We just returned home from an incredible vacation to Northern California and Southern Oregon. We had an amazing time exploring San Francisco, The Redwood Forests, the caves at Lava Beds National Park and finally, Crater Lake in Southern Oregon. It was a vacation that our family will remember for a long time and one that made us appreciate the beauty that our great country has to offer. There was a lot of driving involved, but the kids fared extremely well thanks to DVD players and books on tape.
After a long day of traveling, we stopped at the summit in Donner Pass (near Lake Tahoe) to eat and rest from a day of sitting still in the car.
At the end of the day, we finally made it to our first destination, Windsor California, in the heart of the Napa Valley and just North of San Francisco. After a much needed night of rest, we drove into San Francisco. The first thing we saw was the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge.
We drove over the bridge and to the Golden Gate Park in West San Francisco. It was huge—an amazing oasis in the middle of a busy and congested city. It was filled with ponds, forests, flowers, and trails. It was the perfect place to relax and explore.
We hadn't walked very far before Adam's eagle eyes found a turtle sunning itself on a rock at the edge of a pond.
Exploring the flower gardens around the greenhouse.
The next day, we decided to rent bikes at Pier 39 and ride 8 miles down the shoreline, across the Golden Gate Bridge and into Sausalito where we would take a ferry back to our starting point at the pier. The bike ride proved to be the major highlight of our trip to San Francisco. Everyone agreed it was the most fun thing that we did. It was really a lot of fun and very scenic. We would highly recommend it to anyone vacationing in San Francisco.
There were several places to stop and view the Golden Gate Bridge along the way.
When we rented the bikes, the attendants mentioned that there were a few "gentle" hills along our route. We found the hills of San Francisco to be not so "gentle" in several places along the way.
The ride across the bridge is about a mile. It's a very scenic ride, too. Also, I think it's worth mentioning that the safety railing on the bridge where you see Adam resting his hand is not very high and it's the only thing separating people from a 245 ft. drop to the water below.
Make way for the Andersons.
After crossing the bridge, the trail offered several more scenic viewpoints from the other side.
The finish line for our bike ride was in Sausalito where we boarded a ferry (bikes and all) for a 30 minute ride back to the San Francisco piers.
We opted to sit on the outdoor seating area until the boat started moving and the wind picked up. We found the indoor seating to be much more comfortable.
Of course, more photos of the bridge were taken from the ferry.
We slowed down as we past Alcatraz to give everyone a good look.
A view of San Francisco from the water.
Here's Adam waxing pensive after his epic bike ride.
After the long bike ride, we decided to stop at the Boudin Bakery for some sourdough bread. Amazingly good. Especially after a long bike ride.
Back at the pier, we had another view of Alcatraz.
The sea lions were out in numbers at Pier 39 basking in the sun. Most of them seemed completely content but a select few seemed annoyed at the cramped quarters and barked at their offending neighbors.
No trip to San Francisco is complete without taking the famous drive down Lombard street—the crookedest street in the world. We took it twice.
We also explored the beach in San Francisco. It was overcast and windy but the kids didn't seem to mind and went running down the beach and into the waves where they found the water temperature to be very quite nippy for a "beach."
The kids found a lot of shells and sand dollars on the beach. They collected all they could find and brought it all back to Utah.
We also visited the Oakland temple on the other side of the bay. We went on Easter evening and found that they were doing a special presentation of the "Lamb of God" in the next door theater so we stayed for the production.
It was late by the time it finished. Christian fell asleep halfway through so he's not putting on his usually happy face for this photo.
Our next destination was the Redwood National Forest. It took several hours to make the drive up the coast. This is how things looked in the backseat.
And this is what we saw as we traveled up the coast. Redwoods are everywhere in Northern California.
We stopped at the famous "Tour Thru Tree."
It was actually quite a tight fit. You could see several tell-tale scrapes and gashes on the tree's interior where many cars had actually scraped their sides while maneuvering through. I'm sure that would ruin any trip to the redwoods. We fortunately made it through unscathed.
The tour was obviously quite a short one but we took several photos to prove we had taken it.
The next stop was the Trees of Mystery grove where we were greeted by this humongous Paul Bunyan. The kids used his feet as playground equipment.
We then moved on to the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park where we found an amazing trail leading through the Redwoods. We found out later that much of Return of the Jedi was filmed there.
We found this beast on our walk. Redwoods are huge. They give all other trees (minus the great sequoias) feelings of inadequacy. They're the behemoths of the tree world. Look at how this giant dwarfs the Anderson family.
Adam and Christian were in heaven. They climbed all over every downed redwood.
At the most northern part of the redwood forest is a beach just outside of Crescent City. The kids absolutely loved this beach. We stayed for quite a while exploring and finding discarded shells, washed up jellyfish and crabs and more sand dollars.
The next day we went to Lava Beds National Park. The park has several underground caves (lava tubes) that visitors can explore. Some of the caves go on for over a mile. We checked in at the visitor center, grabbed a few flashlights and went off to explore.
Some of the caves had areas that you had to crawl on all fours to make it to the next chamber. Needless to say, these caves were a big hit with all the kids.
Later in the afternoon, we drove up to Oregon's only National Park—Crater Lake. It's high in the mountains so the snow banks were still huge—probably about 10-15 feet high. We had to climb up on top of one of these banks to see the lake. These photos don't really do justice to the beauty of the lake. It was amazingly striking and pristine.
And that brings us to the end of a whirlwind week-long vacation to California and Oregon. We had an amazing time. It was perfect for family togetherness, bonding and exploring the beauties of the Northwestern coast. We'll remember this vacation for a long time. Like any vacation, we were sad to see it come to an end. But we look forward to our next two vacations—Swan Valley, Idaho in June and Disneyland in November. We can't wait.
