Camping in the Redwoods Part II

If you missed Part I of the recap, our trip up, it's not too late to catch up.

The second day we got to hang out and really enjoy explore our campsite.  This was the view from the tent.  Complete with baby.  Because Thatbaby found endless enjoyment in crawling in and out of the tent.

The morning's breakfast was a foil packet filled with eggs, hash browns, tomatoes, and sausage.

After breakfast, Thatboy and Thatbaby relaxed a little bit in the hammock we brought.

Meanwhile Thatkid explored the giant trees around our site.  We had some really big trees.  And some equally large tree stumps. 

During our trip, Thatkid could often be found inside these stumps.  For perspective, this is a picture I took after I couldn't find Thatkid and followed his voice.  I'm looking down into the tree he crawled into through a small opening in the bottom.

Thatboy and I got into the "hang out inside a tree" part of our trip too.

Thatbaby took a nap while we cleaned up and got ready for the day.  I have to say that he slept surprisingly well during the trip.  We shared a sleeping bag, to make things easy, and when he woke at night, I just nursed him back to sleep.  He woke more often than at home, but went to sleep fairly quickly when he did.  And he took some good naps during the day. 

Once he woke up, we headed out for the day.  When I was looking for things to do in the area, I noticed there was another drive through tree not too far from out campsite.  This "Tree Park" had more to explore than the other, and since it was so close, we decided to give it a whirl.

The Shrine Drive-Thru Tree is older than the Chandelier Tree, but the pass-thru was more narrow.  Nothing deters us though!

This time I took video as we drove through the tree, so you can enjoy it too!


The Shrine Tree Park also had a "drive on tree."  So we drove on. 

We don't have a small car, so the fact that it seems so small compared with the trunk of this tree goes to show just how large these things get.

There were wood carvings of bears all over the park, so Thatkid decided this is where the three bears must live.

This idea was only reinforced by the adorable little houses carved into tree trunks.  Like actual tree-houses!  This one was one story, but another was two stories!

When we finished up at the tree park, we went to have lunch and spend the afternoon at Gould's Bar, river access that allowed us to bring our favorite four-legged companion.  While Thatbaby napped, Thatboy and Thatkid waded in the river.

Thatboy taught Thatkid how to skip rocks.  When Thatbaby woke up, he joined the menfolk mid-stream.

I tried to take some panoramic shots to capture the beauty of the tree-lined river.

And the majesty of the tall trees.

Eventually it was time to wrap up this show and head over to packet pickup.  Instead of making dinner at the campsite, we went to the Spaghetti Dinner thrown by the Volunteer Firefighters of Weott.  Many of the racers were there and it was a great community event.  It was all you can eat pasta and salad, and Thatkid made sure he ate all he could.  It was also a fantastic way to carb-load when you've been Passovering it for the past week.

We came home after that and roasted smores by the firepit.

Then Thatbaby and I tucked into our sleeping bag, calling it an early night before the big race.