Wednesday, July 28, 2010

What a summer!

WOW!  What a summer it's been so far!  A road trip down 101 to LA, then a boat to Catalina Island, the to Disneyland and SeaWorld, then back up 101 from LA to Portland!  So much fun.  The only thing that sucked about the vacation was the lack of relaxation time.  But it was all still worth it.  We had so much fun! 
Driving down 101 was a first, and boy was it looong!!  We started at 7am the drove to Lincoln City.  We drove a total of 13 hours that first day.  Made it all the way to the Red Wood forest and camped at one of the campsites.  I couldn't beleive how expensive it was.  It was $35 a night!  That's half the cost of a hotel.  But we took it anyway, we were tired and wanted to relax and eat.  It was worth it.  Plus, it was meant to be.  They'd had a last minute cancelation, so we were pretty damn lucky to get the campsite.  If they had been full, I don't know where we would have camped.
The drive was so beautiful!  I'm so glad we made it.  I've never really been that far south along the Oregon coast.  I think we're definately going to have to do it again.  Now that we have a better idea of what to expect.  I would definately like to take more time driving as well.  There is so much to see and so many touristy things to do along the way.  There were quite a few we wanted to do, but by the time we had gotten there, the place was closed.  We really wanted to go through the Trees of Mystery and do their cable car ride that takes you through the tops of them, but maybe some other time. 
I'm not sure what our favorite stop was.  Everything was so gorgeous.  Sadly we didn't stop to watch the sunset anywhere.  But that's ok. We saw it on the way back home.
The second day was just as exciting.  We didn't make as many stops, but we saw lots of pretty scenery.  Most of northern California wasn't along the coast.  But the forrest was still fun.  We got to drive throuh the redwood forest.  Not through one of the trees, but a side road that veered off 101.  That was fun!  Some of the trees came right up to the edge of the road so that if you got to close you'd hit one.  And I couldn't beleive how huge there were!  I've never seen that many trees that large!
I think the neatest thing on the second day, was the San Fransisco bridge.  The only thing that sucked was the toll both, but it was worth it.  We kind of got lost in San Fransisco to.  That was neat.  Went through downtown, at least I think it was.  I wanted to see more, but it was late so we GPS'd it back to the highway.  That's when we cut over to I-5 and made it all the way to Uncle's house.  It was like 1 am by the time we got there.  But they were expecting us so they left the door open.  It was nice to sleep in a bed.  Next time we camp in the back of the explorer, we're taking an air matress.  It will be much more comfy then.
All in all, it was a good learning experience and it was loads of fun.  I definately want to do it again.  But next time, I want to take more time, and do more camping, and take the time to be able to see all the fun neat things along 101

I'll have to add some pictures later, once I upload them onto my computer.