Happy Birthday, Carla!!! I love you!
In keeping with a 13 year tradition of writing this in the sand….here is the “Carlsbad version”:
I’m proud that she drives our RV whenever needed, whether it’s through heavy traffic, high winds, giant mountain passes, or construction zones, all the while with kids shouting to her, “Mom, can I have a snack?”.
Carla got a nice surprise from Angel delivered right to our RV!
Today we head north about 70 miles to Santa Cruz. As you can see below, the kids are so excited!
On our way north on the Pacific Coast Highway, we stopped by Moss Landing and noticed there were sea otters in the harbor! So we unloaded the kayaks and did something we’ve never done before! It was an AMAZING experience to paddle right near sea otters, sea lions, and seals!!! Now this is how you celebrate a birthday!
We ate dinner at a seafood place on the Santa Cruz Whatf (the longest pier in the USA!). We had a great view of the ocean and watched a guy kiteboarding, which was so cool!
Underneath the pier, a bunch of sea lions hang out and bark at each other. Really neat!
There is an amusement park right on the ocean!
We then went to the most awesome skateboard shop in all of Santa Cruz called the Boardroom! Tripp and I both wanted to buy a new board so badly! I was drooling… I always thought it would be cool to buy a Santa Cruz brand skateboard while in the city of Santa Cruz!
For now, a window sticker will have to do!
The next day, we broke down and bought new skateboards (me too, I admit!)! It will be a great memory for the kids to know that they got to pick out a skateboard in California where skateboarding originated (which was something I had dreamed of when I was 14!).
Gotta add stickers!
Today was the big day to ride Thomas the Train through the redwood forest at Roaring Camp railroad in Felton, CA! It was so neat to ride right by the giant redwood trees!
I had to stop off for a quick picture of our car ride home through the woods. I love all the evergreens!
We then set out to find a skate park to teach the kids some skateboarding skillz! My muscle memory of skating ramps from 28 years ago started coming back! Hoping I don’t break something before this trip is over!
The next day we headed north to Redding, and the following day we drove past Mount Shasta on our way to Oregon! The mountain was so beautiful!
Poor Tripp – the sun was super bright! Can you believe it was 97F when we snapped this photo?
Love the evergreens!
793 exits later….
Goodbye, California!
Happy Birthday my friend!
Thank you Angel!!
Wow. What a birthday to remember. And it looks like you had the whole place to yourselves. Have fun dining on the pier tonite. Do the kids get extra credit for all these field trips?
Wow! I don’t even skateboard and I couldn’t have resisted buying one ( death wish?)
And, hey, have you considered a sail for your kayak? Haaaa.
Ha, well we’ll see if I break down and buy one today! Good idea on the sail! I bet they have kits.
Just looking at all the pics and notes about your trip again. Wow! What a great idea. What a neat way to keep all rhe neat memories!
Thanks for sharing them with all of us.
We love you all.
We love you too! It has been an awesome journey so far! Hard to believe we are still driving AWAY from home with about 30 days to go. We have met some interesting people along the way.