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California Road Trip

In the summer of 2018 I took my daughter on a 9-day road trip through California. Here is our little story.

Day 5

After breaking up our camp ground we started the day with a hike along Bull Creek. We took the Avenue of the Giants to get there and I'd put my GoPro on the car's windshield on the way there. We parked at Rockefeller Loop. Katie said she was a little worried to run into bobcats (but it was really mountain lions she meant). When we got to the creek we noticed a large tree that had fallen down over it and wasn't touching the ground on our side. Katie climbed on it and said she wanted to walk over it to the other side but I couldn't let her do it. At the other end it was about 15 feet above the ground (with pebbles and a shallow bit of water underneath).

We walked back to the trail enjoying the giant trees. She had a little stick with her (about 1/4" thick and a foot long) which she would wave above her head if we would encounter a bobcat. At some point she started to hit the stick rhythmically on a log and I had to guess which song it was, which I didn't know. She said it's the Puffy (our dog) song which goes like "Dancing on those paws, dancing dancing on those paws, with that fur, with those eyes, with that snout, let's have some fuuuun". Later she said that it's not particularly related to Puffy but that it's an ode to all dogs.

We walked back to the car and were ready for our 2 hour drive to the MacKerricher Westpine Campground near Fort Bragg. The first part we traveled the 101 South and the last half or so the California 1. The first part of the 1 was also through redwoods. Katie was asleep when I noticed some abandoned houses at Hales Grove. Old trucks were sitting next to them and one house had a rusting tricycle sitting in front of it. I drove past by it but I couldn’t let it go, so I turned around a couple of minutes later so I could get some shots.

Check out my YouTube video when I colored the 1955 Chevy:

A little while later we arrived at the ocean. It was going to be our companion for the next few days. The coast looks so different up there with all the tall cliffs and the rocks sticking out of the water.

When we arrived at the campground, I asked the host if he had any vacancies. He said he didn't know as he was only the host. I would have to drive around and look for a campsite sign with no tags on them. Katie was helping looking out. Everything was taken. A little disappointed we drove to the state kiosk and asked the ranger. He said they had only one spot left and we should make sure it hadn't been claimed yet. If not we had to go back and pay for it. We headed to it and indeed it was empty. I claimed it by putting our tent bag on a post. After paying for it back at the kiosk I asked the lady what the temperature of the ocean is. She looked funny at me and said "Way too cold". "Oh, we're from San Diego" I said. "It's not like that here at all”, she replied. Later I saw a sign near the ocean that said that the water is "deadly cold".

We set up our camp again and played soccer at our campsite. Next we headed to Fort Bragg to buy more s'more ingredients, firewood starters, water and ice. On our way back to camp I noticed a sign "glass beach". As expected, it was a beach with lots of sea glass and Katie loved it. She collected some. She face-timed Marie to tell her all about it and show the pieces. Back at camp I parked the car and we walked to a Mexican restaurant down the road so I could have a margarita. After we had our dinner we made our own dessert at camp (you guessed it, s'mores). Katie said this was my best fire so far. "Probably because of the free wood", she said, as there were a few intact logs in the pit when we arrived.