Cutlip's California Road Trip
End of Summer Vacation!
We knew we were way over due for a family vacation, so at the beginning of summer we started dreaming of where we wanted to go (once all the other kids went back to school). In a science lesson I taught Jon and Natalie, we learned about how Pfeiffer Beach got its purple sand. The idea of actually going to see this purple sand, fueled our trip to explore the California coast and then briefly spend some time in Yosemite and Sequoia on our way home.
Our route went something like this:
Day 1: Flagstaff - Bakersfield - because it's just too long of a drive to get from here to where we wanted to go
Day 2, 3 & 4: Highway 1 - Monterrey - San Francisco
Elephant Seal Rookery
Pfeiffer Beach - fine purple & white sand; lot was full at first, but we persisted
Monterrey:
Chris's Whale Watching - spy hopping Humpback whales
Monterrey Bay Aquarium (where some good friends hooked us up with free passes!!)
Point Lobos - bobcat, Gibson beach, diving, lots of stairs, tide pools: starfish, hermit crabs, sea urchins, sea anemones
Monastery Beach - large grain, coarse white sand
Lovers Point Park
Hot cars - Porsche, Jaguars, lots of Teslas, Lamborghini, and a Lotus
Day 5, 6 & 7: San Francisco - Merced
Rockaway Beach - medium grain brown sand
Stow Lake - peddle boats
Golden Gate Bridge
What to do with dirty clothes?
There were no washers or dryers in the motels, hotels, or Airbnb's that we stayed in, but we did amass a significant amount of dirty clothes. Solution? I gave Zac a bath, handed him a bar of soap and showed how to wash the clothes. He LOVED it! He's asked for dirty clothes at home so that he can wash some more.
Zac washing clothes in the bath tub - "Dis is duh way we wash duh clothes..."
Black Sands Beach - you guessed it, black medium grained sand; we had a blast cheering bikers racing up to Golden Gate lookout
Beaches:
We found this very cool - or at least I did. The size of the sand tells how steep the slope of the beach is, or how far out the land juts out past the shore. The beach with the coarsest sand had a sign telling of the dangers of the riptides because there is a steep drop off not far from the shore line hidden by the crashing waves. In fact, a passerby told us of a father that lost his life just a month or two earlier trying to rescue his son. The beaches with fine sands, had long extensive beaches where the waves crashed further out and gently rolled as they made their way in, tumbling the rocks into very fine grains.
Pfieffer Beach, Pfieffer Big Sur State Park - White & purple fine sands
Monastary Beach, Monterrey - Tan large grain sands (beach with the warning sign)
Rockaway Beach, Pacifica - Brown medium sands
Black Sands Beach, San Francisco - Black medium grain sands
Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum
Ripley's Belive It or Not!
The San Francisco Dungeon
Day 8: Yosemite National Park - Fresno
Books listened to along the way:
Grump - Liesl Shurtliff
Wedgie & Gizmo - Suzanne Selfors
Quotable Quotes:
It's an avocado. Thanks!
Danner (less than 30 miles down the road):
"Are we there, yet?"
You Must:
Hold your breath going through a tunnel
Hit the top of the roof when we ran over the rumble-strips
Slug whoever is next to you if you saw a VW Bug
"Bada Bing" for yellow, pink or cars with flames
Day 9: Sequoia National Park - Bakersfield
In Fresno we met up with a college roommate from NAU - Shawnda Yarbrough and her husband, Clint. Clint's parents graciously let us stay the night with them (seriously, it's hard to open up your house to eight people). The next day, we got the A1 tour of Sequoia National Park and Hume Lake (where our church's youth group goes for summer camp) with Clint and Shawnda - it was the perfect ending of a great vacation!
Hume Lake
The younger kids were excited about being the youngest Grace kids to go to Hume, jump off the rock, and get pass the swim test.
Day 10: Home
After playing in the motel's pool for a couple of hours in the morning, we piled back in the car and headed for home.
On the Road:
Now that I am several months removed from the memories of the trip, I'd say we had a great time. But, I do have this vague recollection of telling somebody soon after returning that all the things we did were great, it was just a struggle because we were together as a family. Honestly, for the most part, I think we did have a great time, as a family. But, we also had moments of bickering, whining (not just the kids)...we got tired, irritated, and cranky, hangery...we got lost (or just going the wrong direction) several times...we spent way too much money on parking and food... It was definitely a memory-filled adventure!
We knew we were way over due for a family vacation, so at the beginning of summer we started dreaming of where we wanted to go (once all the other kids went back to school). In a science lesson I taught Jon and Natalie, we learned about how Pfeiffer Beach got its purple sand. The idea of actually going to see this purple sand, fueled our trip to explore the California coast and then briefly spend some time in Yosemite and Sequoia on our way home.
Our route went something like this:
Day 1: Flagstaff - Bakersfield - because it's just too long of a drive to get from here to where we wanted to go
Day 2, 3 & 4: Highway 1 - Monterrey - San Francisco
Elephant Seal Rookery
Pfeiffer Beach - fine purple & white sand; lot was full at first, but we persisted
Monterrey:Chris's Whale Watching - spy hopping Humpback whales
Monterrey Bay Aquarium (where some good friends hooked us up with free passes!!)
Point Lobos - bobcat, Gibson beach, diving, lots of stairs, tide pools: starfish, hermit crabs, sea urchins, sea anemones
Monastery Beach - large grain, coarse white sand
Lovers Point Park
Hot cars - Porsche, Jaguars, lots of Teslas, Lamborghini, and a Lotus
Day 5, 6 & 7: San Francisco - Merced
Rockaway Beach - medium grain brown sand
Stow Lake - peddle boats
Golden Gate Bridge
What to do with dirty clothes?
There were no washers or dryers in the motels, hotels, or Airbnb's that we stayed in, but we did amass a significant amount of dirty clothes. Solution? I gave Zac a bath, handed him a bar of soap and showed how to wash the clothes. He LOVED it! He's asked for dirty clothes at home so that he can wash some more.
Zac washing clothes in the bath tub - "Dis is duh way we wash duh clothes..."
Beaches:
We found this very cool - or at least I did. The size of the sand tells how steep the slope of the beach is, or how far out the land juts out past the shore. The beach with the coarsest sand had a sign telling of the dangers of the riptides because there is a steep drop off not far from the shore line hidden by the crashing waves. In fact, a passerby told us of a father that lost his life just a month or two earlier trying to rescue his son. The beaches with fine sands, had long extensive beaches where the waves crashed further out and gently rolled as they made their way in, tumbling the rocks into very fine grains.
Pfieffer Beach, Pfieffer Big Sur State Park - White & purple fine sands
Monastary Beach, Monterrey - Tan large grain sands (beach with the warning sign)
Rockaway Beach, Pacifica - Brown medium sands
Black Sands Beach, San Francisco - Black medium grain sands
Ripley's Belive It or Not!
The San Francisco Dungeon
Day 8: Yosemite National Park - Fresno
Books listened to along the way:
Grump - Liesl Shurtliff
Wedgie & Gizmo - Suzanne Selfors
It's an avocado. Thanks!
Danner (less than 30 miles down the road):
"Are we there, yet?"
You Must:
Hold your breath going through a tunnel
Hit the top of the roof when we ran over the rumble-strips
Slug whoever is next to you if you saw a VW Bug
"Bada Bing" for yellow, pink or cars with flames
Day 9: Sequoia National Park - BakersfieldIn Fresno we met up with a college roommate from NAU - Shawnda Yarbrough and her husband, Clint. Clint's parents graciously let us stay the night with them (seriously, it's hard to open up your house to eight people). The next day, we got the A1 tour of Sequoia National Park and Hume Lake (where our church's youth group goes for summer camp) with Clint and Shawnda - it was the perfect ending of a great vacation!
Hume Lake
The younger kids were excited about being the youngest Grace kids to go to Hume, jump off the rock, and get pass the swim test.
Day 10: Home
After playing in the motel's pool for a couple of hours in the morning, we piled back in the car and headed for home.
On the Road:
Now that I am several months removed from the memories of the trip, I'd say we had a great time. But, I do have this vague recollection of telling somebody soon after returning that all the things we did were great, it was just a struggle because we were together as a family. Honestly, for the most part, I think we did have a great time, as a family. But, we also had moments of bickering, whining (not just the kids)...we got tired, irritated, and cranky, hangery...we got lost (or just going the wrong direction) several times...we spent way too much money on parking and food... It was definitely a memory-filled adventure!
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