Spontaneous Spring Break

The Hubby and I had one thing planned during spring break.  Get a new van.  I let Lars look for a van on his own because I would rather do almost anything than spend the day running away from used car salesmen.  Around two in the afternoon Lars came back driving a Dodge Grand Caravan.  I got in the van, saw it had a built in DVD player and told him to go buy it.  Except really. 

With a reliable car in our posession we figured we should probably take it on it's maiden voyage.  Thursday we piled into the car and drove out to I-5 where we had to make a choice...north or south.  We went south...and kept going south until we hit Crescent City California.

As we pulled into town I told Lars to find a hotel with a pool.  He pulled into "The Penny Saver".  I suggested looking around.  He suggested saving a penny, so we stayed.  They did have a pool, but they saved a penny by providing towels big enough to wrap around one leg.  They did have beds, but they saved a penny by not washing the blankets.  (I won't tell you how I know that...dry heave.)  They did have a bathroom that doubled as a sauna because they saved a penny by not having a fan in the bathroom.  They did have internet connection, but they saved a penny by not actually letting anybody on their network.  In the end, as Lars said, it was a place to sleep...and not much more than that.  :)

 L didn't want to share a bed with her sisters so she opted for the closet floor.  :)

The other girls snuggled up in bed.

In the morning we loaded back up in the car and headed south again into the Redwood Forest.  We meandered up and around the scenic highways and byways.  

  We stopped at all the historical markers (just like my Dad always did) and the girls groaned (just like I always did).

 We stopped along the road to marvel at the big trees.  Isn't that what you do in the Redwoods?

At some point we turned around and started back North again up Highway 101.  The night before and all that day was pretty windy and rainy so there were a lot of rock slide and washed out roads.  We stayed the night in Gold Beach because 101 was closed.  Our hotel was advertised as "rustic".  It reminded me of my parent's basement. 

 Saturday we spent some time in Bandon, Oregon's Cranberry Capital.  We saw some of the cranberry bogs and sampled some cranberry candy (o.k...lots of candy) and ate a cranberry bagel sandwich (yum!) and took lot and lots of pictures of a cranberry lighthouse.  (There's nothing cranberry-ish about the light house.  I just really like cranberries.)

Eventually we made our way safely through all of the high water and rock slides.  The girls are happy to be home and I'm itching to go again!