July 14th We left California and went straight into Nevada

Clear Lake, California July 14, 2011

On our drive to our next stop (Reno) we passed Clear Lake, the lake was beautiful, and we took many pictures. We stopped at one of our timeshares that is in Clear Lake, and thought how fun it would be to go there one day!

These bottom few pictures are of where we stayed, this was a nice hotel, it was a Travel Lodge (I had never stayed in one before) but based on the internet pictures it looked clean. It actually was a converted Holiday Inn Express. They had a great breakfast so the kids were happy. It also was a place to lay our head down and rest.

The hotel

After we left the Redwoods, we drove to our spot to stay for the night. I had made sure that everyone would have a bed to sleep in so I had them bring in a rollaway. Aubrey stated that she wanted that bed. Connor slept with Loren (but some where in the middle of the night he decided he wanted to sleep on the floor) and Taylor slept with me. she is one girl that can hog a bed. Maybe that is how Connor felt about Loren! We were exhausted after a long day of driving.

The Chandelier Tree

My sister recommended that we stop at this tree, that was worthy of pictures! I was so worried that we would miss the park being open that we wouldn't be allowed to drive through this tree. It was almost 5 pm by this point, the kids were starting to get hungry and we were getting tired of driving. But this stop was worth every penny we spent I think it was only $5 or $7 for a car. It was a nice break! At first, I got out took pictures of Loren and the kids driving through the tree...good thing he drove because I would ahve for sure hurt my new van! Then after we got out took more pictures, before we left Loren drove through the tree one more time so I could say I went too. I was glad he did that, not that it was all that special, but it was fun to have the experience.

The Ocean

Loren and I are orginally from California and spent many years on the beaches there. Aubrey, Connor and Taylor have no recollection of the ocean and we spend a few days walking up and down the beaches. These beaches were TOOOOOOO cold to sun bathe or even play in the water other than just getting ones feet wet. These pictures are both from Oregon and California. We had a great time. The one picture of Aubrey where she looks mad, she had just face planted into the wet sand when she was bending over making something. We all laughed at that, even she did! Some nice family walking along the Cannon Beach in Oregon took the picture of our family.

The Redwoods, The Avenue of the Giants

We had such a great day driving throughout the redwoods. The only thing we would have changed is to give ourselves more time. We were on a short stick, we not only were sightseeing, but we also had to make a reservation for a hotel..so we buzzed right along. This was beautiful and we very much enjoyed this part of our journey. The kids were not watching TV, they were in awe of the huge trees and how tall they were. We often heard look at that one, or oh wow...