4th of July Weekend

This past weekend we went to the Northern California Coast and camped for the weekend. The Camping part could have been better, but the beaches were perfect. We camped at Ocean Cove and the campground was great but the lack of flushing toilets and showers made the entire experience difficult. We had to go to a State Park and take showers there. 

The greatest part of the entire trip was the wonderful beaches. The first beach we visited was Black Point Beach. It was nice but the water was too dangerous for the kids to play in.  Then we found Stigel Beach ( lat=38.7158018844, lon=-123.459818025 ) We had the entire beach to ourselves and there were plenty of things to entertain kids and dog. The greatest thing was the rocks about 100 feet out that broke the surf so the kids could play in it. It was still FREEZING but the boys didn't seem to notice. We wished we had time to go back, perhaps another time.

We left on Saturday and headed to Bodega Bay to watch the fireworks there. (they had them on Sat. not Fri. still not sure of the reason for that. ) Dallin said that the fireworks were his favorite part of the trip. We sat in the parking lot that they were shot from. It was loud and very very cold. The fog rolled in an hour before it was supposed to start and I was wondering if they would still have the show. Well they did and it was a pretty cool effect, each firework lit up the entire sky. 

It is nice to be home, although I miss the cooler temperatures on the coast. 

Dallin at the camp ground. All the kids were covered in dirt from the second we got to camp to the second we left. 

Shane loved the s-mores, although I do not think he ever roasted his marshmallows he just ate them right off the stick. It was really cute because the stick was the perfect height for him to get the marshmallow to his mouth. 

Seagull

Jared and a Sand Flea he found while playing in the sand at Black Point Beach. 

Shane filling buckets to dump. Shane is anti-sandcastle he loves to stomp on them and when the others were digging a hole all he wanted to do was to fill it up again. 

A cheesy grin from Aaron. 

A view from Highway 1. 

An old barn on Highway 1. This is one of my favorite shots. 

Jared playing in sand at Black Point. 

Aaron and Darcy at Black Point. We didn't let him off the leash because we didn't want him in the water. They had all these warnings about sleeper waves that had killed lots of people. Black Point was supposed to be one of the deadliest beaches in California. 

Shane digging in the the sand at Black Point. He was so cute in his little hat. 

Shane and his cute hat. 

The view walking into Stigel beach. 

Darcy fetching drift wood at Stigel Beach. 

Darcy loved to rub on this piece of drift wood. It was really funny to see him try to get it out of the surf when the tide came in and picked it up. For some reason he really liked the way it smelled. 

Jared throwing a piece of drift wood for Darcy. 

Dirty Dog

Shane buried in sand , he sat there for the longest time it seemed he liked the idea of being buried. 

The funniest thing we saw was a cow on the little strip of land between Highway 1 and the coast on the way from camping to Bodega Bay. Its just not something you expect to see. 

One of the pictures I got of the surf breaking on rocks. I loved to variety that the Northern CA. beaches offer. 

Scenic Highway 1

Fireworks in the Fog.