Redwoods National Park, California.

We ended driving from Oroville, California directly to the coast in hopes that the ocean air and humidity would offer Dan’s allergies some much needed relief. Thankfully our plan worked.

We ended up camping at a small campground called Big Lagoon County Park. It’s nestled in a grove of Sitka Spruce trees which offers little sunshine for our solar panels but luckily we also tote around a Honda EU2000 generator just for moments like these.

Our smaller set-up was valuable once again and allowed us to pick a site that backs up to a lagoon that is adjacent to the Pacific Ocean.

A short walk from our site (site #6, I believe?) gave the kids the opportunity to explore the slippery beach rocks. By some miracle, I think only one kid slipped. Not sure how they all didn’t go down like dominos.

We are still toting around these mother’s day plants that the kids made me. Some days they get over watered and other days they are forgotten.

Luka asked to use my camera for a bit. It’s fun to see photos from his eyes and see how the girls react to him.

The large sitka spruces offer plenty of tree climbing opportunities while we are camped here… and plenty of sap all over their jackets that I haven’t been able to get out too.

Our friends, Tori and Skyler, were able to snag a spot large enough for their 31ft Airstream here.

It’s been nice having neighbors to hang out with it while camping and out on adventures.

A short bike ride from the campground leads us to the day use area.

It’s so nice to have bikes again, especially with semi-paved roads. In theory, Dan and I could run for some exercise while the kids ride with us. Still hasn’t happened but it will once we stop being lazy butts.

The day use area is nestled between the lagoon (on the right) and the Pacific (on the left).

The kids immediately claimed this log as their pirate ship…

…with weapons….

… a toilet…

… and a plank to push your enemies into the water too, of course! Haha.

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Sometimes you have to take awkward selfies to prove to the kids you existed.

Nine years of traveling as a family in a camper and we’ve never explored the northern coast of California. It’s so easy to take your home state for granted. Redwoods, we are finally here!

After work and school, we took a quick hike through the Lady Bird loop at the Redwoods National Park.

With Junior Ranger books in hand, the kids were back to earning badges again.

And Dan is feeling better so the VLOGs are being made again.

Yippee! You’ll find two of them linked at the end of this blog post.

One of the vlogs is full of Luka and his newly acquired dance moves. I’m sure watching Napoleon Dynamite had something to do with the moves.

In between the campground and the national park, sits another campground that is populated with a large herd of elk. Not sure what the story is here but wildlife always brings smiles to our faces.

Once we finished out the work week, we hitched up and headed into the park again for some more exploring and to turn in those completed junior ranger booklets.

Luka hamming it up for Dan.

And that makes this badge #113. A memorable one too because the ranger actually took her time to make sure Luka could keep up with the pledge. I love the way Mila is looking at him.

A lot of the roads here don’t allow trailers but that’s okay. The roads that do allow them are pretty nice.

Walking amongst 2,000-year-old giants. It’s amazing that half of the moisture California redwoods receive comes from fog which allows them to grow up to 350 feet tall and 30 feet in diameter.

These trees are amazing!

Getting the shot.

Dan’s smiling right now but we will realize in a couple days is that he caught a tick from this area. Found it lodged in his back and I literally cried trying to pull it out of him. The head stayed in and the body of the tick got sent for free testing via a lab I found online. Lucky for him, it came back negative for Lyme disease. Phew.

One last hike through an area that used to be a logging road but has now been reclaimed by nature.

And yes Return of the Jedi was filmed here. Sadly, no ewoks appeared.

The world’s tallest tree grow from a pine cone this size. So incredible.

Alright, our time in California has come to an end for now.

Today we start creeping up the Oregon coast.

Until next time, California.

Click to see our VLOG about Trinidad and the Coastal Redwoods below.

And click on this VLOG for the the national park (and Luka’s dance moves) here!

Thanks for following along,
Marlene