And just over a month and half old :).
Our first stop on our trip down to the Redwoods was to Brookings, OR, which is north of the California/Oregon boarder. Due to our car trouble and having to leave a day late, we had to take the faster route there, which had us dip into California (and drive right past where we wanted to go in the Redwoods) and drive back up into Oregon where our reservations were. Soooooo .... here's MEL's first step (or sit) onto California soil :).
The first beach we went to in Brookings - a private little cove within walking distance from our place.
Nice family pic:
And our little diva:
At our little place. We brought the babies, but MEL wasn't being very nice to them:
 |
| Hiding in the cabinet :) |
 |
| Elmo got to come |
And the Harris State Park beach - beautiful with all the rocks out there, sunny but windy:
On our way to the Redwoods, we stopped in Crescent City to visit Marine World, which is a kind of rinky dinky little aquarium someone told us about, but was super fun:
 |
| Look at that big sting ray! |
Morgan didn't want to pet the little ray with its stinger removed (it was really cute and friendly actually!):
And then finally to camping! Some pics from our campsite:
 |
| That's MEL and I way back there! |
Edit: added video - natural slide!
And there was a nice river by the campground too:
 |
| Looking for frogs! |
 |
| Diva again! |
Our hike at the Stout Grove on a chilly day. Giant trees here!:
 |
| The Gorilla face knot! |
 |
| panorama! |
 |
| oh daddy! |
And another hike another day:
MEL kept saying 'whoa' (probably repeating us), except for when I turned on the camera:
Then it was back on up the coast, without a plan. Sounds so romantic and free - until you try it with a toddler. Even though it was a Wednesday night, we had a hard time finding somewhere cool that wasn't too expensive, and MEL was getting cranky! We ended up in Bandon at a place right on the beach. Spent a little more than we would have liked, but it was nice and had a kitchen so we didn't have to take the tired monster out to eat!
Edit: added video-
 |
| that's a big sand hill! |
 |
| ready to hit the road again! |
 |
| this precious moment with Dad :) |
Our last night was spent in Florence. Brandon has an uncle there, who we got to visit but I failed to photograph. We were all pretty beat from travel, so we just took it easy, walked the little downtown, and chilled with some ice cream (before a hectic dinner with the uncle where MEL wouldn't stay seated)
 |
| room on the river |
Then on the way home we stopped at this little lighthouse to get out of the car for a little bit. It ended up being a nice little hike up to the lighthouse, and there were 2 whales out in the bay!!! Brandon took some video, but it's hard to see ....
 |
| the whales are out there - I swear! |
