Day 21

Friday, October 7, 2011

Oddly, the power was out for much of the night in our hotel.  No idea why.  Good thing we had Wyatt's battery-operated lantern to use in the bathroom.  Oh well.

As is all too common along the coast, we woke to fog.  Looked for the Trinidad Lighthouse, but couldn't find it in the mist.  Fortunately, we were in and out of it - more "out" as the day went on.  Here's a happy sight :D

Though our hearts were set on exploring the Redwoods today, we couldn't pass the beach without stopping for a little while.

Armed with maps and brochures and recommendations from the rangers, we headed...
          ...  back into the mist.

Yes.  For real.  It looked like that.

First stop - Lady Bird Johnson grove / trail.  Though we live among large evergreens ourselves, and are familiar with forests, the trees here are on an overwhelming scale.  We were dwarfed.  It's like being in a fairy tale.  But better.  Real.

Our whole family stood in this struck-by-lightning, burned out trunk and looked up, up, up...

at a living tree.

I know everyone's computer screen will 'read' the colors differently, but the sun coming down, all green and yellow, through the branches - way better than stained glass.

Don't the trees look huge, next to Kerry and the boys?

Look again.  And you still can't see the top.

Herds of Roosevelt Elk live in the park, and they're not hard to find.  The cows, that is.  We saw groups of them right along the road.

The bulls were more elusive.  This guy kept his distance, and the telephoto can only do so much.

I love the turquoise blue of the water.  That's my happy color.

Of course, we couldn't pass by Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox, I mean, that's kitschy American folklore at its finest.  (And who knew the bull was *ahem* anatomically correct?)

The Trees of Mystery definitely have a different flavor than the national park ;D

But still, the same sense of awe and wonder that such enormous things are living.

Of course, the main attraction for the boys was getting to ride another gondola, this time up through the trees - gorgeous.

For the most part, the boys got along well and were very good travelers.  By the grace of God.

From the top, looking over the forest at the Pacific.  Happy sigh :D

And looking the other way, (that would be east), back over the coast range.

Can.  Not.  Resist.  The.  Dimple.

And Gene, have you given up on me?  Are you still hurt that we didn't stop in Superior?  Well, c'mon... forgive me, brother.  We were thinking of you in California :D

Crescent City... one last look at the coast before we headed inland.

We had reservations that night at the Oregon Caves Chateau.  See, one of Kerry's dreams for the trip was to stay in a historic lodge in one of the national parks.  Great idea, yah?  Except that we kind of threw this trip together over the summer, and everything was already booked.  You want to stay at the Old Faithful Inn (Yellowstone) or El Tovar (Grand Canyon) you make your reservation a year or two ahead.  But, the Oregon Caves Chateau isn't quite as heavily traveled and still had space.  We also wanted to tour the cave.  Kind of gave the trip "bookends" - Lewis and Clark Caverns and now the Oregon Caves.

So at this point we had a choice.  We could take our sweet time getting there, stay the night, and do the cave tour the next morning, or try to fit in the cave tour this same day.  We made a quick call to check their schedule - last tour at 5pm.  Let me tell you, on this day - Day 21 - Cow-Headed-For-The-Barn Syndrome was beginning to take hold, and as quickly as we could, we headed for the hills.  The Siskiyous.

They (the infamous "they") will tell you that it's 17 miles from Cave Junction up to the cave and the chateau.  But I'll tell you the truth.  That was the longest 17 miles I've ever seen, and it's narrow and twisty.  By the time we reached the top - at 4:58 - I think we were all feeling queasy, and Kerry practically threw us out of the van at the Visitors Center (he had to park a ways away) to go buy the tickets.

But it all turned out good.  Their five o'clock tour only had three spaces left, but they were expecting another group momentarily.  They asked us if we would be willing to split the family - sending three with the first group.  Gunnar was feeling the worst (from the drive), so I volunteered to wait with him and sent Kerry, Wyatt and Tate off first, so none of them appear in the pictures.

Well, the other group never showed up, so our guide, Heather,  gave Gunnar and me a private tour!

Though we all agreed that Lewis and Clark Caverns were more impressive (and fun!), you just can't beat a private tour.  She gave Gunnar his own flashlight to carry, and we had way more time to look and listen.  She pointed out things to us that the other group didn't get to see.

On a side note, you're not allowed to bring any personal belongings but a camera into the cave.  No food, no water, not even a flashlight (they find too many batteries get dropped, along with everything else you can imagine.)  Remember this for later...

Here we are, in the belly of the whale!  Doesn't it look very like a rib cage?

These caves are unusual because they are marble, rather than the more commonly found limestone.  They have a constant temperature of about 44F (or about 6.6C, for you metric folks), because that is the average temperature of the outside air.  Just some factoids for you.

Gunnar can be a little squeamish about heights, and steep places, but did wonderfully :D

He also had all the time in the world to ask every question that came into his head.  Fortunately, they were relevant ;D  He's interested and curious, and he notices things.

Like this.  What do you think that is?  The 'base' (the dark object, not the rock) is about as big as my pinky fingernail.

That delicate structure is...


                                        fungus growing on a rat dropping.  Kind of interesting, though, yah?

This cave did not have the big, open chambers we saw at Lewis and Clark.

Up the long, steep stairs to....

... Paradise Lost.

Some of the rocks in the cave flouresce under black light... pretty cool!

At that point our guide offered to let us finish the tour by flashlight, if we liked.  Gunnar very much liked :D  So she pulled out another flashlight for me, switched off the power, and we continued the tour.  What she didn't realize was that Kerry, Wyatt, and Tate's group, ahead of us, had not finished their tour, and were still in the cave.  And their guide - her husband - did not have enough flashlights for everyone in their group!  Sounds like everyone was a good sport about it, and they managed fine.

We saw (but did not photograph) bats.  Obviously rats live in the cave.  We also saw cave crickets and these.  They look like spiders (eight legs) but have only one body part.  They're harvestmen.

Gunnar asked a lot of good questions, like, "What do they eat?"  Moths, we learned.

That prompted several funny stories about dumb questions other people have asked.  She had a school group up a week or so before, and about half way through the tour one kid asked, "Are we going to go underground?"  Are you kidding?

By the time we finished the tour it was raining outside and getting dark. 

Good thing we were just in time for the seven o'clock dinner seating at the chateau.  I should've taken pictures of the dining room.  When they built the lodge they diverted part of the stream coming out of the cave right through the dining room.  I'm not sure what the implications might be in the cold winter, but we enjoyed it!  And the delicious and abundantly generous meal.  Ahhhhh :D

Dy 21 Miles : 175          Total Miles : 4531

Day 20

Thursday, October 6, 2011

No hurry today.  We woke to rain on the roof of our cabin.  Sounds like home ;D

If we wanted to get right home, we'd just shoot on up I-5, but we had a couple objectives yet, so instead we pointed the van northwest and headed over the hills toward the coast.

Lots of little towns.  This one had a great deal of confidence in itself.

What do you do when you're on a road trip and you see a sign like this?  Turn in, of course.

And plunk down your five bucks....

... to drive through a tree.  Why not?

And you take a good, long look up.

Yes, the photos overlap and I didn't try to "correct" them.  But it was tall.  Really tall.  More of that tomorrow.

We got a hotel for the night in Eureka, and Kerry couldn't pass up the chance to see the Carson House.

Interesting details.  Can you imagine trying to paint all that?

Ahhhh, good night moon, and good bye palm trees.

 

Day 20 Miles : 305          Total Miles : 4356

Day 19

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

This was supposed to be an easy day - just shoot over the pass and drop down into Sacramento.  Only a little over a hundred miles - no problem.

Right?

This was our first clue that the day was not going to go as planned.  And this was the first and much lower pass between Tahoe and Truckee.  See those thick clouds, billowing in the distance?  And that white stuff on the ground?

Not funny.  So not funny.

Arriving in Truckee, we found the highway closed, and snow falling heavily.  Hurray for Jax Diner.  Might as well stop for breakfast and some hot cocoa.  Yes, it was snowing.  You can't tell in the picture.  The roads in Truckee were just wet, but the pass is about 1400' higher (just over 7200', in case you wanted to know.)

 

We couldn't help overhearing the conversation at the table next to us - a local man - and we asked him what he knew about the conditions and road closure.

Oh, don't worry about it.  They'll open it back up in an hour or so and require chains.  But you can head over Route 40 any time you want, and there's no chain control.

Kerry thought that was a fabulous idea.  Me, not so much.  Because if there's any chance I'm going to get stuck in the snow I'd like to be on the main road where someone will come along and help me.  Or at least find me.  Call me crazy.  And my Dodge Caravan, as much as I love it, is not exactly winter-worthy.

There was a certain amount of grumbling and mumbling.  And we bought the chains.  And within an hour the state patrol had road blocks at every highway entrance and would not let you on unless you had a 4-wheel drive vehicle carrying chains, or had them on your tires.

Heading up I-80 we were reminded of where we were and what happens to those who aren't prepared. 

Hard to believe we'd come from 100+ and playing in the pool... to this.

See that road off to the left?  Yah.  That's Highway 40.  So glad we didn't attempt that route, as I'm told it's much steeper than I-80.

Beautiful?  Yes.  In the mood to enjoy it?  Not so much.

As we got higher the road was still passable, but we could tell the plows had been busy by the piles beside the highway.

Ironically, we got over the pass just fine, pulled over and removed the chains, and then it began to sleet and the road conditions were the worst of anywhere.

Well, let me tell you, this was a very happy sight!  That's Sacramento in the distance.  Sunshine, palm trees, and dry roads.  Hallelujah and Amen.

We had big plans for this somewhat surreal day, so we swung by the KOA first to get checked in.  Thankfully they weren't exactly busy and were able to give us our keys before noon, as we knew the office would be closed by the time we got back.  And isn't this a picturesque spot?

Yah, the cabins were a bit close together, but most of them were empty and quiet.  Here's the view from our porch.  *happy sigh*

This KOA also came with a not-so-picturesque-and-very-drunk man, but the staff handled him quickly and efficiently.  Yah.

That was not part of today's plan, but adapt and overcome, right?  Onward to the California State Railroad Museum, in Old Town Sacramento.

Yes, I took a bazillion photos, many at Kerry's urging.  While I enjoy trains to a point, this was really a day for the boys.  The museum has real trains, not just models.  You can get right up close to them and touch them.  Some have platforms built up and you can look in the windows and see how they were set up back in the day, and others you can go right inside.  If you're a rail fan, and passing through Sacramento, don't miss this.

Love the snow shed - something we're familiar with up here in the Cascades, as well.

This cab-forward engine was enormous.  Very impressive.

Well-informed volunteers happily told us all about the equipment and history, and let the boys explore many of the trains.  Here's Tate in the cab-forward locomotive.

My one beef with this museum, like the one at Donner Memorial Park, is that it was hopelessly under-lit.  I can understand art museums being cautious about light, as it can accelerate deterioration.  But the trains?  Really?  Why does it have to be so dark???

Gunnar spotted something that made us feel like we'd come full circle.  The "Lost" Golden Spike.  When the Central Pacific and Union Pacific were set to meet at Promontory Point, Leland Stanford brought a golden spike, which was not left in the railroad (duh), but returned to land developer David Hewes, and later donated to Stanford University, where it is today.  It was made and engraved in a rush, and had the date of May 8, 1869 on it.  Well, the dignitaries didn't arrive until May 10, and the ceremony was delayed.

Turns out a second spike was also made, and engraved properly and more carefully.  David Hewes' family kept it secret for over 100 years, until in 2005 a descendant sold it.

So there's your history trivia.  And here it is, in Sacramento.  The "Lost" Spike.

My favorite part of the museum had to be the 1920's vintage sleeper car, complete with very realistic motion and sound.  Doesn't that look cozy?  A little too cozy for two maybe, or maybe not ;D

Gunnar pretended to be one of the kids in the Polar Express movie.

We spent several hours exploring the museum, and the boys were getting a bit loopy.  Gunnar is investigating the art work on the fruit labels.

And Wyatt and Tate amused themselves with magnets.  They just needed a break.

Among the many joys of this vacation, some of my favorite times were meeting new friends.  Well, not new, but now-in-real-life, as opposed to what Tate refers to as my "computer-generated friends."  And they are just as wonderful in person as they are online.  They're the Real Deal.

I first met the lovely and talented Rachael (who has all but given up blogging, but I'll link anyway)...

... through Dan's blog, Biblical Christianity.  She and I have spent hours on the phone commiserating, encouraging, laughing, and listening.  And through the meta on his blog, Kerry and I have also come to know Dan.  Our boys have been corresponding by email.

And learning we were in the area, Dan and his gracious and hospitable wife Valerie invited both families - ours and Rachael's - over for a chili feed.  Can I just tell you how wonderful that was?  Inviting a bunch of strangers to your home, and blessing them with a delicious home-cooked meal?

Fun times!  Eight kids met and played and battled with nerf swords and guns, and if there was a harsh word anywhere I didn't hear it.

Here's Rachael and her girls - Emily, Kate, and Sarah (if I got them in order), with their permission.  Adorable, yah?

Dan's family is more private, and so not pictured, but I think the cat is fair game.  If that is, indeed, a cat.  I believe Sarah, on the right, seems to have her doubts, too.  ;D

And the adults?  Well, the only moments of quiet came when everyone was eating.  No lack of lively conversation with this bunch :D

As we reluctantly said our goodbyes and pulled out of the driveway I said, "Well that was a lot of fun!" and the boys objected strenuously.  Obviously "a lot of fun" was a criminal understatement, from their point of view.  And Dan, Valerie, Rachael, Phil... consider yourself invited to visit any time you want.

What a day!  Tahoe, snow, palm trees, the lovely KOA and the inebriated guest, the RR museum, dinner with friends... was it really all one day?  Crazy.  But crazy good.

Day 19 Miles : 158          Total Miles : 4051