Last summer I had big plans to travel all around Northern California and Oregon. Cooper had other plans for our family. After his c-section, we pretty much stayed put for the summer. It seems like a lifetime ago now. Then my oral exam snuck up on us followed by my dissertation proposal while teaching two courses for the first time. It has been a long and tiring, deeply rewarding four years here in California. With the end of our time here in sight, I am determined to get a few trips and landmarks off of my family bucket list before we escape the HCOL and leave behind our darling Berkeley community.
Our first trip of the summer was Denver, which is neither on my bucket list nor was an outdoor adventure trip. When I had the chance to reserve a campsite at Del Norte Coast Redwoods at Mill Creek Campground, I impulsively clicked reserved. It was a 6-hour drive, by far our longest one-day road trip ever, even as a family of three. I was nervous and anxious for the entire drive. We almost abandoned ship two hours before we got to our campsite to stay in the Redwoods in Humboldt. There were not major melt-downs, though. Overall, the car ride went amazingly well. It went even better on the way home. Lucy watched far too many shows, though, and I am already preparing for our next trip to Southern California in a couple of weeks to see Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. We did so well, though, I can't wait to keep taking camping trips all over. 
One of the best parts of this road trip is that traveling on 101 is a breeze. The road itself is beautiful with very little traffic. You are out of the Bay Area craziness and into the woods within two hours of leaving. There are picnic areas and accessible river beaches and state parks up and down the route. I wasn't attached to doing any one particular activity on the trip, but I was very excited that our first official stop in the Redwoods was to drive through a Redwood tree. I am going to keep capitalizing Redwood because these trees are majestic. They are tenacious and magnificent and awe-inspiring. Lucy kept commenting on "how beautiful they are, right mom?" and Cooper was always look up and around giving them his best "oooooohhhhh." It is terribly sad to see the old growth trees chopped down and carved through. As long as the hole was already in the tree, though, we paid our $10, posed in front of the tree, and had a delightful picnic. We all felt far, far away from the city and the fast pace of life we generally keep during the school year.
One of the most amazing parts of California, besides the diversity of the population, is the diversity of the geography. One minute we are driving through a humungous Redwood tree and the next minute we are chasing waves on the Pacific Ocean. Hiking is a bit of a challenge at this point. Cooper is mostly happy to be in the blue back-pack, especially if he has an apple or a pear, but he is a walking machine these days and his body wants to move, move, move. Lucy is too big to be carried, so we are careful about choosing hikes that we feel she can complete round-trip. We stopped at Trees of Mystery just down the road from our campsite for about a 1-mile walk through various, typical examples of Redwood growth. We even got to ride a gondola up into the canopy. For some reason, our family really gets a kick out of gondola rides. We sat down for lunch at a cafe (the only one available :-) for a hot meal and a rest before hiking 1/2 a mile down to Hidden Beach. There was no need to hike to get to the beach, but it was spectacular. I liked mixing in some hiking with some play. And hiking to a destination is always more rewarding.
Lucy was the bravest, most daring we have ever seen her. As soon as her feet hit the sand she was swapping her clothing for her bathing suit. The water is freezing cold. Freezing. Cold. She was thrilled. Jim has been longing for her to run in the water with him and they had a blast. While Cooper napped in the backpack, I laid in the sun on the blanket and watched them move in and out of the water with every wave. They walked down the beach and explored the tidepools, even discovering a "huge" sea urchin and some tiny fish. When Cooper woke up, he could hardly believe his eyes. He is a maniac when it comes to water. Nothing like Lucy has been up to this point. He charged down the beach, 50 yards, straight into the frigid ocean over, and over, and over. He was shaking and shivering and his little jaw was chattering, but he just couldn't stop himself. This totally stresses me out and I swapped kids at this point for the one that actually has some self-control. Cooper woke up the next day with a runny nose and a cold. Wonder why? 
If the car ride went well, camping itself went even better. I was pretty nervous about not sleeping and then everyone being miserable. Cooper slept in a tent in a tent and for some reason, although the way out was obvious, he never tried to escape. He slept his normal 12 hours a nap with an early morning waking for milk. He slept until 8:00 every morning, which is much later than he typically sleeps at home. This was the first camping trip that Lucy slept inside her sleeping bag. I am sure I'll look back at that memory and think what a silly thing to note, but previously she has woken up cold because she isn't under any blankets. She was cute as can be all snuggled up inside her bag. Lucy was obsessed with her solar-powered Luci light that Yamin and Erin got her when she was tiny and she looked a glow worm when she insisted on snuggling with it to sleep. 4-year-olds have very weird demands when they are exhausted. Now that we have super lush thermarests and I take my pillow, a leg pillow, and my stuffed pig, Bacon, I actually slept pretty well, too. I won't miss nursing sitting up with no back support in the tent, but other than that we are got great sleep. The campground had wonderful, hot showers, which always helps by the third night of sleep. I put a big, shallow tub in the shower with me for Coop and Luc to take a warm bath and they both seemed to enjoy that.
We borrowed a baby jail for Cooper and never ended up using it. We won't be taking it on the next trip. I was pretty sure he would just be a crazy mess bonking into and eating everything he could get his hands on. Having a campfire was pretty nerve-wracking, but other than that he was pretty mellow. I mean, mellow for a toddler. He had a great time chasing little chipmunks around the campsite. Luckily, we had a huge, quiet, dark campsite right next to a spigot and a bathroom. It was about as perfect as set-up as we could have hoped for. We need to make a few changes, like using Dawn soap instead of hippy Tom's soap and purchasing stainless steel plates and utensils. Washing plastic at a campsite is just too annoying. We could also use a new cooler that isn't cracked and actually keeps things cool. We have too more trips planned for this summer, and I am going to try to throw in another one. It was bucket filling for our entire family and Jim and I both love having our kids out in the woods. 
The last adventure we went on was to Fern Canyon, Prairie State Park, and, of course, another beach. I originally wanted to camp right on the beach, but the campsites were full. I am very glad we did not camp on the beach and also very glad we got to go visit it twice. The west coast, though incredible, is often foggy, cool/cold, and windy. Visiting for the day where we would have camped was just the right amount of sand and wind and fog. We got to see three herds of elk, including a mum nursing her calf. It was special to see so many elk, and incredibly special to see a mum and her babe. Cooper slept through it, but Lucy was enchanted. Fern Canyon, where parts of Jurassic Park 2 were filmed, was one of the most unique outdoor places we have ever visited. In addition to the 15-20 creek crossings we had to make with Lucy in rainy boots and me in wet boots, the scenery was incredible. Over zillions of years, the creek has carved 30-40 foot canyon walls that are covered in lush green ferms and mossy, drippy waterfalls. There are enormous trees above and fallen over. The climate is entirely different than it is ten feet outside the canyon. Jim loves a good athletic challenge and managed to keep dry feel the entire time while carrying Cooper in the backpack. 
We had a picnic lunch after we emerged from the canyon and then headed over to the beach. The air was quite cool and I kept the little maniac out of the water this time, but the sand was strangely warm. We all agreed that we felt like snuggling into the sand, which was a definite first for Jim and me. Cooper sat on my lap and watched the water while I sang him lullabies for almost 15-minutes. It was relaxing and calm and delightful. 
Like always, there are more pictures than words, although I work really hard to leave my family alone and take only a few pictures of each activity. I do love having memories recorded here, though, no matter how sparse my entries are these days. Summer has been a slower time, a time of sitting and stacking rings on a stick in the living room. The summer days are flying by with, of course, less writing than I imagined. I am enjoying leaving the house later, getting home earlier, and taking time to be grateful for what I have been given. I leave tomorrow afternoon for my first ever solo trip since Lucy was born. I am actually ready for it and am really only worried about Cooper missing his morning nursing. I really don't mind our one last milkers (as Lucy says) and this is the very end of my breastfeeding journey. Such a bittersweet journey it has been. We will see what happens when I get home. I hope he won't be too sad when I am not there. I am sure Lucy will miss me, and I will miss her, but she can at least understand what is happening. I just can't wait to sleep and read. 
