From the Redwood Forest …

We made it to California – which Ryan affectionately calls The Motherland.

When planning the trip, we didn’t allow for much time in California. Partially because we’ve seen a lot of it (Ryan and I met in college in Southern California), and partially because we figure we can drive down the west coast pretty easily any time.

But there were a few stops we knew we wanted to hit on our way and the Redwood Forest was top of the list.

I’ve lived in the Pacific Northwest amongst big trees all of my life. I wasn’t sure how impressed I would be with more big trees.

And then I saw them in real life.

The trees are so big. So tall. You can’t see the tops of most of them and many grow side by side which make them appear even larger.

We hiked the Boy Scout Trail in Jedidiah Smith State Park during the afternoon. The trail was practically empty which made us feel like we had the whole forest to ourselves.

The trail was about 6 miles round-trip and pretty easy. We don’t do a lot of hiking in our normal life so I wasn’t sure how the kids would do on this length but it was just about right.

There were bridges to cross:Big mossy covered branches to walk under:

A waterfall to climb up to:

And crazy stumps:

The big attraction of the Boy Scout Trail is the Boy Scout Tree.
We had to search to find it (you have to take a path off the main trail and climb a little hill up to it) and were so impressed with this giant of a tree. 

We stopped to snack at the waterfall because nothing motivates children like snacks.

(Let’s talk about my shoe choice for a moment. The lady at our camp site said the trails would be muddy and so I figured rubber boots would be a good option for the mud. I didn’t really think about what walking up hills and down hills for several miles in spacious rain boots would do to my toes. Next time, I’ll dirty my tennis shoes.)  

On the way back to the trail head we distracted ourselves with silly cadence marching songs I used to sing as a kid.

And then Ryan added a few of his own from Fire Fighter Academy.

Let’s just say his songs were more entertaining :)

The Redwood trees were breathtaking. Truly. Even for this I-see-big-evergreen-trees-everyday girl.

If you find yourself in the Redwood Forest area, the drive through the state park and the hike are so worthwhile.

You can follow along with the day-to-day on instagram (@jonesdesigncompany).