Day 11: Finally Out of California/Oregon State Line

After nine days in California we have finally left that state. We packed up the tent and finished packing up the car and hit the road around 9am this morning. About an hour into the drive we reached the Oregon border on US Highway 199. They had a pull out so we stopped and took photos with the Welcome to Oregon sign. That is something nice about the US Highways versus the Interstates.

Also, nice about the past few days was driving on the US Highway 101 and all the little towns you actually drive through and not speed past like on the Interstate. Now, however, we are on Interstate 5 and speeding along. That is good for a lot of the trip since we do kind of have to get places at certain times, but the drives on the lesser highways are more interesting. At least the scenery is still nice.

Mik’s Mini Bat Collection: Oakland Athletics

We were early enough to the As game that we went to the team shop before the game, but they did not have any mini bats in there and we only got our sticker from the car in that shop. The guy told us, though, that the program guy in the park had mini bats. Mik did not have a selection to choose from, which is kind of odd since usually there is at least a few colors to choose from and sometimes even different logo designs to choose from. The bat he ended up with is black or dark green (Dad thinks it is black, I think it is dark green) on the top part and natural wood on the bottom part. The logo is a nice Oakland Athletics circle logo with the A in the middle. It might have been the only choice, but it is at least a good looking bat.

Day 10: Mik watching NCIS in the Tent

Afternoon and evening has been spent relaxing at the KOA. Internet access turned out to be intermittent and we eventually gave up. Dad built a fire and we roasted veggie dogs for dinner. Mik rates them almost as bad as a Dodger dog because they were the tofu pups brand, which were on sale. Should have just paid the $1 extra and stuck with the tried and true Yves ones.

S'mores were a hit, though. The IKEA brand chocolate turned out tasty. Mik even tried the dark chocolate and discovered he likes it. Mik mostly just watched his iPod while dad and I roasted, but he did roast one marshmallow himself. He would not let me take a picture. I did get one of him eating the s'mores, though, and will upload tomorrow, as I am hoping for good AT&T Internet at least when we get on the I5 to Seattle.

After Dad washed the dishes we went up to the Rec Hall, so Mik could charge and watch more NCIS on his iPod. While he did that Dad and I played some ping pong for about an hour. Dad beat me every time, but I got close once losing 19-21. Maybe, there will be one at the next KOA and I can beat him then. At least I know I will challenge him again when we are at Grandpa Kjos'.

Now Mik and I are in the tent. He us watching NCIS in his iPod as seen in the photo in this post. Dad is packing up the car, so that it is just the tent stuff we have to pack up in the morning. We are going to try to hit the road by 8am tomorrow, as we do not want to get into Seattle too late and also want to stop at the Visitor Center in Oregon to take photos since Mik and I have never been to Oregon. Have not been to Washington state ever, either, but we know we will get plenty of photos in Seattle of us.

Mik's Food Scrapbook: Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum or more commonly just called the Coliseum is where we saw the Oakland Athletics game a few days ago on May 26, 2009. The only thing Mik tried at the Oakland game was the hot dog and the fries. Supposedly the Oakland hot dog is the best in the majors, but the guidebook is five years old and we have found that so many of the vendors do not even exist anymore. Plus, the worst dog is supposedly at the Padres and that is not the case anymore since it is not even the same brand anymore. Actually, so far I think Mik's favorite is the Padres hot dog, since they also had good buns. He did not think the Oakland one was bad, but it was not amazing either. He did not enjoy the fries at all, though, because they were garlic. I thought the fries were okay, but they were kind of soggy and overloaded with garlic.



At the game I got a baked potato with cheese and brocolli as well as a veggie dog. The baked potato was really good, but the veggie dog was not that great because the bun was crap, which seems to be the case almost everywhere except the Padres. Most annoying is the bun was even crappier (i.e. not the same) as the one the regular hot dogs were on.

Day 10: More Redwoods

This morning we got a somewhat early start around 8am. We started by going into Crescent City to the Redwood National Park Information Center. We had to wait a little while for it to be 9am and it to open. There I got my National Park passport stamped. We then headed out to the point to see the Battery Point Lighthouse, but it was not very impressive with all the morning fog.

We then drove the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park on a loop near the campground. The loop was about 25 miles, which is only a little shorter than the loop we did yesterday, but this loop just had a few trail stops. We only stopped at the Smith Grove Trail, which was one of two wheelchair accessible trails. It was barely accessible with a steep hill down to it and a few spots the wheelchair barely got through, but overall not too bad. It was a fun trail and Mik even left his PSP and DS in the car and only took his camera on the trail. He has had the privilege lately of taking his PSP, DS, or iPod at all the stops since he has been good, but for once he choose to leave them all in the car and actually notice the big trees.



We got done with the drive around 11:30am and headed back to Crescent City to get some groceries for dinner. We then headed back to the campground to do some Internet stuff, which only includes getting this post for me, as I promised Mik my computer so he can catch up on watching some of his shows. Tonight we are doing veggie dogs and roasting marshmallows on the campfire.

Day 9: Shrine Drive Thru Tree

Today we made several stops as we did the Avenue of the Giants scenic alternate route. One of the main stops was the Shrine Drive Thru Tree, which cost $2 a person to go through. It was totally worth the $6, though, as it was cool that they (Dad and Mik) drove through the tree and they also had some cool tree houses that I went through. Below is the video I took of Dad and Mik driving through the Redwood. Since I was not in the car I did not actually go under it in the car, but I did walk under it and we took a group photo under it seen above.



I enjoyed walking into the treehouses they had made out of Redwood trunks. One had a second floor and I had Dad, who stayed in the car with Mik, take a photo of me looking out the heart window.

The attractions at the Shrine Drive Thru Tree also included a drive on log, which Dad drove up on while I took a photo of the side with the National League team stickers.

Still lots of things to post about from the past few days, since we pretty much had no cell/internet service the whole drive today. At least the campground has great fast free WiFi service. I am going to try to get all the photos caught up on being uploaded tonight, perhaps also a few posts tonight, and probably work on more catching up on posts tomorrow. We are thinking of just doing a short 25 mile drive tour of the nearby Redwoods and nothing major since we basically did the major Redwoods today.

Day 9: Avenue of the Giants

Today we are driving to Crescent City. On the way we are currently taking the scenic alternate path called Avenue of the Giants with several redwood scenic spots and such. Tomorrow was our real day planned for the Redwoods, but we decided to enjoy this other part of the forest farther from the campground today.