Everyone has their own idea of a fun family vacation. Road trips do not make the top of my husband's list of vacations. Instead, he attempted to get us on an Alaskan cruise via a last minute wait list. As much as I know we would have enjoyed the cruise, I'm glad we ended up going on a road trip. I'm still amazed at how much we fit it!
We planned the first several nights and some major activities a few days before we took off. Our first stop was at the Winston Animal Safari where we drove for 45 minutes touring the various animals. By far the most intriguing were the bears playing in the water. It was really amazing to see them so close up, and honestly I don't need to see them any closer!
After the safari we headed down to Grants Pass to stay the night before our next outing. It was a lot of driving for the first day! The next morning we got up early and headed over for our Hellgate Jetboat ride on the Rogue River. This was by far my favorite outing - it was a really hot day and our tour guide was a riot. We toured down and had a lunch at this amazing lodge and then on the ride back our driver managed to get us all wet.
That afternoon we drove to the Chateau at the Oregon Caves to check in and take a tour of the caves. The road to the lodge is extremely steep and curvy. That was my least favorite part about the caves. It was really hot by the time we made it to the caves and we decided to try to catch one of the last tours of the day. Since the caves are about the same temperature as your refrigerator we had to change and manage in the heat until we entered the cave. We all loved the cave - there was just so much to see. I was actually fascinated by the sheer size of the cave and the story of how it was found and eventually opened as a national monument. I highly recommend! Although the hotel is not the most comfortable it is so quaint that it is worth a night stay.
On the way to our next stop we made a few side trips. First up was Ocean World in Crescent City. Our son loved the opportunity to pet a leopard shark! We managed to see the famous gray whale that had some how ended up in the Klamath River. We were all mesmerized by this amazing creature circling the area while we gazed at her beauty from the bridge. I'm so sad to report that she died last week. It is too bad she wasn't able to return to the ocean and apparently the experts aren't sure what her cause of death was.
Our first tour of the redwoods was at Prairie Creek Redwoods Drive. The Redwoods are truly amazing. The kid loved running along the trails, I was busy taking it all in and hubby was happy taking pictures with the amazing light. As a kid we visited the redwoods on our way to my grandparents and I vividly remember Paul Bunyan at the Trees of Mystery so we had to go there!
That evening we checked in at the Riverbar Farm Bed & Breakfast. This was a great find by hubby. The owners were so friendly and our kid just loved playing with their dog and feeding the animals. It was also a nice change to have breakfast together with the other guests. Although the first day our son stuck his tongue out at the guests and covered his ears saying he doesn't like to eat with strangers. Luckily he warmed up to the idea and later even apologized to the guests for his behavior.
For day two of the Redwood tour we headed out to the Avenue of the Giants for more hiking. We stumbled upon a great little winery at Riverbend Cellars and enjoyed chatting about their various blends. We just wished their adjacent restaurant, The Groves, had been open for lunch, it looked amazing! The following day we decided to make our way home via Highway 101 up the coast. We knew this would be a longer drive, but there were some stops along the way that we wanted to check out.
We spent some time at the beach near the Trinidad Head lighthouse and enjoyed watching the sea lions on the rocks. We even make a special trip to check out the old View Crest Lodge cottages that my grandparents used to own. We finally made it to Bandon and found a last minute room available as this was the one night we hadn't pre-booked.
We had a pretty full day in Bandon checking out the West Coast Game Park, which the kid loved. Once we learned there was a dog show at the local high school we stopped by to see if our breeder was there. Sure enough, she had just shown one of her Boxers. It was great to see her and have her finally meet our son. We all enjoyed being around other Boxers and even met the owners of our dog's sister, Stella. It also made us all miss our dog!
As we drove up the coast we took a side trip to check out the Shore Acres State Park. It was farther then we had anticipated and by the time we got there we were all a little tired from the drive. It was an amazing view as well as an impressive garden that is worth the drive if you plan for the extra time to really take it all in. Our final tourist stop was to see the Sea Lion Caves. It was pretty impressive even though the sea lions were not inside the cave. We'll have to go back in the Fall or Winter to see them actually in the cave. We did get a good look at them on the rocks, but just being inside the cave was impressive. I also found it really interesting that the business of the cave has been in the family for generations.
We ended our road trip with dinner at my husband's cousins house. It was great to catch up with them and regain some energy before our final drive home. Our son loved playing with their teenagers Legos and chatting with him and his girlfriend. We will definitely be back!
I will post pictures from our trip soon...
