Day Four - Humboldt Redwoods

Giant Redwoods RV and Camp looks better in the morning as we see access below to a lovely, large, beach on the Eel River.  The site itself is a little rough with knee high weeds, but the bathrooms are nice and clean with free showers.  There were no more fire pits last night, so Jon has found one first thing this morning so we can have a campfire tonight.








We have the deluxe camper's breakfast this morning...eggs, bacon, and hash browns.  I cook, Jon washes, Elliot rinses, and Amelia dries.  Jon remarks that my escapades in the back of the van remind him of my mom Jeane and Eileen cooking on board Ed & Eileen's sailboat Chateau...they were called galley gnomes, so I guess this makes me a van gnome!





This morning we are off to see some redwoods.  We stop first at the visitor's center...

And then off to Founder's Grove.....its hard to convey the size of these beautiful trees or feeling of awe in a forest of them....

 

 

After a lunch of sandwiches we head to the campsite's beach on the Eel River and have some fun, despite my over protective hovering (the river was calm with a very slow flow).  The river gets it name from the lampreys that are found here (lampreys are jawless invertebrates so neither fish nor eel...and most lampreys, like these, are not parasitic).  It is far pretty than its name.

We end the evening with the much anticipated campfire.  Over the fire we toast hotdogs of various types - regular ones for Elliot, tofu ones for me, brats for Jon, and chicken-apple sausages for Amelia.  Jon and I crack open the first wine in the box (Big House Red...box wine has come a long way) and then begins our epic run of s'mores...

Day Three - On the Move

After wrasseling our new rooftop carrier we have left Clear Lake "in a cloud of snail sweat" as Jon's dad used to say. We leave with no fish but we vow a grudge match in the future.  The van's nav system has its own opinion about the best route to our next destination, so we go with it.  After arriving in Hopland, CA we realize that our van has a real penchant for narrow, curvy, albeit picturesque, roads and decide that there needs to be a little adult supervision of its choices.  This is Amelia and me with Clear Lake in the distance.  Lunch is next on the docket, so we drive through town twice and settle on Piazza di Campovida and what a great choice!

Elliot's choice was a Margherita pizza and after he quickly downed four pieces we realized that we had to order another if we wanted a piece.  Amelia's choice was a potato, parmesan, and rosemary pizza - delicious.  While the kids enjoyed homemade blood orange soda, Jon had a glass of wine and I enjoyed one of the pizzeria's beers - Shotgun Saison - herby and the most interesting beer I've drank.

The day is just half over so we are off to our next stop at Vichy Springs.  Jon was completely (and not surprisingly) horrified that we were going to spend $120 for the four of us to enjoy this hot springs resort for just 2 hours...but I pointed out that we were going to be in the company of presidents as Grant, Harrison and Teddy all stayed and bathed here, as did Jack London, Mark Twain and Robert Louis Stevenson.  The resort first opened in 1854 but fell on hard times in 1940s.  It was rehabbed and reopened in 1989 but still retains the baths from 1854 and many of the buildings from the 1800s.  There is plug that you move from the front of the bath to the back which allows the water to flow in from the spring and fill the tub (see behind Elliot) and when you are done you move the plug back and the water leaves the tub and joins the stream below.

The water is warm (90 degrees) and effervescent.  Very relaxing and our skin did feel softer (the water is alkaline or basic like soap)...however, our bathing suits have taken on a decidedly reddish hue as has our hair.  More like strawberry blond for me (see my Medusa picture to the right...running eye make-up and my hair floating because of the bubbles...I think you can see the red already in my hair), but Jon's hair looks a little like a dye job gone wrong.  Jon's comment - "I can't believe I'm going to have to pay someone to dye my hair gray!"  Note:  the color in our hair has thankfully faded, but not in our suits - a bit like those red shirts from Hawaii.  We actually really loved the springs and Elliot made it clear that he could stay and endlessly fill and empty the tubs.

We end our day with the drive to Humboldt to spend our first night in the redwoods.  Sadly the state parks in the area are not open for camping because of budget cuts, so we are staying at a private campground called Giant Redwoods RV & Camp.  On our way we stop to drive through a redwood tree...however the van is too big, so we walk through instead.  Dinner is cheesy nachos with real meat for most, while I opt for penne with cheese and we all enjoy some broccoli.

Day Two - We Fish

Breakfast of banana bread, yogurt, and fruit.  A raccoon has christened our tablecloth by walking across it with slightly muddy paws...funny and a little gross.  The French coffee press is my new best friend - Jon hopped out of bed first today and fired up the stove to make coffee, so I like him too. Today we bought fishing licenses, bait and lures...and a half-price Thule rooftop carrier, a true mix of optimism and practicality.  We'll fish at Clear Lake with our night crawlers, Senkos (worm lure), and frog lure (truly cute and we hope irresistable).  Morning consists of learning (or re-learning) to cast.  We loose some bait and a Senko...but no fish are interested in what we have to offer.

Mid-day lunch of sandwiches and we decide to swim for the afternoon as the temp is near 100, although shade is nice and there is a breeze.  The name Clear Lake is a shameless marketing ploy as the lake is actually quite full of algae and anything but clear.  Heat wins over any squeamishness, so we jump in and it is refreshing.  Added bonus are all the algae crowns that people wear after diving under - some purposefully and others blissfully unaware.  Kids at the lake also have the equivalent of a snowball fight with algae...funny and a little gross.

We try fishing again in the evening but no luck...dinner is a meat sauce over penne for the meat eaters while I happily finish the veggie tacos.  Thankfully the evening cools down and we sleep fine, even Elliot who rolls off the air mattress and appears to have slept most of the night on the ground.

Day One - Leaving Danville, CA

OK so you have this plan about how and when you are going to leave...and then other things get in the way.  Laundry, the third trip to find the right cooler, and ferrying kids to classes, camps, etc...   So much for leaving in the morning, but we do manage to make it out the door after lunch and start heading up to Clear Lake.  High crabby factor in the car as we've been packing and running around.  Unfortunately it was my bright idea to spend 3 weeks on the road camping with a family that has camped very little...which means I have only myself to blame...ugh, I hate when that happens.

Luckily we have very little traffic getting out of the Bay Area as most people have already left town.  We take 29 up through Napa which is very picturesque; however, the last 40 miles of this trek are very curvy so even those with the hearty stomachs are glad to have the swaying stop when we reach Clear Lake State Park.  Campsite is nice but it is well over 90 degrees...eek.  We manage to get ourselves organized, eat a nice dinner of tacos and salad...and I only unpack and repack the back of the van three times.  Everyone declares soy taco meat not only acceptable, but delicious....I am thankful that I only have to cook one meal for everyone and am already appreciating the effect camping has on everyone's appetites.

We are JAKE

Or Jon, Amelia, Kelly, and Elliot and we are off for three weeks of camping in NorCal and Oregon...three days and counting to our departure...

The real question is how is this.....

Going to fit in here?