Family Vacation, Part 4 - Beach & Lighthouse

We woke up in that swanky hotel and got loaded up and out of there as quickly as possible. Just not our kind of place, you know?! Since we saved $30 by skipping the breakfast there (can you imagine?!), we were pretty hungry by 10:30 when we came across a cute little convenience store. We went in in search of something to eat for breakfast. They had some packaged donuts (those little white powdery ones and such like), but who wants something out of a package when you could have a fresh, homemade GIANT cookie for breakfast?! After all, we're on vacation. ;-)



Everybody had a hard time finishing their monster cookies and Joe declared that it would tide him over until tomorrow. Ha! (Riiiiiiight.)

We saw some beautiful scenery. This was right next to the convenience store--it was pretty flat here, but still pretty. Everything in this area of California (meaning once you leave the terrible desert stuff) looks so nice and soft--almost like there's a sheet of velvet on all of the hills and mountains and plains.



One of the things the kids had been most looking forward to on this trip was seeing the ocean--a first for all of them. I haven't been there since I was 16, so I was pretty excited, too. We drove for just an hour or two before finding the perfect spot.



And hereafter is a plethora of ocean pictures! Everybody had a BLAST. The weather has been ideal on this entire trip--never hot (even in the Joshua Tree place--just under 70 degrees while we were there), and only slightly chilly a few times. It was chilly enough at the beach to ward off any scantily clothed people, but not too chilly to get out and have some fun--PERFECT! The water, however, was a different story. It was pretty frigid, but what were we to do?! We may never made it to the ocean again, you know--gotta live it up! I told the kids that if we all catch our death of pnemonia at least we will have had a lot of fun doing it. ;-)



We had to cross this little stream-sort-of-thing to be able to get to the actual shoreline.



Katie showing off one of the shells she found.





Sam thought all of the different kinds of sand and shells were so cool. I'm not sure he ever even noticed the water--the beach was all about shell searching for him.





The kids were a little hesitant to actually get too close to the water, so (as you can see in the background here) they had to be drug out by their mother. :-)



Joe ALMOST got the guts to go out, but then saw that he was being chased--ha!



So he had to be drug out, as well...



Unfortunately when a little wave hit him he toppled over and ended up on his rump out there. Ha!



It really was great fun, he just didn't know it at the time. ;-)



Katie took this one for us.



I'm not sure why, but Joe dug a hole to sit in. ???



James trying to tough it out--he didn't spend too much time in the cold water, though he seemed to be quite impressed with the Pacific. (It was his first time there, too.)



Ha! The sand kept giving way every time he'd try to climb up this little bank. Here he is asking for help...



Not receiving any (I was there to document things, you know), he thought he'd try with a running start...



He finally did make it up, but it wasn't entirely graceful. ;-)



Sam FILLED all of his pockets with sea shells and sea shell fragments--thought they were just the coolest thing in the world. This was taken when he had just begun to collect them.



Joe crossing the "stream" in true Joe fashion. You'd think it really was that deep, right?



And Katie and Sam making a run for it.



This was taken shortly before we left--after about an hour and a half of playing. You can see by his cheeks and nose that he was getting pretty cold!



Walking Sam through the stream, trying to wash off some of the sand.



I am soooooooooo glad my kids had a chance to do this! They had such a blast and I know they'll always remember it. But I'm also glad we don't live anywhere near the ocean! Ha! When I first saw the ocean when I was a teenager I remember telling my Dad that if we ever had to leave the mountains, I wanted to live by the ocean--I was so impressed by it. I remember standing on the beach and listening to the sound of the waves rolling and crashing and swooshing and being able to see that beautiful blue water that seemed to stretch on forever; and I remember coming to a new realization of how BIG and POWERFUL God is. I'm still affected that way and I LOVE going to see it and play in it with my kids. But it is a PAIN to get cleaned up afterwards! Ha! There was a nasty outhouse at the top of the hill, but I couldn't make myself send the kids in there to dry off and change clothes (I knew they'd throw everything on the floor--GROSS), so we brought the towels and clothes down to the beach. There was nobody around, so one at a time we had them come over and James and I held towels around them as a screen while they changed. Of course, I had to help them quite a bit because that salt water makes you sticky! It's hard to get the wet clothes off and the dry clothes on--besides the fact that there's no getting all the sand off. It's a mess! Seemed like we spent about 45 minutes just getting the kids dried off and changed. Who wants to do that all the time?! No, I'll just visit the ocean ever 10 or 15 years, thank you. :-)

We loaded up and drove and drove and drove on beautiful Highway 1 going north, north, north. If you haven't noticed, California is a big 'ole state. That Highway is not to be taken unless you've got lots of time on your hands and unless you do NOT get car sick easily. But it is gorgeous--we loved it and are so glad that we chose that route.

While we were driving we noticed a lighthouse on a hillside (go ahead, burst into song...) that overlooked... Ha! Okay, so it overlooked the ocean, of course. On three sides really since it sat on a peninsula that jutted way out into the water. It was the Port Arena Lighthouse, I think. It's the tallest one on the west coast, they said. I just intended to take a picture of James and the kids in front of it but when we got there we discovered they actually give tours! Cool.

This was taken in the little museum part. This is the light (lens? What's it called?!) that was used in the lighthouse years ago. The way it was constructed and all of the different pieces are so intricate--very neat stuff. And I learned that every lighthouse has a different signal. I knew that they were all painted differently for identification, but the lady said that every single lighthouse out there flashes differently. This lighthouse's signal on an 18 second rotation (that's how quickly that lens would make a full circle), two flashes every six seconds, then a lapse. Neat-o!

This was taken from inside the museum/gift shop.



This is what it looked like from inside the bottom. I don't know how it never occurred to me (even seeing this) that I'm no longer okay with heights. They never used to bother me much, but I don't cope too well anymore. Going up really wasn't that bad. You're more concerned about just MAKING it than how high you're getting!



We've learned of late that Sam, too, has a serious aversion to heights! He had a terrible time making himself go up the stairs and didn't care for it AT ALL.



And here we are at the top! The tour guide was most informative and we really enjoyed it. Except that it was so high up. ;-) The views were terrific though.



There were two other guys on the tour with us and they offered to take our picture, thus our first (and only?!) WHOLE FAMILY picture on this vacation! Yeah!!! (If Katie and I look a little ragged, just remember that we'd been playing on a very windy beach all morning!)



This was taken from OUTSIDE the glass room at the very top. Yes, we went OUTSIDE up there!!! I didn't realize what we were doing until it was too late. I was just following the people in front of me. (Yeah. I know, Mom... "Is that wing supposed to fall off?") I was only out there long enough to snap this one picture, then run around the curl while plastered to the wall looking for the door to let me back in. I was there long enough to learn something though: there is no NON-windy side to a lighthouse! Good grief, it felt like you were going to be blown away and never seen or heard from again. CRAZY.



And a view from a much more comfortable place: on solid ground. That's my itty-bitty family there by the base of the lighthouse.



And while driving away.



Ah, yes! With the handy-dandy zoom on my camera we were able to take pictures of seals napping on the rocks down below the lighthouse. Cool!



And a couple more beach shots as we continued north...





As Highway 1 neared Highway 101 we began seeing big trees, very big trees. Now let me qualify that statement. To begin with, ALL of the trees in California are big! I have been AMAZED at the size of the pine trees as we drive through the mountains--they seem to be twice as tall as the biggest ones in Colorado. They just have very, very big trees here. But as we drive we started seeing some that were towering up above all the others--wa-a-a-a-a-ay up there. I told James I thought they were Redwoods and he assured me they were not. We then passed a sign that said "Redwood Grove," but he had real issues with the thought of seeing the Redwoods before we made it to Redwood National Forest. "Why go then, if we're seeing them right here?!" So when I would be overwhelmed with how tall a tree was it would usually come out something like this: "WOWZERS!!! Did you SEE that tree???? It was GINORMOUS!!! ... Oh... wait... Um... I'm sure it wasn't a Redwood, though--and I'm not impressed with it AT ALL." James got over his issues with not wanting to see Redwoods yet when we saw the sign with an arrow pointing to the right that said, "Drive Through Tree -- 1/4 Mile." That was one of the things he REALLY, REALLY wanted to see on this trip and (we really should do more research before we leave home!) we had no idea it was going to be RIGHT THERE. We got there just 10 minutes before they were going to shut the gate and close up. We paid our $5, drove through the gate, stopped to let Joe lose his lunch... Yeah, I know--not the ideal way to make a touristic stop. The dope (he's the only of our children who ever has issues with getting car sick) had been reading a comic book through all of those super windy roads--it was just a matter of time. Anyway, I shoved him back in the van and we were off!

Here's the (somewhat crooked) view as you approach the tree...



And James and the kids driving though it! IS THAT COOL, OR WHAT?!



It's AMAZING to think that that hole was carved through the heart of that tree sometime back in the 30's. It's amazing to think that it's still standing after all these years, but soooooo amazing to think that it's still ALIVE and THRIVING after all these years! Whoa! Most amazing of all is that there was a time in our country when you could actually cut a whole in a tree without everybody freaking out and throwing you in prison or something! Ha!



The kids thought this was pretty neat, too.



There were lots of other neat things we passed on the road. Check this out...



It started to get dark on us so we decided it was time to stop for the night. We don't want to miss any scenery, you know?! We stayed at the Sherwood Forest Inn or something like that in Garberville last night. It was old, but clean--and the room was very large. A very good thing since we had a bunch of wet ocean clothes to haul in and hang and drape all over the place in hopes they would dry. They didn't, of course, but they were a little more dry than before.

Before I went to bed (way too late due to blogging) I had developed a pretty good sore throat. Must be because of playing in that icy water a little too long, I guess. "Death of pnemonia" and all that, right?! Ha! Oh well. I'm just glad it was me and not one of the kids. They seem to be doing great. And that was Wednesday's adventure!