Week 5 - December 4

Welcome back! Sorry for the lack of posting but we've been very busy!

After stuffing ourselves with a potluck Thanksgiving feast (which included a deep fried turkey) we drove through LA and went to Universal Studios.

We don’t really have any pictures of Universal Studios because there wasn’t a whole lot to take pictures of.  Lots of fun rides and some pretty cool shows including Terminator and Waterworld but we couldn’t really photograph those. So you will just have to use your imagination and picture us having fun and playing with dinosaurs on the Jurassic Park ride.

American Thanksgiving is followed by Black Friday, which is the busiest shopping day of the year… I guess they don’t really do Boxing Day the way we do.  So we made our way over to Huntington Beach to check out some of the surf shops and ended up finding a pretty cool local artist market.

San Diego was our next stop so we drove down the road, found a campsite and went to Sea World.  Karly made up for the lack of Universal Studios pictures by taking about 1000 pictures of seals and dolphins and whales and fish and otters and polar bears and walruses and just about anything else that moved.  Sea World was really cool, they had a couple fun shows including the Shamu show and a pretty funny Sea Lion/Otter show.

Next day we were on to the San Diego Zoo to take more pictures of lions and tigers and bears and gorillas and rhinos and pandas and meerkats and….well you get the idea.  The Zoo was very focused on conservation and protection of the animals which was good to see; we didn’t have to feel entirely guilty looking at all the caged animals.

Our campsite in San Diego was a little bit on the expensive side and we still had one more day to spend at Disneyland so we slowly made our way back to Anaheim which included a couple of sneaky stops in Oceanside and Huntington Beach.  We finally got a good day of surfing in at Oceanside and spent a day relaxing checking out the coastal cities. Last night we went to see Mickey one last time and we stayed late in the park to watch the Christmas fireworks show which was really neat, they also made it fake snow all over Disneyland.

That bring us to today!  The plan for the day is to head over to Six Flags Magic Mountain, which has some of the best roller coasters in the world so we are both pretty excited. Keep an eye out for more pictures and we’ll write again soon!

Happy December!    ***More pictures to come soon**

Week 4 - November 25th

Hello Everyone,

We left off on Wednesday the 17^th when we were headed to Santa Barbara. We made it to a town called Pismo, which has the only beach in California where you can drive out on the beach and camp. So we drove a few miles down the beach, picked a spot and camped in the fog.

Pismo Beach Camping

The next day we ended up in Malibu where we discovered the wonders of California RV parks. Malibu Beach RV Park was fully equipped with ridiculously clean showers, hot tub, tv room, and amazing views for less then what the state parks charge per night. Because of the comfort and the fact that it was so close to Mike’s birthday we decided to stay for a few nights.

Santa Monica Boardwalk

Mike's Daily Meal of Champions

By Monday the 22^nd we made our way to LA to play at Disney Land. We found another RV park that is less then one mile to the Disney Land parks. This one is just as amazing and more.

Without much thought we have found ourselves playing in Disney Land during one of the busiest weeks of the year (American Thanksgiving).  We’ve spent two very full days exploring Disneyland and California Adventure and are taking a day off today.  Our RV Park is having a potluck Thanksgiving dinner so we are joining in to watch some football and enjoy some good food!



Day 1 at Disneyland!



Walt Disney and Mickey





We have a very busy week in front of us, which includes trips to Hollywood, Universal Studios, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Sea World and the San Diego Zoo so keep an eye out for more posts coming up next week with some more pictures!

Happy American Thanksgiving!

Who woulda thought that the tea cup ride would be so great

You can't tell but we are going really fast

 

 



 

Parade on day two

 

Karly flirting with Baloo

Week 3 - November 17th

Hello everybody!      

So we didn’t go to Napa Valley….instead, we stayed on the coast for one more night before heading into San Fran. We pulled into a campsite along the Gualala River, which is a couple hours north of San Fran.  We went for an evening paddle down the Gualala River which was a lot of fun and spent the rest of the evening chasing very bold raccoons away from our campsite.  Turns out Karly is pretty good at chasing away wild animals.

Alcatraz, San Francisco

Golden Gate Bridge

The next morning it was on to San Francisco. We got an early start and headed out on the road eventually making it to the city and crossing the Golden Gate Bridge.  We figured camping and sleeping in the truck wouldn’t be the best way to see San Fran so we got a hotel for the next couple of nights.

Bridge in the Tea Garden

We parked the truck at the hotel and decided we would get some exercise and explore the city by foot.  Maybe you’ve heard but apparently there are some very big hills in San Francisco.  Over the next couple of days we checked out the Fisherman’s Wharf, the cable cars, Golden Gate Park(Japanese Tea Garden), Haight St.(the peace and love district), Union Square(the hub of downtown) and spent some time in Japantown. There was a lot of walking and bussing but it was definitely nice to come home to a free shower, tv and clean sheets.

On the morning of the 13^th we had, had enough of the busy city and needed some peace and quiet so we hit the road again. Our first stop wasn’t too far, a place called Half Moon Bay, known for the world-renowned surf spot, Mavericks. Karly was relieved to find out that the potential 80+foot waves were not a possibility for at least a month or two. Instead we hung out on an endless beach watching the waves and enjoying yet another epic sunset.

Half Moon Bay

Steamer Lane, Santa Cruz

Next stop was Santa Cruz, we decided that it was time to get back on budget (San Francisco wasn’t kind to our wallets), so we camped in the residential area and surfed at dawn. On our travel day out of Santa Cruz we stopped at the most amazing produce place ever. I could have left Karly there and she probably wouldn’t have known for at least week or two. I wouldn’t nomally get that excited about produce but 10 grapefruits for a dollar was pretty sweet. That night we decided not to spend money on a campground and someone at a kayak shop had mentioned that we could camp without hassle on a wicked side road named Nacimiento Rd.



Sunset at Nacimiento Rd.



Along Highway 1, Central California

 Last night we stayed just outside a neat little town called Cayucos which is the halfway point between San Francisco and LA. Today we are heading towards San Luis Obispo and possibly Santa Barbara.

Disney Land, here we come!

P.s. we have added some more pictures to the first blog that we posted if you are interested in checking those out.

Elephant Seals resting on the beach

Juvenile Elephant Seals play fighting

Week 2 - November 10th

Lunch Stop at Cape Meares, Oregon

Hello,

We have made serious progress down the coast since our last entry. It turns out that all towns, state parks, and campgrounds in Oregon are really close together so when we set out in the morning with a destination in mind, we seem to be there within a half hour at most. To help a bit we have been stopping and taking pictures at every chance we get, and on the 101 that is every 5 to 10 minutes.

Playing in the sand dunes.

Floence, Oregon

We left off with the destination of Tillamook in mind, and with everything so close together we made it to Pacific City in Cape Kiwanda. With camping only being $10 that night we decided to go out for drinks at the Pelican Brew pub, an epic pub that sits right on the beach, perfect view of the sunset. Over the next couple days we stopped in Florence to play in the sand dunes and Bandon to watch the huge waves and some Sunday night football. Before we knew it Oregon was coming to an end and we made our last stop at Harris Beach, just out side of Brookings. We spent our last night in Oregon watching another picture perfect sunset. 



Harris Beach, Oregon

Bandon, Oregon

 





Tuesday we crossed into California in the pouring rain but it didn't seem so bad being sheltered by the massive Redwoods. Last night we slept in Miranda, California and today we are making our way towards the Napa Valley to pretend we know about wine. We should be in San Francisco in the next day or two. We hope everyone is well and we will update soon.

Week One

Hey Everybody!



Crescent Beach, Washington



This may not be the most personal way of keeping in touch with each of you but keeping up with writing two families worth of e-mails just seemed too time consuming. As you know we only have two months of vacation and we have no free time whatsoever.



Day one included a lot of running around and a lot of driving but we made it to Crescent Beach Washington safe and sound.  We pulled in late in the day and slept in the usual spot (a vacant pull-out on the side of the road) getting poured on with rain.  We woke up to beautiful blue skies and spent the day paddleboarding and hanging out in the sun on the beach….by four o’clock we got bored and decided it was time to move on and make our way down the coast.  We figured we can come to Washington any weekend of the year and thought it would be best to move on and explore a little further south.



Nehalem State Beach, Oregon



By Wednesday morning we had crossed the Columbia River into Oregon and checked out Seaside and Cannon Beach….the weather still bright, sunny and hot!  After checking out those spots we found a nice campground called Nehalem State Park and we’ve been here for the last couple nights relaxing, surfing and learning how to do nothing…. But we’re not very good at it yet.



Columbia River Bridge, Washington to Oregon

Today is a travel day and we are moving our way down the Oregon Coast.  Next stop should be somewhere near Tillamook to enjoy more surf and sun!  Keep checking in we will try and update as much as we can; we will post some pictures on the next post.  Bye for now!

P.s. Auntie D’Arcy the cookies are gone and we need you to mail more.