Family Adventure Day 2013!

I just realized that I did not do an entry last year for our annual adventure day.  We went to Columbia, a gold town in Northern California.  To see all the photos from that Adventure Day, click HERE and HERE.

This year, for our 6th annual Family Adventure Day, we went to the Kings & Sequoia National Parks on 10 August 2013.  We saw the Giant Sequoias and climbed to the top of Moro Rock.  We saw some beautiful country and then drove into Visalia for dinner.  It was a fun day!

Entering Kings Canyon National Park

and Sequoia National Park

A panoramic view of the General Grant tree

Katrina, Rebecca and Amanda in front of the General Grant tree

Kevin and Lora by the General Grant tree

Kevin and Amanda

Amanda, Lora, Katrina and Rebecca climbing to the top of Moro Rock

Amanda, Lora, Katrina and Rebecca at the top of Moro Rock

Video of Katrina and Rebecca announcing their presence at the top of Moro Rock

A panoramic view from the top of Moro Rock

A photo attempting to show how steep the steps are to the top of Moro Rock

Our dinner at The Habit in Visalia

To see all the photos from our Adventure Day, click HERE

Family Adventure Day!

It's our 4th Annual last-weekend-of-the-summer Family Adventure Day!



This year we decided to head back to the beach. We went to Morro Bay. We haven't been there for about nine years, so we figured it was about time to go back. Lora's mom was visiting, so we took her with us to Atascadero, where we met with Uncle Rich, who took her to visit with Aunt Lindi.



We drove into Morro Bay and went out to the Rock. We ate lunch at a park, with a seagull standing hopefully by. Nearby a boy started throwing french fries to the two birds that were there, and within a minute, he was surrounded by over thirty birds, including six pelicans!



We left the park and drove to the Historical Landmark and got the answers for an Earthcache. We discussed how the rock was formed, whether by volcanic activity or erosion, and decided that it was both. It was originally formed by volcanic activity, but over the years has eroded to the shape it is now. We enjoy those kind of caches.



After the cache, we drove to the Morro Bay Aquarium. We have been here before, but Rebecca was two years old. The girls got some fish chum to feed the seals that are in the front of the aquarium. I can't believe those seals don't weigh a ton with all they get fed all day long.






The aquarium has seen better days. They used to have an octopus (see the photo of Rebecca when she was two), and the fish look a bit tired. It was fun though. They still have the shark, the anemones, the abalone and the horseshoe crabs. They did have a few fish I don't remember seeing before.



These fish seemed really interested in Rebecca! : )

When we left the aquarium we went to The Shell Shack and the girls got to pick out several shells. Then we walked around the shops, saw some of the sights, and let the girls each pick out a tshirt. We walked along the decks and we tried to get a photo of all of us, the long-arm way, with the Rock in the background. A waiter from the restaurant in front of us came out and offered to take a picture of all of us. The photo was slightly out of focus, but it was very nice of them.



We went up to the Morro Bay Natural History Museum. This is an amazing place! We strongly recommend this museum!! It has some of the most inventive displays we had ever seen. There were earphones shaped like "Rocky" that told the kids facts about Morro Rock. There were displays with drawers underneath them, and each drawer had even more displays in them. There were cylinders that had different pictures of different aspects of each of the ecosystems. There were really cool pull-out "windows" that showed the food chain. There was a great display that as you turned the "wheel" the louvers rotated to show different information. There was also a whale skeleton that the museum had put together themselves. Very cool!!












Lora's mom met back up with us and went down to the beach for a little while.




After cleaning up the sand from the beach, we went to dinner. We checked out a few places, but finally decided to go to the restaurant where the waiter had taken a photo of us. It was called the Flying Dutchman. We had a long wait for a table, but the food was worth it!



Amanda, Rebecca and Kevin had the fish and chips, Katrina had the chicken strips, Mom had the clam chowder in a bread bowl, and Lora had the special which was bacon-wrapped teriyaki tuna with jasmine rice, baby vegetables and cucumber salsa. Mom said it was the best clam chowder she has ever had, the fish and chips weren't overly greasy like some places, and the special was really good! We made sure to tell the manager that we came back because of his employee. They really appreciated hearing that!



Then, we drove home. : ) As usual, a lovely end to the summer!

To see all the photos from our Morro Bay adventure CLICK HERE

It's been three years now, so I guess we could start to call it a tradition……

Each year, on the last weekend before school starts, we go on a family adventure. This year we decided to follow the route of the Climb to Kaiser. We started by driving through Burrough Valley and stopped at the top of Wildcat grade to do some maintenance on our WIldcat cache, which turned eight years old yesterday!! We traded the plastic cache for an ammo can. That should last another eight years, at least!!

We then headed up through Tollhouse and up the mountain! We stopped and took a photo of the view!! All the way along we told the girls stories and information about the bike ride.

We drove into the town of Shaver Lake and stopped at the Sierra Historical Museum. The lady at the desk answered a few questions and then asked if we knew about the caboose that was being restored next to the museum. We told her that Kevin's dad was one of the volunteers restoring it. Turns out the lady knew Kevin's family from when he was young and used to live around the corner from them. Small world.

At this point we started adding in information about the hydroelectric projects in the Sierras, as we were driving past much of it during this trip.

We drove down into Big Creek and looked at the Powerhouse there. As we started to climb out of the town of Big Creek, we stopped for a cache and while we were there, we saw a deer very close to us. That was pretty neat!

We climbed up Big Creek, which takes you up underneath the dam at Huntington Lake. None of the lakes in this area of the Sierras are natural. They are all man made with a series of dams and power plants that provide water and electricity to the Valley. We stopped at the Billy Creek Guard Station Museum. They have a beautiful museum and a great display about the WWII bomber that crashed in the lake, but you are not allowed to take photos in the museum.

We went around to the head of Huntington Lake and stopped at the Portal Powerhouse there. It is pretty impressive.

We drove up to the top of Kaiser Pass and the girls got out for a while to climb on the rocks and stretch their legs. We wished we had time to go for a hike. Next time.

We headed down Tamarak Pass back down into Shaver Lake. We stopped at The Hungry Hut for dinner. We sat at the counter, at Katrina's request.

The sun was setting as we headed from Shaver down through Alder Springs into Auberry. We stopped at Mom and Dad's for a few minutes and then we headed home. It was a lovely day! The weather was gorgeous and we learned a lot!

To see all the day's pictures click HERE.

Mariposa

Today we took the last Saturday before school started and made an adventure of it. Kevin has been to Mariposa, CA a few times on motorcycle rides, but we had never been there as a family. So, we packed some snacks and hit the road.

We drove up 41 through Coarsegold and Oakhurst and then on to Mariposa. We stopped a few miles south at the Mariposa Fairgrounds in a place referred to as Mormon Bar. There is a plaque there explaining why it is called Mormon Bar. We had a picnic lunch and then we went to the California State Mining and Mineral Museum. This is a very cool little museum. There were really great displays about all the different types of minerals found in California, a replica mine tunnel, a fantastic 100 year old model of a Stamp Mill, a few 3D maps of mines, and lots of displays about what minerals are used for in our daily lives, and then there was the gold room with some very cool gem and gold displays. This, sadly, is a museum that is slated for closure due to the state budget cuts, but hopefully, due to it's unique nature and requirements that the state will decide that it is more cost effective to keep it open.

We then drove into the town of Mariposa. We were going to start on the east side of town and work west to see all the sites, but the old church that is on the hill as you drive into town was very busy with a funeral for a firefighter. There were fire trucks all over the place and a lot of cars. So, we went past the old Jail and then on to the Courthouse. The Mariposa Courthouse, built in 1854, is the oldest continuously running courthouse west of the Mississippi River. It is a beautiful old building. We were happy to see that they were offering tours, so we were lead around the building by a docent who told us a lot of the history of the building and the county. While we were in the courtroom, the girls got to sit up on the stand. We also got to see the law library. The building was added on to in the 1930's with Roosevelt's WAP program.

From there we drove to the Mariposa Museum and History Center. This is an amazing little museum. We were not allowed to take photographs inside the museum, so we only can describe how great this place is! The docent told us that this museum was rated as the 3rd best in the nation (for it's size) by the Smithsonian, and we can believe it. There is SO much here! There were displays on Mariposa County history, California history, the gold rush, the Miwuk indians, the loggers, the ranchers, the churches, the surveyors, the settlers, schools, stores, etc. There were an amazing amount of artifacts, and someone had painstakingly hand lettered all the signs that were everywhere in the museum, as well as many murals and paintings depicting the history in the area. It was incredible! Outside the museum there were a lot of mining artifacts. It is a very well put together place!!

We went across the street to The Happy Burger restaurant for an early dinner. The girls were relieved to get something to eat (because you know we had been starving them all day!) and we were relieved to not have to hear how hungry they were anymore. (Sometimes the whining makes us wonder if it is worth it, but in the end it is always good to spend the day together as a family.)

Afterwards we did a little geocaching and looked at some of the souvenir shops, and then we headed for home. This is a beautiful area. No smog, just clear open sky and mountains. It was a lovely day.