We had spent 3 days driving north of San Diego…and we weren’t out of California yet!  But we love the Mount Shasta area and have fond memories of McCloud, so we grabbed a hotel there and headed over to the Shasta City Park, remarkable for being the head waters of the Sacramento River.  It’s a beautiful spot, though perhaps all the pot smoke made our memories hazy.  What kind of people really, really like river sources?  Hippy, pot-smoking, skinny-dipping hot women and unbathed men.

I have to say all that before I show you the edited version through family pictures.  It’s an amazing park, but the following is not an accurate portrayal of an average experience.

 

The smoky skies made the sunset a bit eerie.

It was the end of our first day’s journey home, and we had driven our 5 hours (plus 2 for LA traffic) and we wanted food. And the beach.  And food.  Luckily, we found a beach café where our feet were actually in the sand as we ate burgers and the best prepared salmon I’ve had in months.  Did I mention the sunset?  It was Perfect.

Guess who’s going to be wet by the end of the evening? (Um, Kyla, if you haven’t been paying attention.)

#2 & #3 amused themselves by racing the waves up and down, up and down.  I slept well that night just watching them!

Must come back someday!  Come with me??

Our plan for the drive home was to get in about 5 hours of driving a day around Family Adventures.

First stop, La Brea Asphalt Flypaper (yeah, Tar Pit does sound better, though less accurate). 

This is a real life pit, with lots and lots of predator bones…greedy sabor-tooths!

The Giant Ground Sloth would be a wonderful addition to current zoology.

It’s safer to be up in a tree around the tar pits!

Isn’t this a cool exhibit?!

Wesley got to be photographer for a few minutes!

Everyone but us left this morning, as the eclipse was (what’s the verb?) eclipsing.  We took the day to clean up and prepare for the long journey home. 

There may have been a nap involved.

But you can tell that we were not up to standard this trip—a 1000 piece is put away unfinished and no marathon games of Kings and Serfs. 

So long and thanks for all the memories!

San Diego Zoo is almost too big and exhausting.  But, Piper found her wombat! SDZ has two wombats, but the statue was the most cooperative.

In retrospect, we should have had our big family day at the beach or park, because 17 people can’t really roam the zoo well together.  But we did get a little time with everyone and saw many amazing things.

Well, if They won’t let me have a koala of my own, these kids will do.

This is how Wesley measures up to a Mammoth.

Somewhere on this vacation, we invented “ice cream o’clock”. Really, it helps everyone survive all the fun we’re having.

And after all we saw that day, Piper and Wesley were most excited about the lizard they caught back at the house that evening!

Which is a stupidly obvious observation to those who know it, and completely non-descriptive to those who don’t.

Dwayne loved the architecture, of course, and took lots of pictures of things he will build me when he has time time and coin. 

I liked the gardens, and the Japanese Gardens will be first on my list next time as we ran out of time/energy this time. And note: Secret is my favorite perfumed rose, I discovered. Lovely!

This San Diego beach is actually worth the 20 minutes or so it takes to find a parking spot.

We met up with most of the family to walk, play, ride the waves, and relax in the shade.

Dwayne, Debi, and I walked down until we came to this dream sand castle. 

Esther dug a Hole.  Piper explored it in every way she could.

Then the grown ups left (I guess except for me, but I’m more like the shadow photographer/chauffer/food provider) and then the sand really got a work out!

[Can you see the mini-figures cleaning out Washington’s ear with a Q-tip?]

Our first full day in San Diego was a Big Adventure.  We got to take cousin Esther (age 17) with us on our first foray to Lego Land.  Not only is Esther a wonderful niece and has the enthusiastic loyalty of her 3 young cousins, she also made our party an even number—a happy benefit on a ride-centric day.

Legoland is a fantastic place to play!  The kids loved the drive-your-own car and pull-your-parents-up-with-a-rope attractions.

There were more to do than just our rides, and we tried to do it all. 

Somebody (ahem, Esther) has a horrible tradition of leaving the soak-you-to-your underwear rides until the very end.  Sure, the lines are almost non-existent, but so are the warm temperatures.  It’s almost like 99.9% of the park’s attendance are smarter than us.  I have to exclude Dwayne though, partly because he doesn’t follow tradition on anyone’s say-so, and partly he went back to the Horrible Ride to wait to have his brand-new phone fished out from the itty-bitty pond it had drowned in 3 hours earlier.  Sigh, another story for a less sober time. 

[Right before Dwayne’s phone took it’s final gasp on a suicidal jump for The Joust. Dwayne’s face is priceless in retrospect.]

Despite The Most Expensive Ride Ever, we had a wonderful Family Adventure Day!

We were traveling on her true half-birthday, so we found a morning that Daddy could take Piper out for breakfast and took Grandpa along, too!

Nine and a half years, Baby!  We haven’t missed a half-birthday yet.

And the kids went in right away for the hugs…and then the sand and sea.

Hi, Grandpa and Uncle Dan!

Kyla can’t even get near a puddle without soaking her shorts, so she had no chance against the Pacific!

And then off to the house to meet with the female side of the caravan!