The Way Back

We did a leisurely drive home for once, combining the coast route with 101 up to southern Oregon where we cut over to 5 and zoomed home.

Our first stop was Jalama Beach, a bit north of Santa Barbara. What a magical spot. It is just about the same as it was 20 years ago. Spring was out in full force. Mustard colored whole hillsides yellow. Some places were carpeted with purple and orange wildflowers. At Jalama, we camped by the play equipment and barbecued steaks.

The next day we drove up the coast to the Santa Cruz area. Here are some pictures taken just south of Big Sur to prove it.

The boys posing with the view.

The view.

The ground squirrel that apparently comes with the view.

We camped that night in the Santa Cruz mountains, then made our way up 1 through San Francisco, over the bridge, and then up 101. We came upon the Real Goods store in Hopland, California. Digger is a big fan of Real Goods. He even gets his own catalog from them. Real Goods sells sustainable living products and also has a demonstration area outside the store. The boys loved it and even bought solar flashlights.

Outside the Real Goods place.

Nathan playing with a solar panel.

We camped in the redwoods. Our campsite had some huge trees in it.

I love these trees with the burn holes in them. They remind me of Winnie-the-Pooh.

Here are the boys posing with their solar flashlights.

The whole kit and caboodle.

And now for the highlight of the whole expedition. We did something we NEVER do. We stopped at a roadside tourist trap. And here it is.

Trees of Mystery has it all.

It has a giant statue of Paul Bunyan (who we just happened to have recently studied in K12 history!). It also has a giant statue of Paul's blue bull but it seems that the photo I took of the bull highlights its...er...bull parts a little too well, so I left that one out.

It has crazy and amazing trees.

And it has this. This, folks, is what we came for.

A gondola through the canopy.

At the top it has a view of more trees. And binoculars to see the trees more closely.

It has another gondola to take you back down the hill.

And it has history to make it all count as school!

After all, isn't that what its all about around here?

Now that we're home from our adventures, I have been finishing all the ordering for next year. In the next few weeks I'm hoping to put up some posts about specifics for first and seventh grades (did I say seventh grade? Oh my!)