Midsummer Celebrations & Father's Day (COVID edition)

It's June, halfway through 2020 (is this not the longest year ever?). I must admit that I've been a bit in a rut lately amidst our shelter-in-place, feeling extremely bored and trapped at home (and definitely running out of things to do at home with the kiddos on weekends). I've really been craving any sort of travel/outing, a change in routine, and things to look forward to/celebrate.

This week, there were actually many things to celebrate which lifted my spirits a bit:
- Two Supreme Court decisions, one which protected LGBTQ people from workplace discrimination, and another which protected Dreamers (at least for the time present) because of our deranged president's erratic attempt to rescind DACA
- My parents' 44th anniversary
- Juneteenth, when the last enslaved Americans were freed by the Union army in Texas, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation, which is now becoming more recognized nationally
- the summer solstice and Iver's half-birthday (he's 5.5 today!)
- Father's Day

With strict state-wide masking orders and low COVID numbers locally (a handful of cases per week, 110 total in our county since March), we decided that our family felt it was safe and responsible enough to take our first major "outing" since March (other than to work and a store twice, the only place other than my home that I've been in three months is Trinidad beach a couple of times).

We ventured to the Trees of Mystery (outdoor) attraction about 1 hour north of us in Klamath.  Kelvin and have been inside the park (trails and a gondola ride amidst the stunning redwoods) at least once before (I could only find one blog entry from 2012), but we stopped in the lot outside over Thanksgiving weekend in 2019 when we did a day trip north to Crescent City, and where we got some nice family photos with giant Paul Bunyan and Babe. This is a great place because dogs are also permitted inside (poor Pepper also seems depressed at being stuck at home for so long).

We left our house early and got to the park right at opening at 9 a.m., where we found a mostly-empty parking lot and plenty of space for safe physical distancing.

We saw some of the local Roosevelt elk along the way

We had time for a quick parking lot snack.

 

Then the masks went on as we neared the entrance.

The kids were delighted that Paul and Babe were wearing masks, too!

We wandered the outside wooded trails, where there were there were many unique trees to admire, as well as other carved statues and redwood burl (and we were able to take our masks off as we rarely saw other people).

Bigfoot was not a hit-- Iver was very preoccupied whether "Bigfeet" actually exist. Niall said "Iver is a bigfoot and I am a little foot!"

There is a new "Skywalk" canopy where you can walk amongst the redwoods above the forest floor-- Iver loved it and he and I walked it twice (unfortunately, dogs and children under 3 feet tall were not allowed up there so K, Niall, and Pepper stayed below). He asked, "Can we come back next weekend, mom?"

We took the Skytrail gondola up to an observation deck

Niall looks like such a big boy here!

We were home by Niall's (and Kelvin's) naptime. Kelvin enjoyed his gift of a massage chair insert, and we had his favorite-- hot wings for dinner (even though he was in charge of making them!).  We talked to our own Dads.

On this longest day of 2020 in what feels like the longest year of our lives, and with a lot more COVID-related distancing likely in our future, we were blessed to be able to enjoy a nice family Father's Day outside the walls of our house in the beautiful outdoors that surrounds us. We are lucky to live in such a remote area with much natural beauty, and we do certainly have a lot to celebrate.