Head Waters of the Sacramento

We had spent 3 days driving north of San Diego…and we weren’t out of California yet!  But we love the Mount Shasta area and have fond memories of McCloud, so we grabbed a hotel there and headed over to the Shasta City Park, remarkable for being the head waters of the Sacramento River.  It’s a beautiful spot, though perhaps all the pot smoke made our memories hazy.  What kind of people really, really like river sources?  Hippy, pot-smoking, skinny-dipping hot women and unbathed men.

I have to say all that before I show you the edited version through family pictures.  It’s an amazing park, but the following is not an accurate portrayal of an average experience.

 

The smoky skies made the sunset a bit eerie.

Is Santa Barbara a Soap Opera?? Because We Should All Live There

It was the end of our first day’s journey home, and we had driven our 5 hours (plus 2 for LA traffic) and we wanted food. And the beach.  And food.  Luckily, we found a beach café where our feet were actually in the sand as we ate burgers and the best prepared salmon I’ve had in months.  Did I mention the sunset?  It was Perfect.

Guess who’s going to be wet by the end of the evening? (Um, Kyla, if you haven’t been paying attention.)

#2 & #3 amused themselves by racing the waves up and down, up and down.  I slept well that night just watching them!

Must come back someday!  Come with me??

Tar Pits are Neither Tar nor Pits…But Still Very Cool!

Our plan for the drive home was to get in about 5 hours of driving a day around Family Adventures.

First stop, La Brea Asphalt Flypaper (yeah, Tar Pit does sound better, though less accurate). 

This is a real life pit, with lots and lots of predator bones…greedy sabor-tooths!

The Giant Ground Sloth would be a wonderful addition to current zoology.

It’s safer to be up in a tree around the tar pits!

Isn’t this a cool exhibit?!

Wesley got to be photographer for a few minutes!

We Say Goodbye

Everyone but us left this morning, as the eclipse was (what’s the verb?) eclipsing.  We took the day to clean up and prepare for the long journey home. 

There may have been a nap involved.

But you can tell that we were not up to standard this trip—a 1000 piece is put away unfinished and no marathon games of Kings and Serfs. 

So long and thanks for all the memories!

We Do the Zoo!

San Diego Zoo is almost too big and exhausting.  But, Piper found her wombat! SDZ has two wombats, but the statue was the most cooperative.

In retrospect, we should have had our big family day at the beach or park, because 17 people can’t really roam the zoo well together.  But we did get a little time with everyone and saw many amazing things.

Well, if They won’t let me have a koala of my own, these kids will do.

This is how Wesley measures up to a Mammoth.

Somewhere on this vacation, we invented “ice cream o’clock”. Really, it helps everyone survive all the fun we’re having.

And after all we saw that day, Piper and Wesley were most excited about the lizard they caught back at the house that evening!

Balboa Park is HUGE

Which is a stupidly obvious observation to those who know it, and completely non-descriptive to those who don’t.

Dwayne loved the architecture, of course, and took lots of pictures of things he will build me when he has time time and coin. 

I liked the gardens, and the Japanese Gardens will be first on my list next time as we ran out of time/energy this time. And note: Secret is my favorite perfumed rose, I discovered. Lovely!

Day at La Jolla Beach!

This San Diego beach is actually worth the 20 minutes or so it takes to find a parking spot.

We met up with most of the family to walk, play, ride the waves, and relax in the shade.

Dwayne, Debi, and I walked down until we came to this dream sand castle. 

Esther dug a Hole.  Piper explored it in every way she could.

Then the grown ups left (I guess except for me, but I’m more like the shadow photographer/chauffer/food provider) and then the sand really got a work out!