Day 63 San Jose to Tulare

Today we started with a great breakfast at the hotel.  It was the best hotel breakfast we have had on the trip. Then we headed back to the room to pack up. The kids opened another pack from Aunt Yvonne and they both got new lego sets to play with. We decided to start by going to the garlic capital of Gilroy, CA. We went to Garlic World to see if there was something we couldn't live without. It turns out, there was a lot. We then headed to Tulare. We checked into our hotel and decided to go for a walk and out for some dinner. The front desk recommended a pizza place within walking distance. We walked around a shopping center and then went for pizza. 

We then went back to the hotel for an early night in. Tomorrow we will head to Sequoia National Park. We may not be able to do a blog post as we are hoping to camp.

Day 62 Golden Gate and San Jose area

After a breakfast the kids and I went swimming while Michelle did laundry. We had a blast. 11:30 was when we finally departed Ukiah on our way to San Jose. Nakai wanted to see how heavy my backpack was, so he tried it on and then walked a short distance to the car with it. I was pretty impressed since it is kind of heavy, so I told him I would give him a dollar for doing that.

We stopped for a minute in San Francisco to go to the bathroom and take a couple of pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge. Then over the bridge and through the city.
Our stop was at a Residence Inn and we got to see Karen.  The kids were really impressed and in awe of the room. It is pretty cool. It was really nice to see her and even better to go over to her and Ernesto's place for dinner. A huge thanks to them for dinner and a movie and a place to crash.

Funny for the day. Sora and Nakai were pretending to not know each other in the car and Sora said "let's shake." so Nakai shook his whole body.
Another funny was some crazy dude on a bicycle. We at first just looked to be having fun with his music and riding, but then he went up onto a bank of grass, came back into the street and danced around a bit then went back to the grass and was kind of spazzing out. I was laughing at this guy, but the kids were just saying what the heck is he doing? Michelle said he was just having fun, but I think he was high on more than just life itself...

Tomorrow we are heading towards Kings Canyon after a little stop at Gilroy for some Garlic. It Should be good.  

Day 61 Avenue of Giants and Sheltor Cove

A short drive to the Avenue of the Giants was how we started this day. Amazement was to be had by all as we rolled through these big magnificent trees. We stopped to look around and to take a small hike. Bigfoot was on my mind and I was hopeful to see this creature. Well I have some bad news for all. No Bigfoot was spotted by any of our party. Oh well, maybe another time. Maybe when you least expect it. Avenue of the Giants is a road that parallels HWY 101. Driving through and taking a short hike here was cool.

 

 

Our next stop was Sheltor Cove. The road to get to Sheltor Cove is only about 20 miles from Redway, but it isn't very good. It is paved, but it has a lot of twists, turns, ups, downs, holes, etc. When we made it to our destination the brakes where a little hot, so it was definitely time to stop and check out the area. We hit the bathroom and then walked down to the rocky beach to see the sea life. We found crabs, tiny fish, snails, a few anemone, then we saw the best part. Michelle and Sora were looking at Hermit crabs and snails and Nakai and I saw something that we all needed to get a closer look at just a very short distance away. Nakai and I hurried over to them and told them to follow us because we had something that they had to see. We walked over and then up a few rocks to see about 60 or 70Seals lounging on the incoming tide. A few were the water, but the majority were just chillin' on the rocks. Sora was SO excited about it. She was amazed, excited, in love, awestruck, etc. She wanted to get really close to them, but we cautioned her that we didn't want to stress/freak them out and that it is good to see them from a short distance away and let them do their own thing. It was really cool.

Hermit crab

Crab

Checkin' the tide pool

 

 

 

 

The definition on Loungin'

"He looked right at me!"

fishing boat in the distant

 

Tomorrow is a short drive down to San Fran and the Golden Gate Bridge.

 

Day 60 Trinidad and Mysteries.

The start of today was off to Trinidad and the beach for low tide. This area has a great beach and at low tide you can see a lot of amazing sea life. You can see Sea stars, snails, anemone, barnacles, mussels, etc. all within a small area. We came here with a recommendation from Gary and Raeann and they were right. This place is amazing. The weather was a little foggy, but not bad. We had a great time looking around and discovering this wonderful area.

touch it

After our explorations we drove to the Trees of Mystery. This place is pretty cool. There is a lot of nature going on here. They have trees growing on trees, trees growing out of trees, and trees growing in multiple directions. We walked around then rode the sky tram upwards. We decided to walk down the trail to the base. A guy told us at the top that it might be a nightmare walking down. It was designated an "advanced" trail, but we did it anyway. Well it turned out to be slightly difficult, but not too bad. The kids were wearing their sandals and made it down just fine.It was a little steep but we made it down without problems. The Paul Bunyan at the trail entrance talked to people and answered their questions. It was cool.

 

Heart Leaf

Redwood "cigar"

Surprised!

red, white, and blue

BIGFOOT

 

Fernando, He does exist...

This leaf was as big as my hand

 

B. and B.  (Babe and Bunyan)

We stopped in Arcata for the night. The kids and I went swimming for about an hour before relaxing in the room. Tomorrow is off to the Avenue of the Giants and a few other things.

BEAR!!!!!

statue

Swimming fun.