit difficult at times!

Smile Big!

We had a fun time driving through this Drive Thru Tree in the Redwoods

They told us that a Suburban is the largest vehicle to fit through. Grady had me watch to make sure they weren't gonna hit the side! :-)

These adorable playhouses were constructed from hollowed out logs

These cuties had climbed up the wooden staircase and were peeking out to say hello

Adorable carved books and bookshelves

Ashley comes down the stairs

Dad and Mom have to squeeze up the staircase for a photo op too!

Weary travelers with their babies

 

 

 

Gracie wanted us to all pretend to be scary bears!

Bitty baby says hello!

You would have to be part of the McDonald clan to get this one,, but I HAD to include it! :-)

Back at the campground

My baby-girl

 

 

Scrambling up for a family pic

 

Missing 2 cuties but it will have to suffice!

Our 'Big Foot'!

 

Goodbye Redwoods, Paul and Blue!

 

Lookin' more and more like home! It would only be a few more days until we reached the Pacific Northwest.

 

 

Picnic W/ Family and Mendocino Lake

After the San Francisco experience, we headed toward a Walmart parking lot in Santa Rosa to spend the night. Unfortunately, it was one of the Walmarts that have started disallowing overnight parking. Thankfully though, there was an enormous casino right next door where we were able to park for free in their 'back 40'. The next morning we contacted my mother's husband's family who lives in Santa Rosa and were able to connect for lunch at a park.

 

 

After the picnic with Maia's family we headed to Mendocino Lake. Because of the draught in this part of California, the lake was down to barely bigger than a large pond. We had planned to let the boys fish for a while (we had purchased a 2 day fishing license for Ryan and this was the last day to enjoy it!) The girls made dinner and we had planned to head into Ukiah to sleep at the Walmart.

Grady took the little girls down to see the boys fishing as well as the hundreds of Canadian Geese which were hanging out at the lake. They sure love their Daddy! :-)

Mandy makes a scrumptious fruit salad with the yummy fruit that we had purchased the day before in Salinas. Cherries, strawberries, cantaloupe, oranges, grapes, bananas.. it was delicious!

Ashley, whips up some guacamole to serve with tacos!

It is such a blessing to travel with a trailer. Potty breaks and meals become a breeze- with 8 people in the family, these stops can be very frequent! Hee hee

Yummy!

 

 

While we were eating dinner, a local couple told us about a very inexpensive camp ground on the other side of the lake. I hadn't seen it on the map or camping websites. It sounded much better than the Walmart parking lot (come to find out later that they didn't allow overnight campers either!)  And since it was the army corps of engineers' campground, we got it for 50% off! In addition, it ended up that the park ranger gave us  the first night free because the phone number to pay for the site was down. We  ended up staying 2 nights at Mendocino Lake which turned out to be a nice break from the travelling. The place was pretty empty and we had a great site- right on the lake.

 

 

 Grant and Ryan discovered a small creek which feeds into the lake. At the mouth of the creek Grant caught this huge catfish!

 

Best friends

The girls enjoyed riding their beach cruisers on the dry lake bed. It was a relaxing time for all.

 

Downtown San Francisco

Ok now, we had promised the kids we would be able to cross over the Golden Gate Bridge.. and we *tried* to set out in time to get there before dark.. and we *thought* it would be easy to find, you know being the Golden Gate Bridge and all! Well, what we didn't realize is that Highway 101 to the Golden Gate Bridge happens to take you right through DOWNTOWN San Francisco! Now normally that wouldn't be an issue.. had we not been pulling a 27' trailer! It all worked out ok.. the buses and Grady were courteous to one another and would take turns in their lane positions. (the trailer and bus couldn't fit side by side in the 2 lanes of traffic heading toward the bridge!)

 

 

(who woulda thought Highway 101 takes you through SF? ;-))

It did get a bit dicey though when the traffic signs told us to curve to the left with the rest of the traffic and the GPS said to keep straight at the curve. We ended up in a tight, hilly area.. but after some positioning and making a 4 block 'around the block' we got back on the right track. We decided after that to go with what we see, not necessarily with what the GPS is telling us! LOL!

 

It was dark when we crossed and there was road construction everywhere so it was a bit anti-climatic. But for Grady, he was just happy to get out of busy down town San Francisco!

California Coast!

Heading from the Grand Canyon to the California Coast was a fun drive. The first few hundred miles were just dry and barren desert. We stayed in a Walmart parking lot near the San Bernadino Valley and headed out toward the coast the following day.

I see palm trees!

We headed to 101..

and enjoyed the lovely scenery

We decided to take Highway 1 for a more 'scenic route'.. it ended up being quite windy and steep but after the 65 miles of white knuckles on dad's part, we all agreed that the view and drive were worth it!

Even Brighty, first time out of the Grand Canyon, enjoyed the view

We had many chances to stop and whale watch.. that was probably the children's favorite part of this leg of the journey.

 

We finally reached the Monterey area.. passed Salinas and found a nice RV Park. It had been a few days so it was nice to fill the water tank, empty the septic and recharge our batteries! literally :-) The place had a nice duck pond, playground and even free laundry and shower services. Pretty good for $30 per night!

We found this great produce stand and stocked up on inexpensive locally grown grapes, watermelon, strawberries, and much much, much more! All for under $30! Much of the things we found were considered past date and therefore only .50 per lb! Mmm!

What a great find! Now if I only I hadn't sold my Vita-Mix at the garage sale in BZ>>>>>> :-)