Travel

Vortex, Redwoods, Alcatraz

Once upon a time there was a mom who decided a massive road trip would be a lot of fun. (You’ve heard this story before, huh?) Well it’s time to take a little step back in time to the first Epic Roadtrip. It’s a trip full of fun, adventure, ambitious plans a mind-blowing amount of activities that will be shared in chapters like our cross-country trip. Go big or go home, right?

As we start this adventure, I want to share with you a link to something pretty amazing that we definitely got use from. If you have a kid in 4th grade or going into 4th grade, you’ll want to grab this. It’s a federal program called “Every Kid Outdoors” and when you sign up, your 4th grader is given a family pass to get into ALL of the National Parks for free. You can use it starting the day 3rd grade ends up until the day 5th grade starts, so yes, you can get 2 summers worth of use out of it if you do it right. Get yours here.

Our trip starts early in the morning. We leave before the sun comes up and head West through the high desert of Oregon. It’s a long day of driving without a whole lot to see through most of the journey. We take the Christmas Valley cutoff which will take us through the Klamath Marsh Wildlife Refuge. (My other half lived in Klamath Falls for awhile and I was in Idaho so we found this to be the quickest way across, but I do NOT recommend it if you’re unfamiliar with it or at night.)

As we start the ascent to Crater Lake it is immediately obvious that there is not a chance we’re going to be able to get into the Lake, just around the edges. Something about snow 8 feet deep piled on the sides of the road. (This was the end of March) Crater Lake is beautiful but early Spring is always risky getting into it. The drive around the top of the mountain is stunning – the lodgepole pines, the remnants of dormant volcanoes and lava beds among them. So much to see and, had the weather been more cooperative, we’d planned on doing just that. Instead we saw some incredible sites from the car.

Our next stop is at The Oregon Vortex House of Mystery in Gold Hill. This place is crazy weird!! The recorded history goes back to 1904, but prior to that the Native Americans called the area “Forbidden Ground” because of all the weird things that happen. It wasn’t until the early 20th century that any attempt was made to discover the science behind it and much of it still remains a mystery. This is a place where water runs uphill, brooms stand vertical on their own, balls roll uphill, no birds fly overhead, no wild animals will enter, visual distortion and optical illusions are the norm here. It’s hard to describe until you’ve been there. Check out some YouTube videos or one of the dozens of documentaries that have been produced about it. (Or an episode of Ghost Adventures!) If you are prone to altitude or motion sickness or if you have astigmatism or balance issues you might want to skip this.

That night found us staying at a hotel on the Rogue River. The kids were mildly disappointed the pool was outside so it was closed, but they’ll survive. A good night’s sleep and we’re back on the road for what would be the LONGEST day of the trip. (Someone didn’t plan this part out very well honestly. Lesson learned for next time!)

After breakfast, we’re off to see the Redwoods. None of us have ever seen them other than the scenes in Return of the Jedi (the Ewok scenes were filmed there) & parts of Jurassic Park.

The scenery as you drop through Southern Oregon into Northern California is simply gorgeous – especially with the light rain falling around us. The mountains, the trees that are getting larger with every mile. It’s a great reminder of what a beautiful world we really do live in.

We make a stop in Crescent City to see Battery Point Lighthouse (from shore – it’s raining and is only accessible when low tide permits in good weather) and a stop at Rumiano Cheese Factory for fresh made squeaky cheese. Driving down Hwy 101 towards the Trees of Mystery was a little hairy at one point. Part of the highway had, quite literally, fallen down the cliff to the ocean. Grateful for that pilot car!

Trees of Mystery...holy cow! This is worth the stop and we ended up spending a lot more time here than we’d planned. Moms of kids and wives of adult kids be warned. You will, more likely than not, end up with a picture you just have to shake your head at. First picture my kids (and husband) had to take? Standing under the giant Babe the big blue ox statue fighting over who got to reach up and touch his anatomically correct underside. Not kidding. Boys…

Now that we’re actually inside, walking the trails among the giant Redwoods and Sequoias that are 1000s of years old, it is absolutely another world. Because of the rain it’s nearly deserted so we definitely take our time exploring. If you go, take the time to read the signs – there’s a LOT to learn! My silly kids decided that we needed a picture of mom & dad kissing in front of the Cathedral Tree. Ha ha! I’m glad that’s one of the memories they’re going to have from that trip though. It’s important to see that love when you’re growing up. (By the way, they do weddings in front of that tree sometimes.)

After making them stand in front of the Brotherhood Tree with it’s 19 FOOT diameter for a picture (I took tons of pictures, none of which do any justice to the beauty and majesty) it’s time to climb aboard the SkyTrail which lifts us way up into the sky over the top of the Redwoods. We are, quite literally, on the top of the world. Unfortunately it’s still raining so the view isn’t what we’d hoped but it’s still an amazing experience.

As you’re walking the trail back towards the gift shop you go through an area of chainsaw carvings dedicated to the tall tales of Paul Bunyan. So much talent to create those!

If you have the chance to do this, DO IT!!! There are only a couple drive-thru Redwoods still standing. It’s a crazy feeling to be driving through the base of a tree! Over the past couple of years I’ve seen that a couple of them have fallen or been damaged so badly that they’ve closed access and I’m sad to see that. I’m grateful we took the time to have that experience when we had the chance. (Even if my husband refused to stay in the truck when I drove through – he had some very definite opinions about driving through that Redwood. Ha ha! He watched from outside the tree.)

Between the drive-thru tree and San Francisco we drove through some quirky little towns, watched two drug deals in the parking lot of a grocery store we stopped at for a potty break and almost ended up in a huge pileup on the freeway but it was an adventure.

Bucket List Item: The Golden Gate Bridge. It was dark when we got into San Francisco and crossed it, but we still crossed it! (FYI, at the time – not sure if it’s changed – we didn’t pay to cross it. They snap a picture of your license plate, run it and send you a bill in the mail. We got our bill about a month after crossing.) We could see Alcatraz but it was too late to go leave the kids there as I may or may not have teased them about doing. We did take a slight detour and drove past the “Painted Ladies” on our way South through San Fran.

So where did we end up on night 2? Bakersfield. I told you, I seriously underestimated the time getting from Point A to Point B, especially with some stops along the way. 1265 miles in 2 days. We are EXHAUSTED!!!

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