Spring Break 2016 - Day 1, Trees of Mystery

Over Spring Break we headed up the CA and OR coasts. Day one was jam packed, but I'm starting with breakfast, elk, driving thru a tree, and our first real stop, which was at Trees of Mystery.  I am always amazed at the reaction when I mention this place. I find that a lot of our friends who have lived in CA their whole lives have never heard of it. I say, "you know, the place with trees and Paul Bunyan and Babe??"  Blank stares.  I had been here as a kid on a trip down from WA, and since having kids had wanted to take them there. Our oldest is now 14...so it took a while!  But we got them there, and they enjoyed it as much as I did as a kid. It was mostly the same, with one major upgrade -

This is how we travel : ) If you squeeze his hat pompom his ears fly up.

 The Samoa Cookhouse is somewhere that Brian had been as a kid.  It is not right off 101, so you either have to know about it, or have been there before to know how to get to it, or even that it exists. It's actually in the town of Samoa. It was the cookhouse for loggers way back when (1800's).  They serve the food the same. You don't order, just go in and sit at a long table, and whatever they are cooking that day, that's what you eat. It was really neat!

 That was sausage gravy for biscuits. There was also sausage, french toast, and scrambled eggs. We headed out of there and drove north. Along the way we saw a lot of elk, which the kids have heard about, but never seen in the wild.  Growing up we had a herd of elk that would pass through the field next to our home. I was excited for the kids to finally see a herd in nature.

  Some of these are from my phone, so quality isn't good.

 

 We left the elk and drove some more and spotted this amazing old school house in a field.  It was so pretty!

 Then we saw more elk.

 

 Best place to view elk from....

 

 Then we drove some more and spotted this, so of course we had to do it!

 

 Let me just say, as much as I wanted the kids to experience driving thru a tree...holy cow, it was close. I guided Brian through, but it was so close if I told him left/right and he turned the wheel, the tires would hit the sides. It was too much for Myles, he wanted no part of it.

 

  

 

 The sign below cracked Brian and I up. Rhodies are the state flower of WA and are everywhere. I don't think anyone would even drive a mile to see one.  They are beautiful.....but 1000's of miles??? Really, now.

 Below is the upgrade from when I was a kid.....it was pretty cool!

 We caught on pretty quick that when you pass another group going the opposite direction, you have a chance to wave, or make faces, or have a family dance party to amuse the passing car of people.

 There is a Tall Tales Trail, which is the history of Paul Bunyan. Myles spent a lot of time in 2cd grade learning all about Paul and Babe, so he knew what everything you see was meant to depict and filled us in because I was totally lost!

It brought back a lot of memories, and made a lot of new ones! From here we drove north, and had a few more fun stops during day one, but I'll do a post of those later.