Day 24 - The Trees of Mystery! And some BEACH time!

Day 24.

We woke up early this day. Nick was having a dream and said "whyyyy?" in a whiney voice. For some reason, this startled Gary and he jumped up asking "what?! what?!". Nick apologized and said he'd been dreaming. lol. But at that point we were all awake and decided to start the day.

We drove out to the Sea Lion Caves! Stellar and Californian Sea Lions spend parts of their year there to rest and have babies. Sometimes Orca whales come by to have a meal too. (!) We were actually in the cave itself, but there is a chain linked fence put up and you look out through it to see all the Sea Lions resting on the rocks. It was very cool. We even spotted an older male Sea Lion (the large fat ones!). It did stink a little, but that is what should be expected. hehe.

Next was a spontaneous stop at the Oregon Dunes. It's a state park so there were a couple of park rangers, one of which told us about the plight of the snowy plovers: they need open sand to build their nests, but the city had long ago planted English grass on the sand to stop erosion (for the economy) and it took over and trees started growing there too since the land was now firm for them. They bulldoze areas so the plovers can have loose sand to nest on. :) Anyway, we walked out over the dunes and into the foresty area (it reminded me of walking into a dream land like Alice in Wonderland.) It felt like we walked for a very long time before we finally came out and found the beach! Lots of beautiful sand and our dear friend, the Pacific Ocean. ^_^ I let the water hit my feet and then ran out very quickly since it was icy cold! But I still enjoyed saying hello to the ocean. Our walk back through the foresty area was nice, and then we hit the sandy dune part again........................ luckily there was another path to take back to the parking lot that didn't require having to walk up the tallest dune again. We saw a Stellar Jay again (we'd seen one when we first arrived there) and he posed for someone's camera. The ranger told us that they are fed, so they like people and hang out a lot. :)

Our final stop was the Trees of Mystery (www.treesofmystery.net) where there are Redwoods, a skyride, and Paul Bunyon & Babe. The skyride through the forest was really nice- Nick & I rode in a separate gondola (how romantic!) We took in the view at the top and saw a few chipmunks eating from an apple that the ride attendant had strung up. :) When we walked the trails, there were special trees pointed out, like "Lightning Tree" (shaped like lightning), "Cathedral Tree" (several trees in a semicircle and joined at the base), "Elephant Tree" (piece sticking out like a trunk), etc. It was pretty interesting.

The day was about over since it took so long to drive between each of these. AND the Trees of Mystery were actually in Klamath, CA! (So I got to say hello to California too, haha!) It was a 3 hour drive back to my intern house. We arrived about 10pm, and Gary & Nick installed a bulb in my brake light for me, then Nick came into my room so we could have a tearful (my part) hug and several kisses goodbye. That was the end of this particular adventure for me, and near the end for them (since they still had the drive home). It was very fun and full! ^_^ I can't wait to see Nick again in August (I hope!), and my own family soon!

Bye for now...