Day 24

I'm not sure what time the guy next to us got in but I do know it was very dark. I can usually go back to sleep pretty quickly when we're camping as long as it's not getting light out. And I realize we set up camp pretty quickly compared to others but oh man I was about to get up and help them so I could go back to sleep! I try very hard not to judge others as I haven't walked in their shoes tonight but it's so hard not to in moments like this!

I woke up next to birds and more birds once there was a bit of light. We had berries ripening all around us in the bushes so they were thoroughly enjoying their breakfast. It was super cold so I brought out my sleeping bag to get inside while I edited pictures from the day before.

We had plans for most of the day but the first one was homemade cheese biscuits! We arrived at Grammie's doorstep with empty bellies and a cantaloupe.

We packed up pretty quickly to get on the road to our adventure for the day at Oregon Dunes. This was our 4th giant dune area over the years - we'd climbed and run down, slid down, and surfed down. Today we would be riding ATVs all around them!

I'm not sure if it's the only state but in Oregon if kids under 16 are accompanied by an adult they can drive an ATV. The Oregon Dunes stretch for about 55 miles and we were able to ride around on a nice big section of them. After signing our ability to sue away about 6 times we watched a safety video and learned how to ride.  Before we knew it we were off!

I led us down a trail for about 15 minutes to the beach section. The speed limit there was 25 mph so we had fun racing around on the sand.

We all got cold pretty quickly so we decided to spend the rest of our time back on the dunes. There were little off trails just about everywhere we looked so we explored and figured out how to ride up the huge dunes!

The kids kept getting stuck in the softer sand and on the more sharp turns but they figured out how to reverse out or the unstuck kids would always come and help out. Love seeing that teamwork! Of course Ryan was a natural speed demon and could handle just about any hill. She actually said she wanted to race motorcycles!

Once our two hours were up we got back on the road to Beverly Beach State Park. Our campsite was very close to the beach so once we were set up we left Grammie and Laney a note then walked down to the ocean. This one was different because it was in Oregon!

The tide was way out and Brayden and Ryan were enjoying playing aorund in the tide stream. Cartwheels and handstands caused splashes and big smiles.

Brayden said it was warm so they decided to see if they could swim in the ocean. That idea ended real quick!

Laney and Grammie joined us for awhile and all the kids ended up plaing in the wet sand. Sand art is probably one of Laney's favorite things since she was a toddler.

Once Grammie and Lola came back from a walk down the beach I declared it was time for kids showers with all the wet clothes and sandy everything. We joined Grammie later for a fire and planning for the next day. There are just way too many things to do and too little time to do it!

As we walked back to our site I noticed we'd completely missed the sunset. It was a wonderfully cloudy day too so it was probably awesome. There were still a tiny bit peeking out when we got back so at least I got a little color.

Day 23

The night before I told the kids to start packing up their tent when they woke up. I assumed they would wake up around 7:30 as they have been but not today. When I got back from talking to Dave about some house decisions all was still quiet at our site except for some very annoying Stellars Jays trying to eat Ryan's bag of rocks.

We were supposed to meet Lola and Grammie at the beach this morning to be on our way into Oregon. Of course we were late but the Grammie got to catch up on some phone calls while we enjoyed the beach once we got there. The horrible mother I am made the kids go wash their feet in the ice cold ocean since we hadn't showered in a few days. Their feet were beyond camp brown color.

Within a few miles from getting on the road we were in Oregon! The girls enjoy time in the car when Brayden rides with Grammie. Besides the obvious no brother celebration they also have started listening to the 6 Minutes podcast for kids. We are close to halfway through now. It's a mystery that we are all glad we waited until all episodes came out. Each episode has a serious cliffhanger the original listeners had to wait a week to resolve!











Our scenic road took us past some very interesting rock formations but Grammie couldn't begin to fit her RV to park so we went into the town of Gold Beach and piled everyone in my car and went back.

Our first stop was the Oregon Beach. The wind was blowing the sand just right for natural soft dunes. Soon after we stopped at the Natural Bridges. This is definitely on my future hikes list!

The next stop was Arch Rock where we learned about some of the local birds. It was nice to finally be able to bring Lola on a trail now. Dogs have not been allowed on trails in California because of the wildlife. Arch Rock is where I added kayaks to my list for the next time I'm here.

A few days before Brayden spotted a brochure for a wild safari park in Oregon right on our way to our next city. The kids were excited because today we were actually able to go! Our first stop inside was the petting/feeding area where the kids were very popular! I didn't get a single picture of Brayden feeding anything because a deer ate his food in one bite!

Ryan made a friend with a baby goat! He just kept following her around even though she was out of food.

Next the kids went in to pet a lynx. This little guy was very unpredictable and playful. He climbed up the legs of the girls that went in before them!

Baby animals are always a hit in our family so we visited the nursery next. The first baby was a cavy. He wasn't a baby but he had a baby girl in his room with him. This guy was basically a giant guinea pig.

The ferrets came out next. My kids hold these guys all the time at the pet store and instantly want to bring them home. This guy was still half asleep I think so he was very relaxed.

Eclaire the skunk was next. She was a baby skunk that had been de-scented. She had the sweetest little brown face and the softest fur.

Lucy the possum was brought out next. The handler said anyone 13 and older can hold her so I begged Brayden to try it but he refused. Grammie takes care of these guys all the time at the Wildlife Sanctuary and we probably release 5-6 on her property every month. But she still couldn't convince him. The girls wanted to hold her of course but were just under 13. So I held her. She was super gentle and sweet like a little baby and much more fluffy than the possums Grammie brings home!

We all got to pet 13-week old Phyllis the groundhog next. We'd seen these guys all over the midwest on our trip a few years ago so it was fun to actually be able to pet her.

Last and definitely my favorite was Groot the 13-week old raccoon. Anyone 13 or older could hold her but Brayden refused again. The girls were grimacing at me. If only they were 2 months older! She was fascinated by just about everything and just wanted to touch it with her soft hands. She pawed my ring then my shirt and the straps on my backpack. She loved feeling all of Grammie's necklaces.

Ryan's goat found her while we were learning about the raccoon and why Laney couldn't have one as a pet like she wanted. I have my list of hikes and places to return with Dave, the girls have their list of pets they want. And it's a long list!

One of the handlers had a 3 month old Siberian Brown Bear out so we all pet him next. He was 100% focused on his bottle the whole time. I just wanted to scratch his little fluffy ears so bad!

And Ryan's goat found her again.

Last up was the serval. The kids all handed me their phones to get pics with so I only got a few with my camera.

Ryan grabbed my camera to make sure she could get a good picture of her goat friend before we left. If I had looked the other way I think she might have smuggled him out with us!

About 45 minutes later we made it to our very busy and crowded campground. There is definitely a difference between camping at a national and state park but this one was more like a city park with super close sites and hundreds of them all crammed in together.



We decided on a quick dinner of sandwiches and salad before I made all of us take a shower. We were all pretty stinky and I knew we would feel much better after. By the time we got back to Grammie's spot she already had a fire going for us.







Going back and forth from Grammie's site we'd watched a girl meticulously write out the lyrics to Bohemian Rhapsody in chalk on the campground road. I think she might be destined to be a teacher!

We talked and played a game before the girls and I went back to our site to bundle up and read. It was a pretty warm day but I could tell it was going to get cold tonight!

Day 13

We had some goals for the day and hopefully it wouldn't include all that much driving. Everyone slept in pretty late after our late night. We shared some oatmeal and headed out for the morning. Our first stop was the Ya'i Heki' Regional Indian Museum. On our drive up from San Diego I noticed a bunch of small pockets of reservations - super tiny towns with signs about a mile apart noting which tribe called them home. This was much different from the huge reservations we'd driven through in Oklahoma, Arizona, and Montana.

This museum was a fantastic learning experience about the Indigenous peoples of inland southern California. The three main tribes we learned about were the Cahuilla, Cupeno, and Luiseno.  They didn't have and written language so the customs, morals, and history were passed down orally through generations. We played some of the games the kids played to sharpen their hand eye coordination and learned about several more. The kids were practicing for hunting at a very young age.

One of the docents took us under her wing and basically led us around a good portion of the museum and shared so much of her knowledge. We learned so much!   The kids recognized some plants from their horticulture studies that they use for all kinds of different natural remedies or food. 

We learned once Europeans moved in the tribes lost their ways to provide for their families so the men became ranch hands for these new people and many of the women began to weave intricate baskets to sell. These baskets were highly sought for their designs and craftsmanship. We also learned this art has almost disappeared from their cultures because the resulting hourly wage from creating a basket for what they can sell them for currently is not near enough to support a family. 

They also had a fabulous display on loan from Washington D.C. about the service of Native Americans in the military through all the wars. We decided we might need to go back to D.C. to visit the museum as it was just being built when we were there.

Ira Hayes was one of the men raising the flag at the Battle of Iwo Jima.  One in four Native Americans volunteered to serve in Vietnam while only one in twelve of the general population did so. Many grappled with the hypocrisy of killing and taking someone else's land when just that same thing had been done to their people.

 We learned about many of the tools they used in their daily lives - many we had never seen before. Even in our world full of technological advances we were impressed by the ingenuity of their tools to solve the problems they were facing.

The docent also happened to have a rattle snake skin so we learned a little bit about those guys too. We haven't seen one on this trip yet and were fine if we didn't!  We were also hoping not to see a mountain lion in the wild either. This stuffed guy was enough for us!


The view on the porch facing the lake was beautiful too so we took a few minutes to enjoy it too.

Next up was laundry. It definitely is lowest on our list of chores but we were about 2 days from running out of clothes so we carved out an hour to get it done. I love the laundromats that have the capability to wash our 4 loads all at one time in 20 minutes!


Once we got back to the campground we had lunch in the tiny bit of shade we had then headed straight for the beach. Tempers were flaring between all three kids so water was often my solution. It was hot again today and everyone else there thought so too. The beach was the most crowded we'd seen it but we found a little spot that we could call our own for a little while. People were bring these giant 20-ft floats that were crowding everyone and then they weren't even using them! After about an hour or so we headed back to the campsite to get ready for what I'd been looking forward to - a twilight hike!

When we arrived to the parking area there were at least 100 people there. We aren't used to these crowds! Thankfully the interpreters were expecting it as they had three different options for us to choose from. We chose the 2 mile hike up to a 360 degree viewpoint including education on history of the Native Americans in the area. It must be our theme today!

This hike was level at first but the incline changed dramatically as we kept on. The interpreter had perfectly timed stops to let us recover and learn a little more about the culture.

The view was breathtaking once we reached the top. We saw parts of the lake we'd never seen before! We hung back for a minute as everyone left to enjoy the view and get a unobstructed picture of the view.

It was quiet and dark by the time we got back to our site - perfect for a fire! Brayden started the fire and they all whittled roasting sticks for marshmallows.  We were all too tired to stay up and enjoy the fire too long so we decided to leave some of the wood for the next people and get some sleep. We had big plans the next day!