Our Big Camping Road Trip!

We just got back from the camping road trip that we've been looking forward to for months!  We loaded up our minivan with all of our stuff and all of our kids and spent a week on the road, traveling from Western Washington all the way down the coast of Oregon and into the Redwoods in Northern California.  We'd never been gone that long with the kids before, so we weren't quite sure how it would go, but it was great!  We got up really early Friday morning and left at 4 am to miss traffic, which was fun and made it feel really special!  =)  The Oregon coast was gorgeous; we played in the sand, dipped our toes in the ocean, and enjoyed seeing the creatures in some tide pools.  The Redwoods were definitely a highlight of our trip; they were huge and so beautiful!  We did some tent camping, and then stayed in yurts for a couple of nights, and a cabin for a couple of nights.  The kids loved playing at the campsites, and they got to play with some kids they met.  While we love tent camping, it was fun to try some different things, and we really enjoyed staying in the yurts.  It rained the last couple of nights of our trip, so we were really glad we weren't staying in a tent then!  We did end up spending a lot more time in the car than we had anticipated; all of our drives took much longer than Google said they would!  But the kids did fantastic in the car; we were really proud of them.  I made them each a Lego box, using a metal lunchbox, and those kept them pretty busy.  We also listened to several audiobooks that I had checked out of the library, and we started our Story of the World audiobook (it was a hit with everyone).  Although some of us occasionally needed a break from the constant noise, the audiobooks worked really well for the long car drives.  We had so much fun, got lots of much-needed rest, and made lots of new family memories!

Some of the picture highlights:

We kept seeing these adorable, small brown squirrels.

Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach

Tide Pools

He had so much fun with the sand!

The Tillamook Cheese Factory

Samples!  Yum!

Our first Yurt

Inside the yurt

This grassy hill overlooking the ocean made me think of
Anne of Green Gables, so I had Seth take a picture,
but the picture didn't really capture it very well.

There was this awesome climbing tree by the
yurt that the kids really enjoyed!

Face Rock.  Do you see it?

The cabin we stayed in.

The Redwoods!

So gorgeous...

And...that's a wrap!