This Land Is Your Land, This Land Is My Land

July 4 - 5 - Waking up with the waves and the smell of the ocean is amazing. It never gets old.

Oregon Sunshine

Some of last night's subjects....

The 4th of July.... a day that has hardly changed in my memory for little old Amherst, NH. It's not that I've never missed a 4th in Amherst, but certainly haven't since creating our own family traditions. So this was a big change for the 3 of us. We weren't starting our day with a keg, Bloody Mary's and yummy food watching the same parade like deja vu for the past 20 years, walking to the Village Green to see 1,000 friends and working off the heat at Baboosic Lake. I wanted to incorporate some kind of fun 4th festivity for the girls so I had checked out parades in Northern Cali a couple days before. It turns out Crescent City, CA, only about 2.5 hours south, had a parade starting at 10am. This was perfect.

We had over 3.5 hours to drive that 2.5 hour distance, and barely showed up on time. Every turn on highway 101 provided the most unbelievable view, a view that stops you in your tracks and forces you to take it all in. The OR coast demands it's own trip to explore each small and hidden beauty away from the public eye. There are few words that capture its pulchritude (ok, I had to use a thesaurus for that one).

As we drove through Port Orford, OR we saw this....

How could we not?

It was bonafide.

Out of no where, like the guy that magically appears, a local showed up to tell me all about this spot and how whales regularly come to feed. He was a serious whale aficionado and if I'd had more time I would have checked out every location he told me about.... alas.... the parade was calling.... drive on.

I almost stopped at Humbug Mountain as that looked amazing too. Press on. (I'm writing this purely so I can remember next time in the area to check it out!)

As we drove we went by this HS.... I thought their stadium view was killer

Arch Rock

We made it to Crescent City and quickly found the parade. It was a trip to sit in on someone else's tradition. It was cold and totally foggy (on the coast) and the parade couldn't have been more random. I suppose it's all what you're used to.

Watching the parade with several 1000 of our closest friends

In Amherst they wear colonial garb, out here they dress like early settlers

We should add some cut trees and honor them in the parade

This guy was a trip. I don't think I'm smart enough to know what he was all about

Wenches spanked???

Who doesn't love roller derby?

Aside from the parade, our next goal for the day was to make it to Redwood National Park. It was a beautiful drive through the forest, but once we'd found the visitor center they informed me that I was at the south entrance of the park and had just driven through the whole thing. Really? I mean, it was pretty, but I wasn't in awe. We decided to go find a quick hike back in the park and I'm so grateful we did. The second we were off 101 it all changed. This place is magnificent and we almost missed it! We could have stayed and played a lot longer. We went in to Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park (there are a bunch of state parks within the national park..... kind of confusing) and hiked to Big Tree (I mean really.... that's as creative as they could get?)So. Fun.

We couldn't not stop and ask Paul Bunyan some questions

Big Tree

One of my all-time favorite unposed pictures ever. Super Girls.

I wish this picture did justice to how tall they were.

We continued down 101 to look for our home for the night. Every site was full. Turns out 101 is popular in CA too. I made the decision to drive and hour and a half inland on hwy 299 since we were on our way to Truckee/Tahoe. I googled "closest campsite on 299" and a few popped up. But when I saw 59 miles out was Big Foot Campground... I knew that's where we were going to rest for the night. I wish this part of the drive was during the day as we curved along the Trinity River the whole way - I'm sure it was beautiful.

Our campsite at Big Foot Campground

Our campsite host was a trip. As we were discussing the tiny local villages I happened to ask what people do around here for income since it's so remote. He had no problem expressing his dismay that everyone runs their own cannabis farm and how he missed the boat. I'm certain that if I showed the slightest interest he would have brought me to one. "You're in the heart of Humboldt County", like I should have known. I have to admit, I started looking at everything (and everyone) a little different after this conversation.

By the time we got in the car we only had about 4.5 hours of driving to get to my good friends Joanne & Andy Knox's house in Truckee. Little did I know the drive would be spectacular. Right after we set sail for the day we drove in to Weaverville - a town that was not only authentically "cute" (maybe not the best word to describe something from the rugged west) but it looked like it had coffee. We stopped.

Weaverville, CA

Then we drove on and I started to see signs for Whiskeytown. The only thought that ran through my head at this point was "Dan would love this town". As we approached, around noon, it was sunny and 95 degrees. We rounded the bend to an awesome lake that people were recreating where ever they could. It was completely inviting. It wasn't until we drove past the last view point and visitors center that I realized this was a missed opportunity. So I did my 500th u-turn. I didn't even know this was a National Park - score!

Whiskeytown, CA

SO glad we stopped. We will now carry swimsuits in the car for the random lake dip to have more fun experiences like this.

I don't know about you, but the random giant toilet bowl in the middle of the lake sure is ominous looking.

The rest of the drive to Truckee was beautiful (though no cell service or radio..... very quiet).

Right as we left Whiskeytown we came to Shasta, a town that had been forgotten after the gold rush. This is what is left. Amazing.

As we came down 395 we saw this shoe tree. I was hoping it had more of a story but if you google shoe tree it just says it's a piece of Americana. What does that even mean?

I just had to stop and get this photo. This church was so tiny and so beautiful.