Coastal Creatures: Crescent City Black Friday Getaway

On Thursday, we drove 40 minutes to play in snow. On (Black) Friday (as our clinics were still closed), we took the day to travel northward along the ocean to Crescent City (about 80 minutes away).

We drove along the coastal 101 and spotted many of the Roosevelt Elk that reside in the area.

We broke up the drive with a brief snack and photo stop at the Trees of Mystery, where there are giant statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe ("Is that Lucky the Lumberjack?" [HSU's mascot] asked Iver and "Blue Cow!!!" exclaimed Niall).

They had Christmas decor up!

We then made it to Ocean World, Crescent City's small aquarium which you visit as part of a tour (we were there with just-over-two-year-old Iver in January 2017).

They had a petting tide pool.

Underwater viewing area

Shark attack!

Shark petting area

 

The tour ended with a harbor seal and sea lion show (these animals were mostly rescues).  

We remember Cora from 2017!

Squid-hat-sporting!

We played at a nearby park before a nice lunch at Sea Quake restaurant, where both kids behaved very well.

 

Both kids took a nap on the drive home, which was lovely both because it was quiet, and because it was one of those spectacularly sunny, clear days on the north coast.  We drove through massive redwoods and along the glittering ocean, and it really felt like a breath of fresh air (and definitely beats being in a shopping mall!).

ThankFULL!

End-of-years can be difficult around here. Novembers (since 2016) have brought out a bit of PTSD for me.  Life is busy as the end of the calendar wraps up.  The holiday season is upon us, with all the busyness of school, personal, and work events, travel planning, card, and gift-buying/mailing (and Iver has a late-December birthday).  Most years, we are either traveling for Thanksgiving or I am working (on call); this year, we did neither (nor did we host) and today, we truly had a leisurely (but actually pretty full, when it was all said and done!) day *off* to spend near/around home. It was a lovely day for which I have a lot to be grateful.

Both kids slept until just about 6 a.m. Before breakfast, we went for a frosty walk with Pepper to the neighbors' home to say "Happy Thanksgiving" to Buster (the horse).

A lone deer crossed the field

We'd had a big storm a couple of days ago (with local power outages-- although not at our home-- due to trees down from the high winds) and the area just inland from us east on the 299 got quite a bit of snow! In the morning, we drove up the ~45 min to Berry Summit (2831 ft) to play in it on a lovely sunny (but cold) day.

There were some snowballs...

... and quite a bit of snow-sampling...

 ... some falls....

...and snow angels.

 

... and cold toes.

All in all, the kids did great on the drive and enjoyed the winter wonderland (in near-coastal California. In November).

 

 And THEN for the food...

 

As many of you know, I really do not like to cook. I do cook, because I like to eat (and also have to feed kids, etc.), but I certainly don't enjoy it and I have very low culinary confidence. I have cooked a (very small, ? 7-lb) turkey a total of one time in my thirty-eight years, somehow escaping the daunting task by never volunteering to host Thanksgiving, and either being on the road or working for the holiday.

Our friends, Mandy and Sam, were having a large family gathering (large meaning 30+ people!) and had generously invited us to join them at their house for the evening meal.  I had never been at a dinner for so many guests (there was a table setting for 28 adults!), and it was definitely loud and crazy, but a lot of fun, and the food was delicious (I brought roasted brussel sprouts and a corn bread casserole).

 I realized now that we (unintentionally) had quite a lot of clashing stripes going on!

  (Samara worked herself into our family photo!).

There were three turkeys (oven-baked, roasted, and fried), and lots of other delicious food.

 

 

There were at least nine pies for dessert!

 

The little kids' table!

 Here's my cuddly, kissy little guy...

... who is also into climbing couches!

host Sam and (most of) the kiddos

Some other turkey day fun!

Happy Turkey Day from these little turkeys (and us!)