West Coast Road Trip Summer 2011

Our second major road trip in our Vanagon. Two weeks. California, Oregon, Washington... northern most point was San Juan Island. 

Wildlife seen: Bald Eagle, river otters (in Oregon), fox, spotted towhee (look it up:), deer, yellow billed magpie,

Here's our photo journal: 

On the 5

 Michael at the "helm" on Shasta Lake

 The only time our van misbehaved. After filling up at the gas station no start. Battery fully charged. Had to unload (engine is under the cargo area) set up Mitchell under a tree with Legos. Luckily I could get onto www.thesamba.com on my phone and found the solution, we should have known you just need to tap on the solenoid while turning the key. We were quickly on our way.

 Seattle

 County Park on San Juan Island, WA

 

The sculpture garden at Roche Harbor, San Juan Island

 

 

 Portrait of Mom, by Mitchell.

 Roche Harbor, Giant Poppies.

 Where we got oysters

 weighing oysters

The guys and their vans. They insisted that 6 people needed to ride in two vans to create a "caraVAN". 

 American Camp, San Juan Island

 

Yep that's a bald eagle. And Yep that is Mitchell. 

 Island Fox, San Juan Island. These poor foxes are having trouble finding enough food. 1. The government is "gassing" the wild rabbits in an attempt to eliminate them from the island as they are not native and 2. tourists feed the foxes making them dependent then winter comes tourists leave and there's no easy food. They literally lie along the roads in this area hoping for a scrap of food. We saw two BIG adults (one maybe 5 ft long tip to tip) and three babies laying out in front of their den. So cute. So hard not to feed.

 The Ferry

 Chowder on the Ferry

 Van on the Ferry

At the EMP in Seattle

 The Columbia river

 For my friends who are Twilight fans.

 Point Disappointment, WA

 An old "battery' at the Point.

 Campsite in Oregon

 Playing at driftwood beach, OR

 Final camping spot in Remote, OR

 Final camping dinner

 Mount Shasta

Playing in the River in Sacramento before our long ride home. 

Here are some videos. 

The first one is seesaw at Point Disappointment, WA

Second one is playing in the grass on San Juan Island, WA

Third one is playing in the giant fountain in Seattle, WA

The last one is swinging over the river in Sacramento. He did eventually drop in the water.

Spring Break 2011: Zaca Lake

This is our third major vanagon adventure. To see how our adventures began click here . Scroll all the way down to see some videos.

We were lucky to be part of a great group of families to trek out to Zaca Lake in Santa Barbara County. Some highlights include spotting the bald eagle pair in residence at the lake, playing with good friends, the pig roast, kayaking, camp fire, laughing, and all sorts of outdoors adventures. Here's our photo journal:

 Entering the gate to Zaca Lake, still a few miles up the canyon and mountain to go.

 Random sighting of local wildlife.

 Other animals spotted during trip: quail, bald eagle (mating pair), deer, grey squirrel, jay, blue jay, brown bat, swallows.

 Checking the temperature inside the pig.

 Preparing the cutting board.

 Watching it cook.

 Notice the interesting colors and plumage of local wildlife, example above and below.

 Eating habits of visiting wildlife. They seemed to enjoy the sunshine.

 Mitchell's first time in a kayak by himself.

 Shimon cruises across the lake with ease.

 Tracy and Ruby

The boys climbing

Moving the Pig.