For our last Oregon campground we stayed at Portland Fairview RV Park in Fairview. Just a short 20 minute trip to downtown Portland and an hour from Mt Hood. We stayed in spot 36 which is completely level and partially shaded. 

  We went out to see Mt Hood which was freezing (46 degrees) and we had to purchase a few extra clothing items do the boys wouldn’t freeze. Afterwards we headed back to our rig for an early dinner. 

We left the boys at the rig so they could get their computer time in. Nana and I headed into downtown Portland. We wanted to see the food carts (tons of them) and we stopped in at Voodoo Doughnuts. 

  While the food carts offered an interesting selection of goods, we opted to just look and not eat. While at Voodoo we purchased a giant donut for Brian and chocolate glazed for Sean. They thoroughly enjoyed them. 
  Our second day involved a trip to the beautiful Multnomah Falls. We took Babe with us today as we knew we would be gone for 8-9 hours. She did surprisingly well after 10 minutes to get used to all the people. She even let 2 people pet her. 

  After the falls we drove over into Washington to visit Mt St Helens. It was a long 2 hour drive but I did enjoy seeing how it has changed in 35 years. It is still barren for approximately 6 miles where it erupted back in 1980. 

Next journey Seattle 

Take care y’all 

We made a last minute reservation at Woahink Lake RV Park in Florence, OR. We were so happy they squeezed us in once we arrived. Right behind the park are sand dunes which we walked out on every night. We even took Babe out on our last night. 

  While at the park we visited sea lions cave. It was interesting but I felt it was a bit overpriced. You take steps then an elevator down to where the ocean has carved out a cave. There were many more lions outside the cave in the main rocks. 

Once done at the caves we drove down the coast to Cape Perpetua to visit Thor’s Well. I will post pictures of this once we are home. 

Next up Portland 

Take care y’all 

July 22

  Today we finally crossed into Oregon after 23 days in California. Brian was happy to put another state up on our window. He wasn’t happy about the lack of cell signal and the slow campground wifi that we really could only use at the office. 

  The water was an amazing color! I was totally surprised that the boys watched a 5 minute film about how the lake was formed. We stopped at their snack bar and ate lunch. I do wish I would remember to pack a lunch. Food at these places are never very good or healthy. 
Next up sea lions

Take care y’all 

  We headed back towards the coast in order to visit the redwoods. Before we reached the redwoods we made a few stops. 

First up was an elk viewing area. We had a bit of a talk in the car about all the inconsiderate people who weren’t waiting for the animals to finish crossing. 

  Afterwards we stopped at…The Trees of Mystery. Very kitschy tourist trap, but the boys enjoyed hiking on their short trail. Brian was even willing to give Sean a piggy back ride when his foot started hurting. 

  Afterwards, we finally made it to the official redwoods park. One great thing we discovered are two unpaved roads you can drive on through parts of the park. It was so much fun, especially when Nana got a bit concerned when going through narrow areas. 
  At the end of our day, we played mini golf at our KOA campground and Sean enjoyed some roasted marshmallows. Brian generally doesn’t eat marshmallows, but we made our own version of my cousins, Cheryl, smore dessert and he chowed down.  
 Next up Crater Lake

Take care y’all 

Our next journey lead us to the 49er rv park in historic Columbia, CA. While it’s a bit nerve wracking getting through part of the town to the campsite (GPS was wrong!), once we arrived the staff helped us back into our spot. I have to say it was my easiest back up ever with their help. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to explore the historic part of Columbia. We did, however, drive an hour to visit Yosemite. 

  One thing I have learned is that this is one busy park. Long line to get into the park then it took us 30 minutes of driving around to get a parking space. It was daunting but we enjoyed the information Center. Brian and Sean enjoyed shopping (for once). They both purchased hydration backpacks. 

  We were very happy that we didn’t go on a weekend where you often wait 2 hours just to get in the park! Due to constant driving I wasn’t able to take very many pictures on my phone, thankfully my mom was able to use my cameraI.  I will upload more when I am finally home. 

We also had a day of rest. Mom and I managed to get appointments to get our hair done and  afterwards we spent some time at a local farmers market and then ate at the diamondback grill. Afterwards we headed back to the rig to do some laundry and cleaning.

Next up Redwoods!

Take care y’all 

   After visiting some “absolutely massive” sequoias (per Sean ), we headed back to the coast. We stayed several days at a quiet and peaceful KOA campground Costanoa. 

Mom and I walked 25 minutes down to the beach. It was stunning with waves pounding against rocks and tons of pelicans. We will add pictures at the end of the trip. The main downfall to this campground is the intermittent wifi. In order to get a more consistent signal you needed to get closer to the general store. 

 We spent the next several days touring San Francisco which was only an hour from the campground.     

     Our first day we drove down to the piers and walked 1.4 miles to pier 39. We ate at hard rock (Nana’s favorite – lol) and then shopped a bit on the busy pier. Occasionally we sat on benches outside the busy stores. The boys were thrilled to see Alcatraz and the golden gate Bridge.  

    
 Day two involved visiting the Burlingame museum of PEZ memorabilia. We all enjoyed stopping to get a picture with the largest PEZ dispenser and having a personalized tour of the museum (back room of the small store). 

Next we traveled back into San Francisco to visit the mosaic steps before we took a quick drive down the famous Lombard Street. 

We finally hopped onto the 2.5 hr Big Bus Tour of San Francisco  where Sean was a little smooshed until the second stop which was really the beginning of the tour. The highlight of the tour was driving over the golden gate Bridge. 

    On our last day, the boys decided to stay in the rv and I left provisions they could heat up in the microwave for dinner. Mom and I went back to San Francisco to shop Fishermans Wharf and ride the cable cars. 

Our next trip will be to see Yosemite. 

Take care y’all 

  
After receiving some lovely flowers from my mom’s best friend from childhood (not to mention some delicious homemade cookies), we drove away from sunny 70 degree weather inland to sunny 90 degree weather. 

 We stayed at a KOA in Visalia which is only an hour from the Sequoia National Park. Not longer after entering the park we passed tunnel rock that people used to drive under many years ago. 

   
   
There were several pull overs so we could take pictures on our way. I will add additional pictures later. We visited the General Sherman tree which is over 2,200 year old. Sean was very impressed with how huge it was. He reminded us that we need to stay on the path to protect their fragile root systems. 

Sean is having problems with one of his tennis shoes. I think he has outgrown them. Hopefully we will find a place that has shoes he can wear for the remainder of the trip. I have keeps that he can wear but we like tennis shoes due to all the walking we do. 

Take care y’all 

  Camp San Luis Obisipo (slo) is our next stop for two nights. Mom has a great friend who lives 15 minutes away and has offered to show us a beach area we can take Babe to see what she thinks of the beach. 

While she enjoyed the trip next to Brian (see photo above) she did NOT like the ocean!   She had no idea what to do about the strange water that kept coming towards her. We took pity on her and sat on a bench while the boys played on the near by playset. 

   
 
After playing we drove into Morro Bay and ate lunch. It’s amazing how when you ask if a restaurant has plain burgers they always say yes, but they are always different and my kids won’t eat them. 

Next we head off inland toward the sequoias. 

Take care y’all 

July 7

There is just something about Disney that is just like coming home for us. We know what to expect and are rarely surprised, and when we are it’s a good thing. Pat decided to get a tour guide for today and we met him, Aaron, at the Grand Californian Hotel. 

  We first went to California Adventures. Our first ride was in Radiator Springs. I could have sat there all day just looking at the buildings. You can see Aaron sitting behind me on the ride. He was like the energizer bunny, he kept us going all day. 

  We road space mountain to see how it was different from the FL version. We did skip the Matterhorn (pictured above). I was dragging at this point. 
  
Brian invited Aaron on the teacup ride since I was in the bathroom. He graciously accepted and he kept the kids laughing the entire time. If you decide to get a tour guide for Disneyland, he is definitely the one you want.  

We did over 24k steps according to my fitbit. Over 10k more steps than at Universal. Thankfully for our last night, our cousins came over to the rv and we picked up five guys to eat for dinner. Their kids and my kids ended up playing smash brothers on the Wii. Kat and Rachel rocked it out and played to win!  Someone has to beat Sean, Brian and I haven’t been able to!  

Carol told Brian about how they used to make late night Krispy Kreme donut runs and after taking Lee home they came back and picked him up for some just cousins sugar splurging. 

I really do have the best cousins! They both opened their homes to all of us. 

Take care y’all 

July 6th

  Today was our VIP tour at Universal Studios.  We braved LA traffic and arrived 15 minutes early. The first part of our tour was a 2 hour backlog tour on a tram.   

We went through 2 “rides” while on the tram. The first one was dinosaurs vs King Kong. Which wasn’t bad. The second one was fast and furious which just opened a week ago and I could have lived without. However, part of that could be due to hunger. 

We did finally get to stop and eat. I had asked earlier about our lunch buffet and I was told there was fries and pizza and loads of other food.  I have to say that the guides version of loads of foods and mine are different. No pizza. Both boys just ate fries and had some cookies for desert.  They won’t eat sushi, seafood, meatballs, salad, pasta salad. I did not stay on plan with my food. I ended up taking a roll and putting some deli turkey on it in addition to my salad. 

  We get to see where they were constructing Harry Potter. If you are looking for roller coasters, universal is not where you want to go. We did enjoy going on a few attractions but I don’t think we will be going back to this park. 

We made a very quick stop by the Observatory so I could get a picture of the Hollywood wood sign then we headed back to the rv with our tuckered out kids. 
  Take care y’all