Cape Kiwanda, Oregon Coast

Later that day, after stopping at Ripley's in Newport, Oregon, we arrived at Cape Kiwanda. We camped at a nice RV campground right across the highway from the beach. It was rainy when we arrived but we still had a wonderful time.

At the north end of the beach was a huge sand hill. Braden and Mike rented a sand board that afternoon and tried sand boarding down this hill. Because of all the rain the sand was too wet and sticky for them to get a good ride on the sand. They got lots of good exercise climbing up the hill though!

There were good tide pools and the kids had a great time exploring the shore life.

Haceda Head Lighthouse and Sea Lion Caves

After spending one night at Patrick's Point and driving through more redwoods, we came to Haceda Head Lighthouse along the Oregon coast. We camped overnight in the RV parking lot at the Lighthouse and strolled to the beach in light rain as the sun was setting. It was a beautiful spot and no one else was there so it felt very pristine. Braden found this starfish in the grass along the river that flowed into the ocean. It was starting to get hard but he threw it back into the ocean just in case he could save it.

The following morning Mike and I went for a walk over to the beach again. It was a chilly morning but still very amazing views.

After some breakfast we drove back up the highway for one kilometer to the Sea Lion Cave. This attraction has been here for 75 years and started as a set of stairs down to a lookout into the cave. Now you walk down to an elevator (built in 1961) that goes down 20 stories into the world's largest sea cave where you have an opportunity to view Stellar sea lions in their natural habitat. If you'd like to view a live webcam of the sea lions you can visit http://www.sealioncaves.com and click on "view webcam".

These statues at the entrance to the path going down to the elevator are life size. You can view Haceda Head lighthouse to the right in the background.

More Redwoods

This is one of the smaller redwoods that fell over and had to be cut off the trail.

Now this is a big tree....of course the kids busted me for getting inside the fence!

We stopped off at The Trees of Mystery in Klamath, CA...Mike thought he'd check out Paul Bunyan's bull, Babe. Really...did they have to make Babe anatomically correct!!!

Another of the amazing views along the coast in the Redwoods.

We all felt like ants in A Bug's Life in the Redwoods. Everything was huge, and lush.

Patrick's Point, CA

After we left the Avenue of the Giants, we headed for the coast again. Enroute, we decided to go to an old Victorian town called Ferndale, CA. Along the way we came across a true cattle crossing! Moooooo....these were all dairy cows heading into the barn for milking.

The Inn at the centre of town in Ferndale.

We arrived at Patrick's Point later that afternoon and stayed at the State Campground. The views were stunning and we had a lot of fun climbing up to the point.

Mike is the king of the castle.

This is the view north up the beach from our campsite. It was 172 feet down to the beach. Mike and I wandered down there in the evening and saw two seals playing in the water and fishing.

Avenue of the Giants, Redwood Forest, CA

After leaving San Francisco, we headed north along Highway 101. We ventured off along the Avenue of the Giants and stopped to see the famous Chandelier Tree...the one vehicles can drive through. Just not an F-350 with a trailer in tow behind it! We watched others drive through and then settled for a photo with us standing in the opening.

That night we stayed at a nice RV park called Dean's Creek RV. It was a beautiful spot along the river with a pool, mini golf, a big open field for playing games and right next door an acreage with horses. Amy got her fill of picking grass to feed to the horses...including a new foal too.

A corn dog moment in the trailer...not healthy but very yummy!

Amy with one of the horses at the neighboring acreage.

More San Fran...

We took in the San Francisco Exploratorium. It is like our Calgary Science Centre but has life science experiments too. We got to watch a scientist dissect a cow's eye and we did the tactile dome. The tactile dome is a maze in a geo-dome in the pitch dark. You have to climb up and down and around and find your way through the maze in complete darkness using only your sense of touch. I have to say, it was a very unnerving experience. Braden and Amy both backed out the first time in but we glad to have eventually worked up the courage to go through it. Once they went through once, the had overcome their fear of that utter darkness and went through several more times. Mike went through a bunch of times too but once through was enough for me!

No trip to San Francisco is complete without a trip to the Ghirardelli chocolate factory. We all enjoyed seeing how they make their chocolate...from the roasting of the beans right through to the yummy sauce that went on our hot chocolate sundaes.

We went to Mile Rock Beach to check out the tide pools. Braden found this nice little crab...and a bunch smaller than this one too. The beach is named for the light house that used to be standing in the ocean at this point. When we walked down the path to this beach, the tide was out but it was too foggy to see all the ship wrecks near the beach. On the walk back, the tide was in so the wrecks were too far below the water to see them.

At mile rock beach.

San Francisco

On our last day in San Francisco, the fog finally cleared off so we could see the Golden Gate Bridge. We were camped in Marin County on the north side of the bridge, so ended up driving (and Mike biking) over the bridge many times. We only crossed over it once where we could see the ocean and the bay. All the other times the fog was too thick...even when it was warm and sunny everywhere else.

This is a jewelry store at Fisherman's Wharf...Amy couldn't get over how big the store was (this is only half of it) and how much jewelry there was.

Amy's date! At one of the stores on Pier 39.
Three lefties at Lefty's! This store was great....sold lots of stuff just for left handed people...and, you have to be left handed to work there!

The sea lions of Pier 39...they were so funny to watch!