Day 30, Saturday, May 17, 2008

• We left Jellystone at Cobb Mountain and started driving towards Crescent City. I think we left around 11:30 am, and our GPS said it would take 5 hours and 45 minutes, or something like that.
• Not long after we were on the road, cars were stopped and we couldn't really move (it's not easy to turn around a trailer!!). I grabbed food out of the trailer for us to eat for lunch. We got my computer to try to map out another route. We were just stopped there...We saw several emergency vehicles drive past us and even heard a helicopter.
• After quite a while (I think an hour or so), cars started moving, yahoo! But they told us to go to the side...There was a power line that was low, and we wouldn't clear it...We had to wait with the buses...We finally got to go, I don't know exactly how long it took, maybe 30 or 45 minutes more.
• We stopped 2 times for potty breaks, and to get gas, and to get cell signal to call our campground (we hardly had cell signal all day!!).
• We drove through the Redwood Forest and it was beautiful. At one point we saw a semi truck and it looked so tiny compared to those trees!!!
• In the evening, we stopped in Eureka for dinner at the Samoa Cookhouse. I'd read about it in one of the California books. There used to be cookhouses in all of the logging towns. This is the last one left in the west! It's all you can eat, but they serve what's on the menu that night and you don't have a choice. Kids 4 & under are free, the other two kids were like $5. You get iced tea, tea, or coffee free with your meal (or you can order other drinks). Tonight's meal was a vegetable soup, salad, homemade bread (and croutons), roast beef, fried chicken, baked potatoes, corn, and apple pie with whipped cream. It was all very good!! The setting was fun, and we all enjoyed it (although the boys were getting a bit sleepy!!).
• We got to drive through some redwoods in the dark. Thankfully the signs along this part of 101 have been so clear--amazingly clear--big flashy electronic (solar powered) lights saying "sharp grade ahead, use caution," or "35 mph turn--your speed, 38" or whatever!! We saw 2 elk!! Around dusk is when we see so many animals! I forgot to say that near the Yogi Bear camp, after going grocery shopping, we saw SO many deer!! Like maybe 15 or 20 on our 3 mile trip to the campground!!
• Karry and I started brainstorming on a book we're going to write together. :) More details coming whenever it's published. :)
• We pulled into our campground at 9:30 pm. It was a verrrrry long day!!!!!

The accident that held up traffic so long. I wonder if the person even made it. There was smoke when we first pulled up to the scene, and no emergency vehicles were even there yet. I wonder if the person (or people) even got out before it caught on fire? Were they killed when the car flipped? Was the helicopter life flight?

Noah at the cookhouse.

Ruby with her messy bib!!

Karry with the baby smiley wavy girl!

Kaleb, who ate all of his chicken to go on what he was certain was a tractor ride...but it wasn't...Karry just said, ok, well if you're so sure it's a ride, you have to eat all of your chicken before you can go on it. That kind of motivation always works for Kaleb. I felt bad for him that there really wasn't a ride. ;)

Me & my Isaac buddy. Isaac loves to sit by me at dinner. He's a cuddly boy, especially when he's tired. Tonigth he was really tired. He didn't even want apple pie, just bread with jam on it.

The boys next to a buoy, which was outside the cookhouse (and I think there was also a museum there of old logging stuff, but we didn't see all of that--just some stuff inside the restaurant).