Happy Hump Day everyone!
This weekend we went camping up in
Humboldt Redwoods State Park in California, which contains one of largest areas of old-growth redwood forests in the country. I thought it would be the perfect place to go spend the weekend in these majestic trees and get a camping trip in for the summer. I also wasn’t really thinking about the fact that it’s over seven hours from our house…kind of a lot of driving to do just for camping/just for the weekend! Whoops. But we ended up having a great time, and driving through Northern California is still really interesting to me because there are so many pretty areas, along with so many areas that are extremely remote. Here are some snaps from the weekend…enjoy!
Sidenote: I was planning on editing some of these photos and then I was also going to put some of them into collages…but then I realized I take way too many photos to be able to do that, get them up in a relatively timely manner, and still have a life sooo all the photos you see here are SOOC, so straight out of camera! (So that explains why the color/exposure is not the best on some of them!)
 |
| Our campsite…very secluded |
 |
| For breakfast, I made a batch of this stuff before we left and we just heated it up each morning |
 |
| We did lots of this… |
 |
| View from our campsite looking up |
 |
| Someone being a sneak! (And I know, my flip flops with socks look is super attractive) |
 |
| I realize I look like a total scrub, but to me that’s the beauty of camping 🙂 |
The other problem with camping in Humboldt (aside from the fact that it was a super long drive to get there) is that dogs are not allowed on any of the hiking trails. So that left us at a little bit of a loss for what to do on Saturday. We ended up to Redwood National Park to check that out, which was another two hours north of where we were staying (crazy I know). Turns out Redwood National Park is not like Yellowstone or Yosemite, but actually a collection of state parks…and Humboldt actually has more trees I think! Needless to say, Saturday was a little bit of a bust since we spent a lot of it in the car for no reason. We did stop at the Lady Bird Johnson Grove of Redwoods though, and it was a really pretty area!
You’ll notice that there are no pics of Cam and I from this part of the weekend…that’s because we got in a little bit of an argument on Saturday driving up to the National Park. Mainly because I didn’t want to drive all the way up to the park but Cam didn’t want to just sit around the campsite the entire day…and then it just sort of snowballed. And the only reason I bring this up is because sometimes I feel like people read my blog and see all the traveling we do and think that we must have the perfect life/marriage. And I’ll admit, we have a really awesome life and a fantastic marriage…but we’re not perfect. Cam and I have very different personalities, and although we get along great 95% of the time, sometimes we butt heads about certain things. Don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely not a fan of airing your dirty laundry on the internet as I think things like that in your marriage should be kept private, plus I’d rather focus on the positive things in life. However, I think sometimes when all you talk about is the positive stuff, people can mistakenly assume that you never have conflicts and it’s important to me to be honest. One of the thing I really value about our marriage though is that when we do have disagreements, we are both very committed to talking through our feelings, sharing them with the other person, and then committing to work on improving in that area. Although it sucks to have arguments, in the end I feel like they help continue to make our marriage stronger because we always work through them together. And trust me, we had lots of time in the 4+ hours we spent in the car on Saturday! (Another redeeming thing about Saturday is that we stumbled upon this awesome natural foods co-op in Eureka, CA that was seriously one of the best grocery stores I’ve been too…which was totally random as Eureka is not exactly the nicest city!)
After working through our little quarrel, we headed back to Humbolt State Park and drove along the 30 mile scenic drive known as the Avenue of the Giants. This section of the park has lots of clusters of redwoods, along with turnouts where you can stop and hike. It was really pretty to explore this area, and I went back to taking way too many pictures of us… so all was right with the world again.
 |
| So I did edit this pic (obviously), let’s just say the forest light wasn’t exactly flattering on my pale skin! |
 |
| Cam next to Founders Tree, one of the tallest in the world! |
Driving along Avenue of the Giants, we decided to stop by the river and let Lola burn off some energy. Where we stopped, the Eel River was very shallow and warm and we all had fun playing in the water. And yes, I realize that I take an excessive amount of pictures of Lola…she’s just so comical I can’t resist!
 |
| Cam thought it would be fun to return to his shotput glory days…Lola was so confused. |
Back at our campsite, we roasted hot dogs and made (lots of) s’mores aka my absolute favorite part of camping!
 |
| Camping essentials. |
 |
| Honestly, I’m not one of those people who is good at taking “natural” photos, I’m all about the overly staged posed, even when camping! |
 |
| Or ya know just looking like a tool, that works too |
 |
| Perfection |
Sunday morning, we relaxed around the campsite before packing up and hitting the road…thankfully we were blessed with perfect dry weather so none of our stuff got wet. That’s always the worst!
 |
| Lola is clearly over camping at this point |
 |
| Lumberjack Cam splitting wood |
 |
| Oh, just making a morning s’more 🙂 |
Sunday, we also checked out the Shrine Drive Thru Tree in Myers Flat, which was right by our campground. It was a neat little area and cool that they have a tree you can drive right through!
 |
| This Jeep has been across the country, gone to both oceans, and so why not drive it through a tree? |
 |
| Lola in the backseat, confused as always |
 |
| Lola so needs her own Tumblr of her looking snarky called Lola is Not Impressed…like this, LOL |
 |
| How adorable are these little houses? |
 |
| Standard. |
 |
| Avenue of the Giants |
If you’re ever in this part of Northern Calfornia, I’d highly suggest driving along Avenue of the Giants! It’s so scenic and the perfect way to experience the majesty and beauty of the redwoods!
On the way home, we decided to take an alternate route and drive through the college town of Chico. Google Maps made it seem like this route would take about the same amount of time…which it definitely did not. We had to drive through this crazy mountain pass, and although it was a pretty drive, it was really long. We got to Chico around dinner time on Sunday and decided to check out the famous
Sierra Nevada Brewery! Sierra Nevada’s Pale Ale is a craft beer that’s really widely distributed, but we weren’t sure how their brewery/food would be. However, we were pleasantly surprised! We got to sit outside and have a great dinner, and I was really impressed by their beers that we tried, which were all seasonals they had on draft on not things that I’ve ever seen in stores. All in all, it was the perfect way to end the trip!

 |
| Beer cheese pretzels…these were amazing! |
 |
| My goat cheese salad…yum! |
Overall, we had a great time camping and although it was a lot of driving, we had a lot of fun! The redwoods are so peaceful and majestic, and I’m so glad we got to see them! Being in the forests is the most serene feeling, and it’s incredible that those trees have been there for thousands of years. It’s also pretty crazy to me that we spent the weekend around the tallest trees in the country, and then this weekend we’re heading to New York City where we’ll be surrounded by skyscrapers. I’ve got lots to do before then, so I better get a move on! Xoxo
