A Little Adventure

With warm weather just around the corner, I’ve been reminiscing about our adventures last summer and thought it would be fun to create a top ten (or a few less) list for time in California and for our Oregon Coast trip. I hope you enjoy them.

Top Seven List for the Oregon Coast

7. Waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge
6. Oregon Coast Aquarium
5. Sitting on the beaches watching sunsets
4. Heceta Head Lighthouse
3. Yaquina Head Lighthouse
2. Tillamook Cheese Factory visit
1. Crescent Beach

Top Ten List for California

10. The park with water that Milo enjoyed so much
9. Pebble Beach
8. Monterey Bay Aquarium
7. Yosemite National Park
6. In-N-Out visits
5. Big Sur
4. San Francisco Zoo
3. Ghirardelli Square sundaes
2. Golden Gate Bridge
1. Crissy Field

Good times!

On Sunday morning, we decided that we’d go to part of church. We went to a ward that started at 9 a.m. It was a good meeting. After we were done with church, we went back to the motel and changed our clothes…and managed to get everything back in the car.

We took off and headed up toward the Redwoods. It was foggy and cold that morning. Scott was hoping for some fog in the Redwood Forest, but the forest was a bit too far away from the coast and the fog had already burned off. We decided to stop at the Lady Bird Johnson grove in Redwood National Park. It was a nice little 1 mile loop hike. We had fun doing going on that hike. Milo enjoyed getting out to walk and run a bit.

We had on our list to see the Battery Point Lighthouse. You can only access the lighthouse during low tide. Monica had called ahead to find out when low tide was on the day we would be there. We found out that the lighthouse would be closed that day. We didn’t get to go out and see it. It looked spectacular from road, and we decided it was a must stop if we are ever traveling through that area again.

The famous Oregon bridge builder Conde B. McCullough designed and supervised the building of many bridges along the Oregon coast. We decided that we would try to stop and see many of them. The Thomas Creek Bridge was the first bridge on our list, so we stopped and parked in the signed pull-out (The signage in Oregon is quite good. The signage in California is quite poor…if anyone cares). We went on a little hike to try and find it, but ended up not being able to see it due to the fog…or we didn’t find the trail that leads to the bridge. The coastal forest in the fog was rather spectacular so the little hike wasn’t a complete failure.

We also stopped to see the Cape Sebastian viewpoint which was billed by one book as one of the best views along the Oregon coast. Visibility was about 100 feet or so due to the fog. Very disappointing.

The fog can also be good. We stopped by the Rogue River Bridge which was just beautiful in the fog. The boats on the river floated along in the eery fog. Good stuff!

We wanted to stop and see the Cape Blanco lighthouse, but we realized that they were already closed for the day. We thought we’d gamble and go down to the road in hopes we could at least see it. We arrived and there was a gate and a sign that said that you would be trespassing if we went past the gate. The other problem was that it was foggy, so there was no way we could see the lighthouse. We decided it was best to just go on and try and see this lighthouse another time. We were very disappointed.

We continued on in hopes that we could see the Coquille River Bridge and Lighthouse. This time we were able to see the lighthouse even though it was closed. It was very beautiful with the fog surrounding it and such. Milo enjoyed playing in the sand. He played for a while while Scott and Monica looked at the lighthouse. We all had a great time, but decided to head to our campground, Bullards Beach, because it was foggy and cold. On our way there Scott made us stop so he could photograph the Coquille River Bridge. It isn’t the prettiest bridge, but it isn’t horrible either.

That night we camped at Bullards Beach State Park. It was a nice campground. We liked it because they had trees and bushes between each campsite. We went to bed early that night as we were tired. Milo gets really excited when we sleep in the tent. He loves to help put it up and then run and jump on the “soft” sleeping bags. We did manage to get him calmed down and sleeping without too much trouble.

We managed to roll out of bed pretty early and start getting ready to leave. The car was mostly packed the night before, but we still had more stuff than Scott expected not in the car. He did manage to get it all in and we were off. On the way to California Milo insisted on wearing his pajamas. True to form he once again insisted on wearing his pajamas on the first leg of the trip home. We headed north and across the Golden Gate Bridge on our way to Fort Ross. The fort isn’t anything super unique, but there is a really cool church there that Scott wanted to photograph. It was foggy, but a few of the images worked out well enough.

A photo of the canon from the church window.

We continued north to the Point Arena Lighthouse. It is one of the taller lighthouses on the coast. We were pretty excited to see it. We took the tour which included a trip up the lighthouse steps to the lantern room. It was a nice tour. The lighthouse is a bit too tall to photograph from up close so we took the trail out to a better vantage point. We got out there and Scott had just started taking photos when we were told to leave due to a wedding. Scott was pretty upset by the whole incident. The person telling us to leave was quite rude and we weren’t notified in any way before we started the trek out to the point that there was an exclusive event going on. We may go back, but it will be reluctantly as they didn’t leave us with a very good impression.

More window pictures…this time from the lighthouse window half way up the stairs.

We wanted to drive Highway 1 on our entire way north. The road had been its standard winding self which slowed us down but didn’t really cause any other problems. Then we hit the forested section between Westport and Leggett… Scott was driving this section and finally commented that this section of the highway must be a car sick person’s worst nightmare. Monica then mentioned that she was feeling a bit car sick. Unfortunately the highway didn’t give us much respite, but Monica did manage to not lose her lunch. We didn’t do our homework well enough and missed the drive-thru tree near Leggett. We did hop off the highway and take the scenic Avenue of the Giants. We were far enough inland to have shed the fog which was a welcome change. We stopped at the Founder’s Grove and took a walk around. The trees are certainly beautiful and very hard to photograph. Scott did take a few pictures to help communicate the idea of the forest.

We left the Avenue of the Giants and headed toward our final destination for the day, Eureka. We made the requisite trip to the Carson Mansion. It is a beautiful building, but the weather didn’t cooperate for a spectacular image.

We stopped by a local Mexican restaurant for dinner. Scott really like the food. It really hit the spot after a long day in the car. The best part of the restaurant experience of course involved Milo. We were brought some Andes mints with the check. Milo picked one up and opened it. Once he realized what is was he exclaimed, “Me love chocolate!” He often tells us that the likes or dislikes things, but this was the first time he professed his love for something. It gave us a good laugh.

Our time in California is coming to a close. We have truly enjoyed our stay here and have learned a lot of great things. Scott had a great internship and learned a lot. Milo and I enjoyed going to the parks, the library and other fun things.

We will miss our weekly trips to see things, but are also looking forward to being able to spend some down time at home. California and Utah are very different. We have enjoyed both places. We hope to be able to come back and visit again soon.

In the next couple of days, we will leave for our trip along the Oregon Coast. We will go home to SLC after a short visit with family in Portland. If you need to contact us via e-mail, please do so by tonight (Thursday). After today, we will not have access to internet or e-mail.

We went back to Stanford Sunday afternoon to try and get a family picture. I figured that I should take a few more shots while I was there. There are a lot of arches on the main quad. I had a fun time including a few of them in the shots. For some reason I really like the Hoover Tower shot…

A coworker had mentioned that I should visit the Rodin sculpture garden on one of my visits to Stanford. We hadn’t been there and this was our last visit…so we dropped by. Milo was tired and seemed to be a bit creeped out by the sculptures. That meant we didn’t stay as long as I would have liked, but it was still very interesting and enjoyable.

The most imposing piece in the sculpture garden is called Gates of Hell. It is an interesting sculpture in and of itself. Adding to the intrigue is the fact that the sculpture is flanked or framed by sculptures of Adam and Eve. I am not exactly sure what Rodin intended by that, but it is an interesting decision. Anyway, I won’t wax too philosophical about the art… Interesting stuff though.

Here are a few images of the sculpture…

Here is one of Eve. I wanted to take one of Adam as well, but the position of the sun made it impossible for me to get the shot I wanted…

Here is a sculpture of a big head (this one particularly creeped out Milo). I think it is a bust of the head of one of Burghers of Calais (which is on the main quad of the Stanford campus). I am not 100% sure and Google didn’t help much. If you know for sure I would like to know.

The past few weeks, we have been trying to take some family pictures so that we have an updated picture and also to remember our time in California. We finally managed to get one at Stanford this past Sunday that is acceptable to us. It isn’t the great light or cool background that Scott was hoping for, but in the end the simple lighting and easy location made it possible. We hope that you like it. I hope you enjoy Milo’s face.

We are now taking orders for what pictures you want. Please send either of us an e-mail with what size you want (yes, those of you who we always give a new picture to, we have your sizes already but a reminder wouldn’t hurt). The week we get back to SLC we’ll get them printed and we’ll give them to you that following weekend.

For our last full day in the area, we decided that we’d go to San Francisco in the evening and watch the lights come on in the city and on the Golden Gate Bridge. We went to Crissy Field which is on the southeast side of the bridge in the Presidio. It has a grassy area where you can just sit and relax. It was totally worth it, even though it was very cold and foggy.

We also decided that we’d take some food with us and have a picnic at Crissy Field. That was fun.

While we were waiting for it to get dark we called family and chatted for a bit. Milo and Scott ran around on the grass. It was a great evening.

After eating, we went over to our great spot where you had an awesome view of the bridge. Here’s a picture of the bridge before it got dark.

Here’s some pictures when the lights were starting to come on. It was really fun to watch.

I was amazed to see the lights all come on and watch the fog slowly lower. It was awesome to see the lights give the fog an eerie glow. I hope that you enjoy these pictures. We certainly enjoyed watching the night develop. It was a spectacular ending to a great summer of adventures. I guess that we just have our long adventure up the Oregon coast left…

As our time in California is drawing to a close, we’ve decided that our time here has definitely changed us. It seems that each experience we have, makes use either better or worse. This one has definitely made us better.

We’ve enjoyed all the things we’ve done. I realized that we have grown to like San Francisco quite a bit. It is a great city with a lot of fun things to do. We’ve been to San Francisco about as many times as we’ve been other places. It is also probably the only place that we’ve visited multiple times. In fact on our last Saturday to do something, we are going to San Francisco to one of our favorite places. That place is Crissy Field where you can sit on the grass, look at the Golden Gate Bridge and just relax.

Milo has grown to enjoy several things as well. He really likes to go to the park (normal parks as well as the park with water) and has asked multiple times to go to the zoo and beach again. When we get back to Salt Lake City, we are going to try and take him to the parks around there, including Liberty Park where there is water. We are going to try and take him to the zoo more often too. As far as the beach, that will be a hard one since there are no beaches in Utah. We hope he understands….

Milo has had some great experiences here in California. We asked him if he wanted to go back to Utah yesterday and he actually told us no. He had really had a fun time. I think that he’ll probably like SLC once we get there.

We have had a great experience and have really enjoyed our time here. We think we will definitely have to come back and visit the San Francisco area again!

When Scott’s grandparents were here, we went to see Stanford University. I had not been to Stanford before. It was very cool to drive down Palm Drive. We drove around the campus and looked at the buildings. Milo was itching to get out and play on the grass so we did that near the Main Quad. We walked up to see the Memorial Church and surrounding walls. Jane Stanford built the church in memory of her husband, Leland Stanford. In 1906 during an earthquake it took out the bell tower. When they were reconstructing the church, they did not put the bell tower back in. It was amazing to see the mosaic on the church.

We also enjoyed seeing the Hoover Tower which was built for Hebert Hoover (former president of the United States and also a Stanford Alumni).

We also went and saw Stanford University when my family was visiting. It was great to see it again. We enjoyed looking around and we were all glad that we went. This time, Milo knew exactly where to go and was running all over the place with Scott. We hope that you enjoy the pictures. It has been a great Sunday afternoon spot to go.

To learn more about the history of Stanford, you can see the following link Stanford University History Page

After we got our camp taken down, we started off to go through Yosemite again. We went back down the Tioga Pass road, through a small chunk of the Yosemite Valley, and west toward Wawona/Fresno. We made the requisite stop at Tunnel View. The light was horrible, but Scott did take a picture out of respect for Ansel. It was a beautiful view, but the light wasn’t good. The one thing we did notice was how little water was coming down the waterfalls. What had been raging falls in May were now just a trickle. It was shocking! Yosemite is much more interesting in April, May, and early June. Scott thinks that we hit it about right this year.

We continued along the road and came to Washburn Point. It shows you a view of Half Dome. You are also able to see Vernal and Nevada falls as well as the infamous Mist Trail from a distance. We noticed that if you hiked the Mist Trail would not get as wet as we did when we went earlier.

We went a little further down to the end of the road and finished at Glacier Point. This point is a point that has a few little trails on top of the mountain where you can basically see all the valley and most of the waterfalls. It was awesome to see everything from above.

We then took the scenic handicap trail back to the car at Milo’s request. By this point, Milo was getting tired. When we got to the end of this part of the trail, Milo told us that we wanted to go left back the way we came. Scott told him that we needed to go right down San Antonio (the trail the way we needed to go). Milo accepted that and we headed back to the car. We thought it was hilarious that Milo thought the trail was named San Antonio.

Clarification from Scott: The reason that the whole “San Antonio” experience is funny is this. Often when we get in the car to go on Saturday and Milo asks for a map. He opens it and tells us where we are going. He usually points out a park or something similar. When we ask how to get there he says, “left, right, San Antonio.” We are walking along the trail, Milo is clearly very tired, and his parents are getting tired of his irrational demands and attitude. We are almost back to the parking lot and he decides to be stubborn and head the wrong direction. We finally get him stopped, and he is dead set on going the wrong direction. Dad takes a moment to think and decides to use Milo’s own phrase to his advantage. He doubts it will work, but at this stage we are ready to try anything. I tell him, “Milo that way is left we need to turn right and head down San Antonio, right?” He thinks for a moment, says, “Yes” and off he goes. Monica and I look at each other with big fat grins. Once we get to the parking area we decide it is safe enough to laugh and talk about it. We had a good laugh!!!

After driving back down into the Valley and a short stop to see Bridal Veil Fall, we began our drive home. It wasn’t too bad of a drive home, until we ran into a traffic jam on a small road near Chinese Camp. There were so many people who were turning around. Scott started looking at the maps for possible detours. He found one that didn’t seem too far out of the way and we’d bypass it all. We started that way. We got onto a fairly big road and we were suppose to drive straight through Modesto. Well, either it wasn’t clearly signed which way we were suppose to go or we missed the sign, because we ended up on a different road. We continued on and after a few minutes got on the right road. After we got onto the freeway, we yet again ran into traffic as we were coming into Oakland. It always seems to slow through there, either that or it is the time of the day. Anyway, we did get home safe and sound and we didn’t hit too many delays. It was a great trip to Yosemite.