Oregon Coast Family Vacation 2024: Week 2 and Happy Birthday Mason!

Where did we leave off? Monday of our second week...

We decided to spoil the kids and rent some 4 wheelers so they could ride them at the sand dunes/Steve's ATVs. We told them we would play at the sand dunes but didn't tell the we would rent ATVs. Henry wasn't tall enough to ride in a large UTV (where all 6 of us could have rode together) so we decided to rent smaller ones that they each could ride on their own.

They are ready to go

They all passed their basic training, Henry had a really tough time turning at first but eventually figured it out

They had a close course just for kids and we had it all to ourselves

Of course I had to try one out for a second

Lyza also took some turns but it wasn't her thing

Nixon picked it up really quickly

It was hard to keep up with them

After that we went to a book store for something more Lyza's style

It was an old bank that still had a vault inside

Lyza got a new book. We were hopeful that a 1200 page book would last her the week. 

Then it was time to drive to our next camp ground

Our next camp was at Sunset Bay

The boys loved having their bikes for the camp grounds

We made some tuna melts and grilled cheese sandwiches

After dinner we walked to the beach to explore. We found lots of these sand shrimp.

And some crabs of course

It was a beautiful evening (until Nixon slipped on a rock and cut his hand so we had to get out of there)

Lyza reading her book in the dark

Here is Kim's account from that evening:

We had an eventful night. Around 3 am I was woken up by a clanging sound. I got out of bed and looked out the window on the door at the porch but didn't see anything. I was cold and tired so I got back in bed. I laid there for a minute but had the feeling I should get up and check again. I didn't have a flashlight available so I used the flashlight on my phone and went out to the little front porch of our yurt. When I went out I discovered that we had left the food box out and the lid was off and there was an empty Reese peanut butter cup wrapper on the ground beside it. I quickly shone the light around me to discover 4-5 racoons around our yurt. When we went to bed our plastic food bin had our water bottles sitting on top. The racoons had knocked them off when they got the lid off of the container. The metal water bottle falling off is what woke me up. I scared the racoons off the best I could and then pulled the food bin inside. We also had a soft sided cooler out they tried to get in but they were unsuccessful. I pulled everything inside the yurt while trying to keep the racoons away (they were pretty aggressive and tried to come and get more food while I was pulling the bins inside) and then went inside. I got back into bed and then heard a bunch of growling and fighting coming from the other side of the yurt. I went back out again and saw they had gotten a bag of wheat thins that they were fighting over. I scared them off but before they ran away they picked up the bag of crackers to take with them. It was all quite eventful and Daniel and I had a hard time getting back to sleep after that.

The next morning after a delicious pancake and egg breakfast we went back to the beach for a really low tide

We found lots of crabs and the kids worked together to out smart them

These smooth rocks were neat

After having lunch back at the campsite Lyza watched the two younger boys while Kim, Nixon, and I went to explore some nearby sites

We started at the botanical gardens at Shore Acres State Park

Those are some massive leaves

We then walked down to Simpson Beach

These were interesting formations in the rock

Some deer when we returned to the parking lot

We then went to a lookout where we saw hundreds of sea lions in the distance

We then drove to Cape Aragon State Park. The beach access was limited because of a hard winter and damage that resulted

Nixon and I made it down anyway and watched the water crashing against the rocks

Nixon took a spill on this slimy stuff

Kim didn't come all the way down with us

Back at the campsite our boys had lots of fun playing with other kids

We bought some firewood

I used my man skills to make some kindling

And we started a fire

We roasted hot dogs for dinner

And then of course had some s'mores

The next day we packed everything up and headed to the next destination (a hotel in Brookings)

We stopped in Bandon and visited some cool stores, including a toy store where I purchased a disguise

We all tried some flavored honey

We checked out some cool art work on a pier

We then stopped at Cape Blanco beach

Mason found this really cool white agate right as we entered the beach

Nixon climbed things

We found lots of agates at this beach

Next we stopped at Arch Rock Point

Then we did a hike at the Natural Bridges Viewpoint

You can see the "natural bridge" to the left of the frame

We hiked down, which was quite difficult

Nixon and I made it to the natural bridge

This was our view toward the ocean

And in the direction we had come from

The video doesn't quite show how narrow the bridge was that we made it to

Lyza had gone far enough

There we are

We defied the sign!

Another view of the bridge

We then stopped at a beach outside Brookings

The older boys had lots of fun playing next to the waves

And climbing up on rocks

Mason found a sea star (that he shouldn't have grabbed)

Those rocks were just too enticing, until the waves got Nixon and Mason completely soaked!

After that we stopped at the hotel, dumped our stuff, and then drove to a nearby Mexican restaurant for dinner

The next morning we had cereal, fruit, and yogurt in the hotel room then packed up. We drove to Jedidiah Smith State Park in Northern California.

There was some pretty driving

We drove the scenic Howland Hill Road through the redwood forest. The road was very winding and extremely narrow at times

The redwoods were incredible. It is hard to capture their size with photos and even more difficult with video. It was simply amazing.

Five of us maybe reached half way around this tree, which isn't even the biggest we saw

We found trees with huge hollow parts in their trunks

These old forests were beautiful

We started off by hiking the Stout  Memorial Grove trail

The boys did lots of climbing

The fallen trees were really cool

Nixon on the top and me on the bottom should provide some scale for just how huge this tree trunk is

Mason never has a problem finding a hiking stick

We had lunch after that hike

Then we started the Grove of Titans trail

The trail got pretty narrow between these two trees

Our boys like to climb up high then ask for their picture to be taken

This part felt like a jungle

This tree was MASSIVE

At the visitor's center when we reached the Jedidiah Smith State Park it mentioned the banana slugs that we might see. We really wanted to see some and Kim spotted one on the way out of this hike.

We ate some Canadian Eatmores

And then Kim found another banana slug!

Driving out of there we got this great picture of the scenic road

Next stop was the Trees of Mystery, which is a private park near the redwoods that has more of an amusement park vibe. It has these huge statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Great Blue Ox

Paul Bunyan interacts with the kids that step, climb, and stomp on his boots

There are lots of neat statues and things along the way within the attraction

And signage for unique natural features

The coolest parts were these bridges in between the trees way up high

Lyza (who hates heights) was terrified

This system of bridges was very impressive

It is cool how these trees have all grown next to each other. They perform weddings here.

This tree is almost 300 feet tall! That is 3x the height of the huge ponderosa pine trees in our neighborhood

Someone failed to finish the job on this tree so I jumped in to help

We rode a gondola up to the top of a big hill

There was a decent view up there

More things to see on the way down

It was a fun place to visit

After that huge day we drove for what seemed like forever to our yurt at Lake Selmac. This was a small rundown park (compared to the others we had stayed at) but we just needed somewhere to get a good sleep and it was adequate for that need. 

We woke up early and ate a quick breakfast so we could drive to the nearby caves to get a spot on the first tour (since we didn't reserve spots far enough in advance)

This is a model of the cave system at the Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve. This cave systems has 4,600 feet of known passages.

This was the entrance to the cave

The cave sometimes has a metal boardwalk, sometimes just the natural stone floor, other times it was natural stone steps, metal steps, and even metal stairs (even a spiral stair case). Inside the cave it was 44 degrees F (7*C). 

We learned about the natural formations inside and how the caves were formed (acidic water slowly eroding the tunnels over centuries)

You can see roots coming from the ceiling in this picture

There was minimal lighting throughout

And in certain areas of interest they turned on more lighting so we could see those things

You can see the water dripping from the ceiling

We saw this buck when we exited the cave.

This was the exit

Here is a little video (as you can imagine, it was hard to document the dark cave)

Kim and Nixon took a short hike/detour back to the parking lot while I took the other kids on a more direct route

They got a cool view at the top of their hike

Lyza found a hover fly, which mimics a wasp

The next stop was Crater Lake, which was gorgeous!

There was still lots of snow up there

Lyza and that book...

Crater Lake is actually an inactive volcano that is now filled with water, fed by rain and snow, and it is the deepest lake in the USA. The water was amazingly blue.

It was surprising to see so much snow there but the elevation is 6'178 feet (28 feet taller than the highest peak we skied this winter)

Unfortunately we had so much driving to do that day that we did not have a lot of time to spend at Crater Lake and didn't have time to do any hiking (next time)

Our final stop was Tumalo State Park, just outside of Bend, OR.

It was much hotter there than anywhere else we stayed and we even had a lizard that greeted us

The next morning was Mason's birthday!

We had French toast with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast

Then we went in to Bend for the day. We started off at a Lego store that was having its one year anniversary celebration so it was a very fun atmosphere

We figured out just how tall Mason is in the Lego measuring system

They also had a bin full of Lego bricks that you could purchase in bulk so everyone had fun sorting through that to find the best pieces

This is what Mason chose

After that it was Costco for lunch. Lyza got a little piece of pizza

Mason of course got a hot dog

We then went swimming at the Juniper swimming pool which had both an outdoor area and an indoor area

Henry took off his puddle splasher and worked on his front crawl

We had lots of fun swimming on a hot day

There was some cool playground equipment outside the swimming pool that we checked out

Back at the camp site we had some fried chicken and potato wedges we picked up on our way home.

We gave Mason an origami book that he had his eye on at the redwoods visitors' center

And then we had a birthday cake and celebrated our 8 year old

The cake was delicious

We played some games before bed

We were all exhausted and slept like babies

The next morning the kids were fascinated by an ant hill near our yurt

They rode bikes around the camp site while we packed everything up

Lyza also lead them in some campfire songs

We went to church 50 minutes away in Madras at a 10:00 sacrament meeting. We also ended up using our bread for the sacrament because their sacrament bread assignment fell through.

Along the way home we stopped at the same park in Kennewick we stopped at on our first day of the trip. It was so hot that Mason had to let the guns out.

After a long day of driving we finally made it home. Mason got to open a few more presents for his birthday.

Recap of our trip:

This was the longest trip we have ever taken together (excluding trips visiting family). The first few days/nights we weren't sure how we were going to make it two weeks. As time went on we got more and more comfortable with the idea and the process (packing the van, unpacking the van, making all the beds in the yurts, cooking on a camp stove, packing everything all back up, etc.). Eventually we got comfortable and really enjoyed it. I think we made some good and lasting memories and the trip was an overall success.

If things go well, in a future post you will see a recap video of the trip.

Take care.