Translate

Monday, December 30, 2013

Over the Hills and Through the Woods.....

....to Mickey's House we went (in an attempt to distract us from be homesick because we weren't at 'Grandmothers House' over Christmas)!  

We just returned from a week long road trip (sans trailer) through California which culminated in spending Christmas Eve and Day at the Disneyland Resort! We had a great time and really enjoyed seeing all the different regions/town as we drove. We saw a lot of attractions (Yosemite! San Francisco! The Desert! San Diego! ) that we plan to experience next time! We took hundreds of photo's which I condensed into collages (Thanks PicMonkey) for your viewing pleasure,lol. So, without further adieu....may I present The ------ do California

First, we drove East through Oregon to Klamath Falls to get something on the truck fixed again - we found cold, snow and icy roads and decided we don't miss that AT ALL!
(see our 'Christmas Tree' this year - a lighted garland strung across our mega slide from which we hung our ornaments)

From Klamath Falls we headed down the very boring I5 to Fresno, where we spent the night before heading off to our first destination - Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. I am definitely my fathers daughter - he has passed on his love of big trees to me and we wanted to see the Giant Sequoias.  We were able to start at Grants Grove on the northern, Kings Canyon, side of the park - while the sequoias are massively impressive we really enjoyed the beautiful drive through the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain and the climb up thousands of feet in elevation.
(foothills)

Grants Grove home of General Grant - the 3rd largest tree in the world.  The kids thought it was pretty cool to walk through a fallen log!


From Grants Grove we drove the Generals Highway though the parks to the Giant Forest on the southern end of the park. The Giant Forest is home to General Sherman - the largest tree on Earth!  It is pretty astounding to consider - trees are so amazing!
Girls got to make two tiny snowmen - we had hoped to take them sliding but it is a dry year and there wasn't much snow!





After visiting General Sherman we descended from the Sierra Nevada's along an insanely twisty, stomach churningly high, jaw droppingly beautiful stretch of road.  There were miles and miles of hairpin turns that had to be taken at less than 10 MPH - thank goodness for a sign recommending we descend in a low gear or we would have burned out of brakes for sure! 
The Sierra Nevadas are very different from the Rocky Mountains we know, but beautiful in their own way.

We spent a night in Visalia before speeding along the I5 through the smoggy San Joaquin valley to our next destination - DISNEYLAND! We arrived early enough to spend some time at Downtown Disney.

The next day was Christmas Eve and we were up bright and early - a good strategy which allowed us to experience more rides than we thought we would be able to given the Holiday crowds! It was a fun, tiring day - poor Violet and Joses feet were so sore (Hazel scams a ride on my footplate)! 

It was really special to experience all the Christmas decorations and experiences such as the Feliz Navidad parade/street show. Unfortunately we didn't realize that our World of Color fast passes didn't guarantee us a decent spot so we weren't in line early enough, therefore we couldn't see at all - major bummer as the Winter Dreams WOC was one of the Christmas events we were most looking forward to!


We got back to the hotel where the girls had hung their stockings....
(See the photo where V is sprawled out OVER H? Despite her assertions that H takes up the whole bed and wriggles all night....)


They awoke Christmas morning to find that 'Santa' (We don't 'do' Santa, yet the girls insist on believing?) had filled their stockings.  Because we had already exchanged and opened presents with my parents when they visited, we were able to head straight for Disneyland!
The girls bought each other the doll sisters Elsa and Ana from the movie Frozen - so sweet how their dollies experienced DL with them and played together all the way home.


We were able to ride Its a Small World twice in a row - I love all the attention to details at Disneyland, so it was nice to be able to experience the ride twice!


Disneyland got more and more crowded as the day went on, but we were still able to ride a few rides before waiting over 2 hours to secure a prime viewing spot for the parade...


After the parade we attempted (unsuccessfully - accessibility FAIL) to ride Pirates of the Caribbean before waiting for the fireworks - which ended up being cancelled due to wind - MUCH TO OUR DISAPPOINTMENT.



We had a great time at Disneyland and hope to experience Disney World next year - maybe not at the Holidays though! 

We headed home over 2 long days of driving, with a stop in San Francisco for the night - definitely a city we need to return to!  Driving home along the 101 was beautiful, we enjoyed watching the landscape change from dry hills (where Jose had to fight the urge to jump on a donkey and ride up and down the hills...lol) to redwood forests....It was great to get 'home' to our trailer!

Accidental tourist.....


Now it's back to the same old routine, I'm psyched up for a fresh start at the school with the girls and looking forward to our next adventure.....



Thursday, December 12, 2013

What a Fantastic Week....

Yesterday, we said a sad good-bye to my parents who had driven down to spend a week here with us.  We had missed them terribly, and miss them already again.  We had a fantastic week with them though, sharing what we love about our winter retreat here in Oregon, and discovering with them even more to love.

Apart from the first (rainy) day the weather was clear, but chilly - my parents were more acclimatized to it than us, I am ashamed to admit that anything less than 10 C has started to feel cool to me!

We made good use of the first day, by driving down to Ocean World - something the girls had been looking forward to. Ocean World is small but has many hands on experiences from touching star fish and anemones, to petting sharks and watching a sea lion performance.


The next day we headed straight through the Jedidiah Smith State Park along Howland Hill Rd.  We stopped at Stout Grove to walk among the awe inspiring, stunning, mystic, gorgeous coast redwoods.  I can't describe how amazing they are, nor do the photo's below do them justice - they really need to be seen and felt in person. I can see why the aboriginal inhabitants wouldn't live among them, as they considered the redwood forest a sacred space.





That evening we walked through the gorgeous light display at Azalea Park, as well as the huge display at our RV park - even our little trailer is decked out for Christmas.


The next day was my 32rd birthday, and we spent it at the beach, followed by yummy Mexican food at our favourite restaurant and cake.  I am so fortunate to have lived such a wonderful life, and to have been loved through out it.  I look forward to another 32 years!




Next on our itinerary were the Trees of Mystery which were well worth every penny of the admission.  Though, the trails would not have been wheelchair friendly to anyone in a chair less rugged than mine - I am so, so thankful for my power chair and its ability to plow through snow and sand, and climb steep, gravel trails. The gondola ride was stomach dropping (for me and my mom) but well worth it for the views at the top.


Jose and I had Tuesday off, while my parents took the girls tidepooling.  All too soon, their visit was over, and we spent one last day attempting to fly kites and watching the sun sink into the ocean.  We exchanged Christmas gifts early, and the girls are set for adventure with classy canvas backpacks (thanks Uncle Ross)  and binoculars (thanks Grandma and Grandpa).


Now, we have to buckle down for one last week of school before we head off to Disneyland for Christmas (with a day in the snow, among the sequoias in Sequoia National Park on the way there).

I hope to post again, before the holidays, but if not - MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Photo Bomb....

Can't find enough time or inspiration for words tonight, and if I don't get these photo's up soon I never will....so if I picture is worth a thousand words, here are 10,000 - LOL.

I finally got to watch the sun set from beginning to end.


We had to drive to central Oregon to get my power chair and the truck bed lift fixed, so we went to a Wildlife Safari there.





On the way home (the second time) we drove down the stunning Howland Hill Road through the Jeddidiah Smith State Park to Crescent City. We can't wait to take my parents there next week when they visit.





Then, of course, we had to go to our favourite beach again now that my power chair was repaired.  The girls had a blast making sand dragons (have you read Dragon Tide by Ingrid Lee ? It is a fabulous favourite of ours), mermaids and getting their feet wet.


Speaking of the girls, they are great - enjoying rollerblading, and Christmas shopping and decorating.


We are all looking forward to my parents visit this next week - stay tuned for a big post of all our adventures with Grandma and Grandpa!