Camping at Cape Blanco

We awoke to a couple of crazy kids ready for the day's adventure. They so enjoyed the hotel room, but now we were going to take them away from that tranquility and make them go camping. This is not something that we had done often with our children which is strange because we both enjoyed the outdoors so much. Being park rangers, I often had my fill of being outside and did not need another escape on my weekends. As teachers, our weekends were often taken up with grading and planning. So Spring Break was the time to get this done. We drove up 101 which from Crescent City, CA put us back in the state of Oregon pretty quickly.

We really enjoyed this drive which bounced back and forth between beautiful beaches and coastal forests. We stopped in the town of Gold Beach at the Ranger Station to pick up brochures about places that we could visit again in the future. The real goal was to find a place to camp for the evening and that put us around lunch time at Cape Blanco State Park. The weather was absolutely perfect out in the low 60s. It was sunny and not windy, which for Cape Blanco was supposedly rather odd. We enjoyed it and easily found a wooded campsite with lovely green grass to camp upon. Jacqueline got the kids some lunch while I took on the business of setting up tents, sleeping bags, and making everything comfortable.

The kids were really excited and it made camping so much more fun with them being happy to do it. We saw that Cape Blanco had some cabins and thought about how cool it would be to come back in the future and stay at those cabins. We took our time but, by 2 pm we were finding our way down to the beach. We walked down a long road that dropped steeply down to the beach. When we got there, it felt as if we had the place to ourselves. Oregon beaches are quite amazing because there are so many choices that they often are not very crowded. Cape Blanco is the furthest place west in the contiguous United States which is why the winds are so intense, but today there was nothing to complain about.

We had our own private beach to enjoy, so we set out toward the big cliffs on the other side of the beach. Everyone was in good spirits and the kids did well even on the long walk. Once we got to the end, there was nowhere left to go, so we sat down and the kids played in the sand for a while drawing stick figures and mini castles. There was a big jutting rock that made the coastline seem more rugged and I could only imagine just how nasty the waves and weather could be here during a storm. When we had our fill, we made our way back to our campsite for the evening. There were bunnies all around for Jacqueline and the kids to get excited about every time one hopped into our campsite.

We spent most of the evening playing games as the kids helped me strategize on how to beat Jacqueline at Catan. The sunset was semi- good, but also hard to see. The cool ocean air and just the relaxed feel of the campsite made me feel as if I could be here a long time. Unfortunately, though after an early bed time with children, we departed the next day after enjoying breakfast in camp. It was sad for me because I could have enjoyed it much longer. Instead we went into Bandon to do the tourist thing for a while before finally deciding to camp for the night near Florence. It was not nearly as ideal as spending the time at Cape Blanco, but we were able to make it out to the Sea Lion Caves the next day, which was an exciting experience for the kids.

I couldn't believe how many were there and how easy the access was to see them. The noise was overwhelming as well as the smell, but it was a fun experience. Sadly, though this was going to be the end of our short Spring Break trip. It was a fun family vacation and our kids did a lot considering their age. It made me excited for further adventures in the summer time as every month they seemed to be capable of so much more. 

Spring Break: Birthday in the Redwoods

We finally made it to that illustrious break that teachers wait for so much more than students, Spring Break. We were sure going to take advantage of it since we had not seen much of Oregon yet. Forget that the weather looked rather miserable and the temperatures were not going to get much above 60 degrees. We were heading out and exploring the country. We had to wait initially for the NCAA Tournament, though as I was not going to miss the opening round weekend. After seeing Gonzaga beat North Dakota State and Iowa, I was ready to head out. We left on Monday morning and our only goal for the day was to get down to Roseburg, only a couple hours away. It was just pouring down rain. This was going to be fine as we were going to spend our time at the Wildlife Safari Park. We had been there once before to the free part and were amazed just how much that you could see in the free part. This time we were going to pay the big bucks and do the drive. It was worth it once as there were many types of animals to see and given that we got to spend the day inside of a car rather than outside in the pouring rain, it worked out. We had a dinner in town and a comfortable night stay at a hotel before heading further south.

We drove down I-5 until we got to Grants Pass, then cut off from there on Highway 199. The goal was to make it down to Northern California and spend the day in the Redwoods. It was actually a fairly pretty drive as much of it was along the Smith River until we were at our goal which was Jedidiah Smith State Park. We drove to where the visitor center was located, but found it not to be open. We hoped to gain some information there. Instead, we wandered down to the Smith River where we ate some lunch and threw some rocks. It was an excellent place to hang out and the kids had a great time.

We needed a trail, though, because we were not going to go all the way to the Redwoods without getting out and doing a hike. So, we found one that was nearby with parking that was actually a loop trail. It did not sound very exciting as the name was the Wellman Trail. It turned out to be exactly what we were looking for. With a 4 and a 2 year old, there was not a lot of distance that we were going to be able to throw down. We built up the hike quite a bit for the kids, so that they were excited to see the big trees. We also could keep them going by playing games with them such as go up ahead and hide to scare people. This trail did have a bit of elevation to it, but also many large amazing trees. The kids really enjoyed the slugs along the trail and I was enjoying the fact that at least it wasn't pouring down rain on us. Jacqueline was enjoying taking lots of pictures while also making the kids hold hands at any possible drop off. Given that this trail was not very steep, that was not very often, so we were able to run free most of the time. The kids did great, but the trail was not very long, so by 2:30 we still had time on our hands.

We drove down to Crescent City which was our goal for the night. We found this amazing playground that was virtually vacant. I guess it helps that the kids in California were still in school. Our kids were able to run around and play for quite a while. The next goal was to find a place to place to stay. Given that it was actually my birthday, Jacqueline convinced me to stay at the place in town that had the best view, The Oceanfront Lodge. It was a bit older but still we had a view of the ocean from our room. We even had a private beach that we were able to go down to in the evening to enjoy. I spent the rest of my birthday hanging out with the family and we had a good dinner. This trip was getting expensive as eating out and hotels were adding up. We needed to spend some time outside camping which would be our next adventure.

Three Generations of Ladies on Castle Rock

My mom and sister were up visiting the kids. Having an afternoon free, I convinced Jacqueline to allow me to take her and my mom up to Castle Rock. This was my go to hike and a rather easy hike to access given the typically good condition of the road and the short trail. I even convinced Jacqueline to let me take Zyla too. Usually I hiked from the trailhead coming off of King Road, but this time we took the gravel road all the way to the trailhead that was only 1 mile away from the top. The Xterra handled the road fine, even though it was starting to be more temperamental at this point.

Honestly, one of us was nearly always holding Zyla's hand on the hike up and the hike back down. Regardless, she did the walking on her own. The trail has some rather large drop offs in some places, but for the most part it is a wide enough trail to not be an issue. There is some uphill, but we were not trying to break any speed records, so we took it nice and slow. We finally topped out after a leisurely hike up and the view was spectacular. The sky was clear and the sisters were coated in white. We took many pictures as I got photos with every generation. First my mom who had been exercising more lately.

Next, my daughter who was nearly five. Looking at the picture afterwards, I could see how somehow this little girl looked a lot like me but is still very pretty. Lastly, I took a picture with my wife with the sisters in the background. We enjoyed our time at the top of the peak, not taking too much freedom to wander around with a 4 year old. From there, we continued back down carefully. This is such a fantastic hike and so close to our home.