Off to California! Its about time for another road trip, so 2700 more miles on the Jeep and countless memories have been created!! First on the list: Channel Islands National Park!
Sunday April 3, 2016
We woke up to a fog enclosed world. The heavy mist seemed to hover over everything. We enjoyed a tasty breakfast at Denny's across the street from our hotel and then packed our backpacks and headed to the coast 4 minutes away. Our excursion is through Island Packers and we were so excited to hit the open ocean as we travel to Santa Cruz island. The Chanel Island National Park is a series of five islands 19 miles off the coast of Ventura. It has been called the Galapagos of the Americas because it is a world created in complete isolation. There are over 150 species found on the islands that have not been found anywhere else on earth. In fact, there used to be mammoths on the island that eventually evolved into pygmy mammoths due to the minimal resources for them! We are really excited to see if we can spot the tiny island fox famous in these islands. We made it to the docking area and hung out looking at all the information inside before coming out and finding that a boarding line had already formed! We arrive an hour early and ended up being one of the last to board. It actually worked out better than expected because we sat at the very back and because we couldn't see well, we left our bags and stood at the very front of the boat at the railings. It was freezing! Cold wind, no sun, dense fog and ocean spray, but it was awesome to ride the waves up and down! Today was a calm day out on the ocean. I don't think I'd like to see what rough is like!
About ten minutes later the waters around us started to churn and out popped glistening dolphins! Tons of dolphins! They were on all sides of the boat racing with us! I can't think of any other creature who would see something strange, like a boat, and rather than swim away in fear, would swim directly to wards it and engage it in play! We saw well over 100! Wow again!
Just when we thought we couldn't top the sea lions or the dolphins, I thought I saw some water spray in the distance. I wasn't sure, but started pointing trying to see if anyone else had seen it. Sure enough, as we got closer we saw large sea birds, pelicans and seagulls swarming and diving in the water. And right in the middle of them rose two massive humpback whales! It was what they called a feeding frenzy because normally the whales feed alone to maximize their food intake. There must have been plenty to go around. The amazing thing is that that they would both breech the surface at the exact same time both rising so far out of the water and then crashing down among the birds. We had no idea that we would see such incredible wildlife just on the boat ride over.
The fog was still pretty dense, but we could barely make out the fine outline of the islands up ahead. The largest island, Santa Cruz, rise up with might cliffs straight out of the water. That's our destination. Disembarking was quite the adventure. This winter, a storm took out the pier, so we had to use small skiffs and disembark six at a time. It took a bit longer, but it was a fun adventure bouncing over the waves and then timing our jump to stay as dry as we could in the surf.
This island is a green beautiful paradise. All the wildflowers are in bloom, and it seems that they are huge versions of flowers we have seen. Coreopsis bushes that were about three feet across and Four O'clocks that had blossoms three inches across! Wow. Green hillsides covered in vegetation and elegant seabirds soared effortlessly overhead. Our hiking plans were to hike up to Caverns Point and then continue to Potato Harbor, then back down through the campground to try and catch a glimpse of the island fox. All in all it is approximately a six mile hike.
We climbed the switchbacks surrounded in flowers and greenery and reached to overlook which plummeted down the steep cliffs the the rocky shore below. Magnificent! Each twist at the top of the cliffs gave us more and more beautiful overlooks! Halfway to Potato Harbor, the wind picked up and the fog that had lifted an hour before started rolling in again. It started at the far end if the island and progressed as a wall of while encompassing everything in its path. We hiked through the fog and even made jokes about the cattle and sheep that used to roam this area. We joked that in the fog, they could walk right off the cliffs and feed the sharks! We reached the harbor and couldn't see a thing! We hung out for a bit by the cliffs and then the fog would break for a few minutes and we saw a grand cove below us! Jadeyn entertained himself by throwing rocks over the cliffs of course and we soaked in the beauty.
Next we hiked back by way of the campground. We would love to come and stay a few night! Under the huge trees there were several very nice sites. In the grasses a distance from us, we could see a small brown shape in the grass. Could it be? We came closer, and sure enough, it was the tiny island fox! They were a lot smaller than any of us expected. He was about the size of a sea otter and looked a lot like one too. He was not afraid of us either too. We got some pretty close up pictures before sitting down for lunch. He was interesting looking with small kind of crumpled ears. We saw one! We were so excited, then after lunch, we ended up seeing at least four more! And they all got more and more beautiful! By the time we saw our last one, he was fluffy and had a bushy tail. Sharp eyes watched us while they searched for scraps and their sensitive ears picked up every noise.
It was almost time to go. When our boat loaded skiff after skiff of people we played on the surf in the rocks. Same routine for boarding and trying not to soak our feet. On the ride back the waves were coming at a different angle, so we didn't have the steep rises and falls that had been so fun on the way out. We hung out at our favorite spot at the front of the boat and scanned for more sealife. We did get to see a sea lion diving through the water, but nothing larger. Jadeyn completely entertained himself reaching out in the mighty spray waves at the side of the boat and we were amazed that he didn't get drenched. We saw two more sea lions within the harbor and made it to our dock. What an amazing trip and all the wild life was a complete bonus! So much fun and so many more memories made!
We were chilled and sticky, so we came back to the hotel, soaked our feet in hot water and then went next-door for dinner at In and Out Burger. Again, tasty, but a very busy restaurant. Jadeyn begged us for a slurpee at the 7-11 and then back to the hotel. We read some Harry Potter and hit the hay! What a day!
Joshua Tree National Park!
Monday April 4thGreat nights sleep after the adventure of the boat ride and the sun and wind. We had a great breakfast again, packed up at hit the road. Off to the next national park: Joshua Tree. We missed this park when Kevin and I did our Natl Park trip years ago, time to do it with our little hiker leading the way! The drive was thankfully uneventful, but we enjoyed the amazing green of California covered in orchard and fields. Then the landscape completely changed. Suddenly we were in desert. We bought our annual pass at the visitor center (it has two polar bears on it which is appropriate if we make it to Alaska this summer). But, the park ranger told us that the campgrounds are full. What? We were told if we arrived on a weekday we shouldn't have a problem. I guess spring break really draws people in! She told us to head to Jumbo Campground since it is the largest campground and they might have a report on where to go. Well, here we go. We drove past all these great hikes and exhibits to see if we can grab a spot. The sign said it was full, but we pulled in anyway. Thank goodness. There were about ten sites out of 150 that had opened up! We grabbed one nestled among the massive boulders perfect for Jadeyn to climb on and set up camp! Whew! Now we can enjoy the park!
We chose to drive the long road to the southern most visitors center and do the stuff way down there since we won't be coming back that way. The road wound around and weaved all over as we tried to figure out what was wrong with the road paver? We're in the middle of nowhere without any obstacles. Why couldn't the road be straight!? We drove down to the southern most visitor center to ask about which hikes they like the best. Our favorite hike of the day was Mastodon Mine. This hike wound around through boulders and threw in a few washes, but a long the way we came to a fan palm Oasis. Huge fan Palm trees, Cottonwood trees, even cattails in the middle of the desert. It was a pretty dramatic switch from the desert we have been hiking through. Really shows you what a oasis can feel like going from hot hot weather soon nice cool breeze. The hike was really nice to get a good introduction to all the wildflowers that are covering the area this time of year. For part of the hike we hiked alongside a group of Cub Scouts. But we made sure to get ahead of them so they wouldn't scare away any Wildlife. Finally, we saw the peak. From here on it was a free scramble through the boulders and up and up to the very top. It was pretty steep in a lot of places, and we were grateful our shoes were able to grip the rock. The view from the top was vast and beautiful. On our way back it got kind of interesting. The trails we're not well marked, and we did our best guess to interpret the map. As a turns out, we were wrong. We ended up at a campground and had to walk through it, through a picnic area, out to the highway, where we finally found the right direction back to our car. We probably added on almost a mile to the hike! That Jadeyn was happy about the extra mile that he could add to his Cub Scout log book.
Back at camp, we enjoyed an awesome dinner, and then enjoyed the campground and the sunset. Jadeyn climbed all around the most of boulders in our campground. Then the stars came out. They were incredible. It was even difficult to see some constellations, because they were so many extra stars. We climbed in the tent, read some Harry Potter. Then we hit the hay.
Tuesday April 5th
We had a great night, the weather really cooled down and made sleeping very comfortable. We woke up about 6:30, and decided to get in early start hiking. Our first hike on the agenda was Ryan Mountain. It is a strenuous 3 miles hike that is pretty much straight up hill. There are stairs carved in the mountain, and up and up and up we went. We were grateful that we had an early start, while the sun was still low, and the heat hadn't overwhelmed us yet. The flowers again were incredible. When we made it to the top we stood at the peak and surveyed the whole area around us. Wow, beautiful and strange country. It had taken us 1 hour to climb all the way to the top, Jadeyn was determined to make it down fast! I didn't think it was possible to run down rocky, sandy pathways as fast as we did. We made it down in under 30 minutes. In the same parking area as Ryan Mountain, there was Indian Cave. This was a pretty cool place to climb through, as we investigated the old Indian dwellings. There was evidence where they had ground acorns in the granite stone creating a deep depression in the stone. We climbed up and down around all through these massive boulders.
Next on the list was a place called Hidden Valley. This place was any kid's absolute dream wonderland! Rocks, massive boulders, anything and everything a kid would ever want to climb on! The hike was a one mile loop and it seems like for every step Kevin and I took on the trail Jadeyn took 15 extra to climb up and down beside us. That kid has so much energy!
Then we hiked to Barker Dam. This hike was beautiful along the way. We hiked back to a place where the Cowboys and ranchers had created a dam to collect rainwater for their cattle.
We stopped for lunch among the boulders and then off to a 4 wheel drive Geology Tour. Its an 18 mile road that discusses all the different geological features in the area. It was pretty fascinating, and Jadeyn gotta nice nap during the drive. The last hike of the day was Split Rock. We didn't know what to expect on this one, and it ended ended up being quite interesting, and not necessarily in a good way. Partway through the hike way took a branch to see Face Rock. There were two faces in profile in the same rock, and it was pretty cool. We continued to hike, and got more out into the desert area, out of the boulders. At this point, we ran into a mom and son who are in a panic. They were hiking the same way we had been hiking, and thought they had gotten lost and we're so excited to see other people. They asked if they could hike with us. They were quite nice and Jadeyn and the boy got a long quite well both being outdoor people and Star Wars guys. It was nice to help them out, and we made it to the end of the trail together.
Wow what a day it has been. We capped off the night by stopping at Skull Rock. A perfect skull face in the rock, and then a ton more to hike around in. Jadeyn was in heaven! Back at Camp we had dinner and then Jadeyn took us on in evening tour all through the boulders behind our camp. We found quail, a desert hair, and an amazing songbird. We jumped from rock to rock, climbed over everything, and then finally enjoyed and incredible sunset over the boulders.
Wednesday April 6th
Wow. Interesting night last night. We read Harry Potter until 9 and then tried to get some sleep. Around midnight the lady two sites over was still talking full voice around her campfire and her dogs were still barking at random. Our nice tent neighbor asked her to be quiet and she let him have it. It escalated and she was ridiculous with what she said. In 20 yrs of camping she was the worst we had seen. The argument lasted 20 minutes and when the nice guy went back to his tent, no one still slept as she was noisy for an hour longer. Wow. We woke early and as quietly as possible broke camp and had breakfast. The nice guy came over to tell us how much he enjoyed hearing us read Harry Potter each night; it reminded him of reading them to his kids and that Kevin had a great story voice!
Here are some pictures of Jadeyn and Kevin valliently trying to get their hands on a chubby chuckwalla! For being all sleepy in the sun, those lizards sure can move fast!
We piled in the car and hit the road having fully rocked Joshua Tree! All in all, at this point we hiked 12.1 miles of trails (we have a short .5 left today) plus the 6.5 from Channel Islands. I think Jadeyn met his goal! Kevin bravely drove us through the California freeways dutifully going the speed limit while every car around us blazed past like we were standing still! We passed Magic Mountain for the second time this trip and were so tempted to stop. How could we drive past those huge towering coasters? Well, we made it to classic Knott's Berry Farm. Both Kevin and I had been here before as kids, and both of our main memories center around Montezuma's Revenge! It will be fun to discover it all again with Jadeyn.
We checked into our hotel room, unloaded a lot of our camping gear, replenished our ice supply and then hit the showers to relieve ourselves if several layers of dust and sunscreen. That felt nice! We wandered through some of the shops and took a look at the eclectic collections, everything from Christmas villages to Indian moccasins!
But soon, hunger called us. We walked a half mile to Ferrell's Ice Cream Bar & Restaurant. You know a place is good when they list ice cream before the food. We walked in to be greeted by stained glass chandeliers with ice cream cones in the glass. Circus style colors and signs and just an overwhelming feeling of delicious decadence! The menu was massive and dripping with flavor. We ordered the gastronomicaldelicatessinepicurian delight! A sandwich with corned beef, turkey, ham Swiss cheese etc. Our second dish was the top shelf Burger that was about twice too high for us to bite through! For dessert we shared the Gold Rush! Three scoops of vanilla/chocolate ice cream, whipped peanut butter, whipped cream, peanuts and fudge. We rolled back to the hotel! Spend a nice evening relaxing, read some HP and hit the hay!
Thursday, April 7th, 2016 & Friday April 8th, 2016, Saturday April 9th, 2016
Knott's Berry Farm! A
perfect place for making nostalgic memories!
It has the old feel of a carnival, mixed with old western and then rip
roaring steel coasters! The history
behind the park is fascinating. It all
started with a guy names Knott's selling pies at a small stand. The berry plants were given to him by a guy
whose last name was Marion, so when people asked him what kind of berries were
in his pies, he said Marionberries! His
wife started selling fried chicken with the pies and soon they were so popular
that people had to wait in line to be served.
They created small attractions to entertain people while they
waited. Their restaurant grew, the
attractions grew until finally, they started charging a single admission fee to
see everything and Knott's Berry Farm was created! Inside the park the history is well preserved
as well as the history of our country and the west. Knott's was fascinated by the old west and
restored and recreated blacksmith shops, school houses, knitting shops, etc
where you could go in and chat with people working on their crafts. It was really awesome. We even watched an Indian hoop dance:
incredible.
The only downside was the dang rain. Wait, I mean the light drizzle that apparently
Californians consider a downpour! It was
misting and all the coasters would shut down!
We couldn't believe it! We have
been to so many parks all across the county and usually they don't close down
unless there are high winds or lightning, but drizzle? So we entertained ourselves in different
ways, going to shows, watching people, talking with the old timers in their
shops!
The rides were sweet!!
The highlights of the park were:
Montezuma's Revenge - My memories of this ride was crying in
line because I didn't want to go as a kid.
I was already in line and I recall not being allowed to leave the
line! Kevin's remembers going on it as
well years ago. We were so proud of
Jadeyn being willing to go on it. He
enjoyed it and said it was fun, but didn't want to go again!
Voyage to the Iron Reef - All around great time! This was a 3D shoot 'em up ride where we
blasted underwater sea creatures. Kevin
would say it was my favorite simply because I blew his away every time!!
Xcelerator - Great blast off coaster! Kevin and I loved it! Jadeyn was eve sweet enough to wait for us so
we could actually go together!!
Pony Express - Very unique ride where you are straddling a
horse as you fly around the coaster!
Sierra Sidewinder - Jadeyn's favorite. Kind of like the dreaded wild mouse, but each
car spins individually like the Spider at Lagoon.What an awesome Spring Break Excursion!!!
