Trees of Mystery!!

Trees of Mystery

Yes, that’s really what this tourist attraction is called.

One of the things I was most excited to see in Northern California was the giant Redwood trees. Having done almost zero research though we actually had no idea where they would be, or when exactly we would find them. The names of the national parks gave us a good hint though.

We decided to stop at the “Trees of Mystery” attraction, so that we wouldn’t miss them, just in case. We were greeted by a gigantic Paul Bunion and his Ox. If you look closely, you will see Reece and I standing next to Paul. The next photo shows Dean, just hanging out.

 

The walking tour started out cheesey, and really didn’t get much better. They had informative signs, which were helpful, and buttons you could press for an audio explaination, and some truly terrible piped in music. A little bit lame, but the trees were   BIG. HUGE. We took a quick ride on the tram to the  of the mountain. There was a small part of me that was scared to take my little baby up something that could fall.

On the walk back down we encounterd a lot of chain saw carvings that were pretty impressive.  Reece took the opportunity to hang out with a few of them.

Although this is one of Dean’s favourite photos I just cringe. I do not normally dress my baby in sweat pants! I’d just like to make that clear.

Avenue of Giants

As we drove down the highway we would see signs for the “Avenue of Giants”. We decided to pull off and see what that was all about. It is a truly beautiful road, surrounded by the biggest trees you have ever seen. After a few minutes of driving we pulled off to go for a little walk.

I set up the camera to try to get a few family photos. We also enjoyed letting Reece meet the trees and make friends.

First Time at the Beach!

To say that Reece enjoyed the beach would be an understatement. We stopped at a place by the side of the road for lunch, and found an awesome beach. It was somewhere on the Oregon Coast, on a beautiful sunny day. 

Deciding that fun was more important than laundry, we just put Reece down and let him go. These pictures really don't need any other description. But you can have one anyway.

Head down, crawling on a mission.

 Clearly Reece has gotten an idea into his head, as you will see below.

 And the verdict is....

 Sand is not for eating!

 This is possibly one of my favourite pictures of Reece. 

Yes, there are pants under all of that sand. 

We took them off him at the beach, and rinsed them off in a tide pool. 

I think his first time at the beach was a huge success. We're really looking forward to actually getting to warmer weather where he can play on the beach and swim in the ocean. 

(I'm also looking forward to not having to pack up my home and drive every day )

The Oregon Coast and Other Ramblings

It seems that there is something very tiring about sitting in a truck for hours at a time. I am exhausted every day. Even Reece is going to bed super early. This means that I'm behind in my blog updating. So while I'm writing about Oregon, I'm actually in Ventura, California today.


Driving the coast was really beautiful. The weather wasn't great, but we got some beautiful views. When Reece was tired of driving we decided to pull over for a little while, and found a great little beach area, with some awesome views. I think it was called Devil's Churn. There was a pathway down, so we went for a little walk.

       In front of our truck.

Checking out the view!

Reece wanted to make his own way to the beach.

First time Reece touched the Pacific!

Obligatory family pic!

Although it's kind of nice to have Reece tired and going to bed so easily, there is a bit of a downside as well. He likes to wake up early. And with the time change that happened he wakes up even earlier. Occasionally, like today, I am so tired I can barely think. But seeing the sun rise is nice?

Someone asked me to explain our daily life so far. After we wake up we basically hang around the trailer until we decide it's time to go. We try to time it so that by the time we're in the truck Reece is really tired. He's starting to hate going in the car seat, so we have to bribe him with goldfish crackers to get in the seat long enough to buckle him up. But once he's in there all is good. Usually he sleeps for a few hours. When he wakes up we try to stop if possible. He gets very cranky around two o'clock, and is ready for a nap again.

In theory we'd planned to drive from about 10-2, but often we aren't getting into a campsite until dusk. Reece has been a trooper so far though. In the evenings we set up, and try to go for a walk. But sadly we also usually watch a bit of TV (most parks have cable) and then go to bed really early. Life is getting a bit repetitive and uninteresting. So I will leave you with a picture of Reece hanging out in the trailer. And a bonus one of him being adorable. 

Siteseeing in Portland

I felt the urge to title this "Beards and Beers" but that wouldn't have been very nice. Or original. But really, Portland is quite beardy.

It's also a great city. I was super excited to visit, and can't wait to go back. We found downtown very walkable,and there was a lot to see. It was ugly and rainy, but that's nothing new for us. 

Our daytrip started with the craziest parking lot structure we've ever seen. It was five stories high, and built when they first invented cars, as far as I can tell. It was certainly not made for pickup trucks. Very tight corners, tiny parking spots. We parked on the roof, and the view was great!

We had a great breakfast in a yuppie hipster diner, and then hit up the waiter for some tips on what to see. He mentioned Voodoo Donuts and Powells, the worlds largest bookstore. That was all I needed to hear! 

At Voodoo we were lucky to only have a small line up. We picked a Maple Bar and a Portland Cream. Other options included a huge vegan selection. A Maple Bacon bar of course. And several with dirty names. I offered Dean five bucks to order one of those, but he wouldn't do it. 

Taking a ladylike bite

Dean is also a fan

Our next stop was Powell's, a new and used bookstore. It is huge, and to me at least, heaven. I didn't get past the children's section, and I didn't even get a change to look at everything there. I looked at board books for Reece, and tried to keep him from eating them, or crawling off, and climbing up the shelves. 

Reece's arm is blurry as he reaches out to turn the page. 

He loves those Sandra Boyton books!

They also had a toy section, and an amazing puppet selection. Puppets are one of Reese's favorite things lately, and they make him laugh hysterically. 

I'm not sure who is enjoying the dino puppet more

We spent a lot of time walking around downtown. And because we didn't have a clue where we were going, we ended up crisscrossing it half a dozen times.  I was very excited to find Knit Purl, a great yarn store. I resisted the temptation to buy the very pricey yarn I coveted, but couldn't resist a great sweater pattern. Since I've never knitted a sweater before it will probably take me 20 years before I'm done, and end up looking like crap, but a girl can dream. 

Reece really enjoyed the playground we found. It was filled with kids from a nearby daycare and he was fascinated by them. He also enjoyed checking out some of the art around town.

Travel Lessons from Portland

• It isn't enough to bring your camera, it should also be charged
• When using your iPhone as a back up camera, it's also helpful if that is charged
• 2 donuts is never enough. 

Leaving Home

After weeks of procrastination, suddenly we were down to a few days, and it was time to leave. We got very lucky and rented our house out for six months, but that meant we had to pack everything up. And it turns out we have a LOT of crap. An unbelievable amount, really. But after a lot of help from our parents we made our Nov 1st dealine! We'd planned to leave first thing in the morning, and drive straight to Portland. 

 The night before we left, it was Halloween. 

Reece and his cousin Sprout really enjoyed dressing up!

Family pic as we're out the door.

Measuring Reece against our front door.

Excited to get going!

We left our house at 3:27 pm and headed straight for the Canada/US Border. This is the part of the day I was most nervous about, but it went very smoothly. Except for a brief rest stop we drove straight through to Gig Harbor, Washington. Reece did very well during the six hour trip, although I'm not sure how many puffies he ate. 

Our arrival to Gig Harbor was pretty painless. But once we got there we had some trouble finding the RV park. We didn't write down the actual address of the park, so we decided to go to a Starbucks and use their internet. While in the parking lot a helpful security guard came over to kick us out. Unfortunately he didn't know where the RV park was either, but he did have some great tips on places we could stay overnight without getting caught! We arrived at the Gig Harbor RV Resort, and went straight to bed. 

Travel Lessons from the First Day:

• Pack grown up snacks in the truck. Confined spaces plus no stops equals a few hangry people. 
• The fancy new navigation system needs an actual street address. Must remember to write down address, as parking a 30' trailer in a Starbucks parking lot to steal the wifi is tricky
• Bring the camera when you go on walks! 
• Coffee without cream is gross. Buy cream.

The Plan

This year we were truly blessed with the arrival of baby Reece, born in February. As I write this, he is a busy eight month old, crawling around at high speed, laughing to himself, and smiling at me. This is his typical behavior.  He’s a sunny, beautiful, happy little guy. He is amazing, and I just can’t stop talking about him.

The other gift we were given along with his arrival was time. I wasn’t working during my pregnancy, and with a new baby at home, wasn’t planning to go back any time soon. Dean was able to take parental leave from his work, most of it at least partly paid. Almost as soon as we found out about the baby, we started planning what to do with our time off.

A million ideas were tossed around. Staying at home was never one of them. Going to Thailand sounded appealing. We both liked it there, and friends of ours had just gone there for a year, and seemed to be enjoying it.  An RV trip across North America would be interesting, and we’d get to see everywhere we’d always been meaning to go. But driving all day, every day, with a small baby? There were other ideas too, too many to list.

A trip to Los Cabos over Thanksgiving when I was about five months pregnant make us decide that we would like to spend a few months there, relaxing, soaking up the sun, and enjoying our little family time. Originally we planned to fly down, stay all inclusive for a couple of weeks, and then find a small house with a pool to rent. We’d walk to the beach every day, take the baby swimming, and relax.

So how we somehow decided to buy an RV and drive down is still a little lost to me. When did we really decide to do this? I have no idea. An idea morphed into a plan, and then suddenly it was real.  Everything just fell into place, and here we are, ready to go.

The plan is to drive from Vancouver to Los Cabos, making many stops along the way. We leave November 1^st, and will return to our house in Vancouver May 1^st. There are no plans that are set in stone, and we are in no rush.  We have a 4000 km drive, and six months of time and no commitments. Life is good.

Sadly, this is the only recent photo of the three of us, taken a few days before we left.