Seattle - Rain, Rain, Go Away

We left Grandma's house early the next morning, and headed off to Seattle.  On the way, we stopped to see Connor's friend, Hunter, in Portland.  Connor and Hunter have been friends (online) for a few years, and we stopped to see him last time we came through Oregon.  It was certainly nice to see him again.

Then we headed towards Seattle, where we hit the rain and the traffic.  This was pretty typical of our time in Seattle--rain and traffic.  Justin had to work at the GoDaddy office in Kirkland (about 20 minutes from Seattle), so we had to spend a few days there.

We arrived to find that our campground was extremely cramped and muddy.  We pulled into the campground, set up, and grabbed some dinner.  Then we made sure Justin knew how to get to work the next day, and went to bed.

The day was consumed by driving and rain, but we made the best of it!

Newport, Oregon - Day Two

On day two of our visit to Newport, we decided to visit the Yaquina Lighthouse.  After our disappointing visit to Heceta Head Lighthouse, we decided to take a chance on another lighthouse visit.

Yaquina was a MUCH better experience.  The lighthouse itself wasn't open for tours, as the national parks are a little short staffed this time of year, but there was a great visitor center for us to explore.

From the visitor center, we took a short trail down the the tidepools and the lighthouse.  The tidepools were amazing.  We explored them for a good hour or more.

The kids enjoyed exploring the shore looking for anemones and sea urchins.  We even spotted a few fish, crabs, and sea slugs.

Rylee was especially interested in all the organisms we found in the little tidepools.  She and Justin spent a good long while scouting the shore for more sea life, and she wasn't shy about touching anything.  Connor was less interested in touching things.  We took a lap around the lighthouse, where we even saw a few gray whales off the shore.

Then we took the trail back down to the car and headed to downtown Newport for some lunch.  Most of us had this amazing clam chowder that was topped with butter and baby shrimp.  It was SOOOO good.  Then we did a little shopping.

We spent a pleasant afternoon in downtown, then we headed back to Grandma Kathye's.  Grandma had bought some local salmon and crab for dinner, and the girls helped her make crab cakes for dinner.  They were delicious, and the salmon was the best we have ever eaten.  

The girls played cards with Grandma and Mark, and Connor played a little guitar while Justin and I checked out some local campgrounds for next time.  It was a little sad to spend our last night together, but we are so glad we had the chance to hang out with Grandma and Mark.  They were awesome to open their home to us, and we made some great memories.

Newport, Oregon - According to Tatum

It was so awesome to stay with Grandma Kathye in Newport, Oregon. After getting a full nights sleep, we ate breakfast and hit the road to see the Oregon Coast. Our first stop was Thor's Well, a beautiful site that Connor really wanted to see.The well is a large hole in the cliff where the ocean water fills and empties. There was a short hike down to the well, full of lush greenery.

The well was gorgeous, and the whole family seemed to enjoy the visit. After this visit, we headed further north to explore the Heceta Head Lighthouse.

As we arrived at the lighthouse, we took the trail up and got ready to go on a tour of it. The tour ended up being the most boringest thing we would ever do in our whole entire lives. All we did was stare at bricks and listen to a man talk. We didn't even get to go to the top. I think that everyone learned that they should have jumped into Thor's Well to avoid the lighthouse tour. Nah. I'm just kidding. We most definitely enjoyed our first day in Newport.

//Tatum//

Oregon - Day One

This was the view behind our campsite at Collier State Park.  We got up early and ate breakfast.  Then we packed up the camper as quickly as we could, so we would have time to enjoy this amazing scenery.  The water in the river was crystal clear, and the landscape was beautiful.

There was a fun logging museum just a short walk away from the campground.  Since we were all packed up, we took the short hike across the river to check it out.  It was actually a gorgeous walk, and the museum was pretty interesting, too...  unless you ask Tatum.  She thought it was one of the most boring parts of the trip.

The girls had fun goofing around, though.  They actually enjoyed themselves quite a bit, and there was a cute gift shop at the end of the trail.  They had quite a collection of antique chainsaws, which Justin found pretty interesting.

After we kept Tatum there as long as she would allow, we headed back to camp.  We hitched up the camper and headed to Grandma Kathye's house in Newport, Oregon a day early.

We made it to Newport just in time to enjoy a walk on the beach before dinner.  Grandma made us an awesome dinner, and we settled in and watched a few hours of American Pickers before heading off to bed.  Not a bad way to end a day.

2017 Road Trip - Plan B

It's that time of year when the Richardson kids head out on a long roadtrip!  This year we are headed north to Canada, eh.  We'll be on the road for about three weeks with planned stops in Oregon, Washington, Vancouver, Banff, Glacier and Utah.

It always feels like a scramble right up until we pull out of the driveway.  This year was no different, and we usually spend the first day on the road remembering all the things we forgot.  For example, Justin forgot his jacket.  But who really needs a rain jacket when traveling through the Pacific Northwest?  What are the chances we would actually encounter any rain?  After a bit of research, it turns out it's 100% chance.

The original plan was to drive all day to Fallon, NV, which we did without incident.  We stayed in a hotel the first night, as we wanted to get as far away as possible.  Day two was supposed to take us to Lassen National Park.  We've been told its is like a "miniature Yellowstone." Since it sounded pretty cool, we had made a reservation early on.  Once we arrived at the hotel, we checked the weather and found SNOW and freezing temperatures in the forecast... like real freezing... in JUNE!  Needless to say we were not equipped for that, especially since Justin had no jacket. 😒  So we decided to do some "free-styling" and kept heading north to find a new place to camp!

We pulled into Collier State Park in the late afternoon and were pleased to find out they had an open spot for our little pop up.  It would have been perfect except that as soon as we stopped, the heavens opened up and dumped rain on us. So, the first camp set up was tons of fun, especially for Justin (with no jacket).  But, the good news is it stopped raining as soon as we finished setting up. ☺

We're glad to be back on the road again as a family.  Even when things don't go as planned, it always seems to work out for the best.  We'll see what we can find tomorrow!

Denver - Day One

We woke up this morning and wished Connor a Happy 17th Birthday.  Because it was his birthday, he got to choose the day's activities.  So we started off the day by grabbing Starbucks and heading to the Denver Aquarium.

Even though the aquarium was perfect for younger children, there were still quite a few things our older kids loved about it.  We spent a couple of hours looking at exhibits and gawking at sharks and fish.

But the highlight of our aquarium visit was playing in the stingray tank.  The kids loved that.  The rays would come right up to them and lift their fins up out of the water.  We wanted to stay and feed them, but we had to move on.

After the aquarium, we headed over to the Denver Museum of Science and Nature to catch a show about black holes at the Gates Planetarium.  Connor is a big fan of astrophysics, so he was eager to see this show.

The planetarium show did not disappoint.  We spent an hour or so wandering around the space exhibits before heading out to explore the nature, Egyptian mummy, and paleontology exhibits.

We were starving by the time we finished at the museum, so Connor picked out a restaurant called Avanti for dinner.  It was like a food truck restaurant.  There were seven different mini restaurants inside, so we got to sample a bunch of different foods.  It was way yummy!

For dessert, we headed down the road to Little Man Ice Cream.  We sampled butterscotch, salted Oreo, and oatmeal cookie ice cream.  On our way over, the Emergency Broadcast System issued a tornado warning for Denver over the radio.  Apparently, a huge storm--complete with golf-ball sized hail and a funnel cloud--hit the Denver area.  We were a little freaked out, but it obviously missed our area, so all was well.

Since we weren't in any imminent danger of being consumed by a tornado, we decided to round out our day with a trip to the Denver Botanic Gardens.  We had visited 15 years ago when Connor was a baby, so we were anxious to go back with the girls.

Surprisingly, the kids loved this place just as much as we did.  They were enthralled by the Japanese gardens, and enjoyed weaving their way through the lush greenery.  It was so serene, and a perfect way to end our fun day in Denver.

Tomorrow we hit the Denver Mint and Elitch Gardens for some roller coaster action.  These teenagers are anxious to ride some coasters.  See ya then!

Great Sand Dunes National Park

After driving way too long, we finally arrived at Great Sand Dune National Park in Colorado.  The actual national park campground was full, so we had made reservations at San Luis State Park.  It wasn't the most beautiful campground, but it had clean bathrooms and electric hookups, so we were good.

It was insanely windy when we arrived, and, although we were planning on sand boarding, the rental place closed in an hour, so we decided to just visit the dunes and come back the next day to sand board and sled.

Did I say it was windy?  It was crazy windy.  We were beaten around by the wind and sand so much that we made the trip quick.  Then we retreated to the camper, where we cooked up a quick pot of spaghetti and ate some dinner.  Then we showered, popped some popcorn, and played card games in the camper all night.

The next day, we came prepared.  We hit the rental store early and rented boards and sleds and grabbed some bandanas as well.  Then we hit the dunes for some action.  Justin and I figured the kids would do a good amount of falling before they decided they didn't want to ride the dunes anymore.  Boy!  Were we wrong!

Although they did a fair amount of falling, they also rocked those dunes like they had done it for years.  After tackling the small hills, they were ready for some steeper ones, so we climbed several taller dunes looking for the next big rush.

Here's a cute video of one of Tate's bigger crashes.  Believe it or not, she got right back up and carted her board back to the top of the hill to try again.

We spent several hours at the dunes, and then we packed it up.  We headed back to the car, emptied the pounds of sand in our shoes, shirts, pants pockets, ears...  you name it!  There is sand everywhere.

We returned the sand boards and sleds and hit the road again.  We made it to Denver a few hours later.  We've set up a nice little camp at Cherry Creek State Park, and we plan to hit the sights of the city in the morning.  We'll check in again soon.

Chaco Culture National Historical Park

Road trip 2016 is in full swing.  We are having a blast, but are a bit behind on blogging.  We are just having too much fun.  We drop into bed exhausted each night.  Our first stop was Vernon, AZ.  We met up with the Richardson family and friends for a night.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures, so I'll have to get some from Grandma Linda when we get home.

From Vernon, we headed on to Chaco Culture NHP.  And let me tell you... this was no easy trip.  We had 20 miles of washboard dirt road to navigate before we reached the park.  It was slow going, and these kids were anxious to be out of the car.

We arrived to find that the Visitor Center was closed, so we set up camp, made some dinner, and headed out to the Indian ruins to catch a moonlight guided hike.  The hike was pretty interesting, but these kids were beat.  As soon as it was over, they were in bed. It was so dark and quiet at Chaco because it is so remote.  Justin and I awoke to the sound of howling coyotes several times that night.  The next morning, we packed up and headed out to see the ruins in the daylight.

Along the road to the ruins, we saw this awkward ripple moving along the road.  We drove closer and closer trying to figure out what it was, when suddenly, it turned to face us.  There were three badgers in the middle of the road.  They puffed up and tried to stare us down before retreating into the rocks on the side of the road.  You can kind of see them in the picture above.  None of us had ever seen a badger before.  We were so shocked, it took us a minute to find our cameras.

We spent a good hour exploring the ruins at Chaco Culture.  They were so interesting.  We are still amazed at how well these structures were built--and all by hand!  They are incredible.

We would have loved to spend more time there, but we have a tight schedule.  So after a bit of exploring, we were on the road again.  Next stop is The Great Sand Dunes National Park.  We will be back tomorrow to tell you all about sand boarding... and crashing.  :-)

On the Road... Again!

It was REALLY hard to say goodbye to Prairie Creek.  I think this may have been my favorite campsite ever.  It was in the middle of a state park, but it still felt so secluded.

But we finally got packed up and hit the road.  Justin and I have been nervous about this drive, because we had to take the camper through San Francisco.  YIKES!  We detoured through Oakland, and guess who rented a car so she could hang with us for lunch!?!

Yep, Auntie Janesa met us at In-N-Out Burger for a quick lunch break.  The traffic was horrible, so we were both a bit late, but we made it anyway, and it was so good to see her.  The girls wanted to pack her up and take her with us.

Unfortunately, she had to work, so we had to say our goodbyes.  We sure miss her already, though.

Traffic through the Bay Area was completely crazy.  We were so happy to get out of there.  We made it to Big Sur, and set up camp at Pfieffer Big Sur state park.  Tonight we are making pie iron sandwiches and soaking up the gorgeous weather.  It was a long drive, but California is so beautiful.  We can't wait to see what adventures tomorrow will bring!

Prairie Creek Redwoods, Day 2

Today we woke up early and had a good breakfast.  Once I started calculating the mileage on our hike, I realized it was going to be more like an 11-mile hike.  The kids were less than enthusiastic about that.

We packed up our Camelbaks so we would have water, snacks, and lunch with us on the trail.  We left at about 9:40 am, and we were hoping to be back to camp by 4 pm.

We took the James Irvine trail out.  It was absolutely amazing.  Scenes from Return of the Jedi were filmed here, and you can tell.  It looks exactly like the forest moon of Endor.

It was so green!  The redwoods are just as impressive as the sequoias.  We were in awe of the beauty around us.  Most of the time, the kids were quiet and contemplative.

Quiet is not usually a word we use to describe hiking with Tate, so it was an odd experience--very relaxing.  The scenery kept us distracted, and we hardly felt the mileage.

We passed cool bridges and giant redwoods.  There was so much to see, we didn't take many breaks.  At the end of the James Irvine trail, we came to the trailhead for Fern Canyon.  Fern Canyon is breathtaking.

The walls of the canyon are completely lined with ferns.  It is so green.  I know I keep saying that, but these Arizona kids just cannot get used to all this plant life!

We meandered through the canyon before we took the Coastal Trail to Gold Bluffs Beach.

Gold Bluffs Beach was the perfect spot to eat lunch and watch the pelicans.  The weather was perfect, the food was good, and these girls couldn't have been happier...

Then we put our shoes back on, packed up, and headed back to camp.  We walked down a short dirt road before we came to the Miner's Ridge Trail.

The kids thought this evacuation sign was funny.  We noticed how different the scenery was here on the Miner's Ridge trail at first.  There weren't many redwoods.  Eventually, though, our trail wound down through old growth forest.  I think parts of this trail were even more spectacular than James Irvine.

By this point, we were really starting to feel fatigued.  The last few miles really hurt.  Our feet were sore, and we were just really exhausted.

I think the only reason why the kids didn't mutiny was that they were awestruck by the surroundings.  By the time we finished our hike, though, the GPS told us that we had gone 14.2 miles that day, and we made it back to camp by 4:30 pm!  Whew!  These kids were beat!

We were able to herd them to the showers and get them some dinner.  At 6:30 pm, they were begging for bed.  Justin told them they couldn't go to bed until 9 pm.  So they curled up in blankets around the fire and played their instruments for a few hours.

I'm happy to report that they made a few more hours before crashing out.  They were all in bed with the lights out by 8:30 pm, though.  What an awesome day!  Tomorrow is one of our longest drives, so we'll check in when we get to Big Sur.  Goodnight!