6/17/17 - Day 7

We woke up this morning refreshed after a good day the day before, which included a stop at a laundromat and some authentic Mexican food in the town of Fort Bragg, and even better the two were right next to each other! 
 

We ended up not staying at the beach and getting an actual camp site in the Van Damme state park (the one across the street from the beach) at about 9 PM.  We had gone out to get dinner and on the way back decided to check the campground across the street from the beach (Van Damme State Park) for any last minute cancellations.  They happened to have one - lucky us!  We rolled into the campsite and got ready for a good night's sleep.  We have quickly gotten into a summer schedule by staying up until 11 and sleeping in until 8 or (in Chad and Henry's case later than that).  I am amazed at how well we have all been sleeping.   We woke up to a beautiful, sunny day.  

 

Chad and I had made a decision the night before.  We were starting to feel a little rushed heading down to our final destination (Anaheim/the coveted Disneyland).  We decided to put in some long driving days to get there as quickly as possible in the next couple of days.  Then we'd spend a couple of days in Disney, and start our journey back.  This allows us to either take our time along the Cali/Oregon/Washington coast (depending on the weather) or possibly return to central Oregon and make some stops we didn't get to make on the way down.  So we got a (relatively) early start, and were on the road by 10:30.  The California coast scenery is so spectacular.  The pictures don't do it justice, but here are a couple taken while we were driving. 

 

 

So many of these small California coastal towns have very spotty or no cell service.  I can't imagine what it would be like to live in such a quiet town.  We met a woman who had moved from Seattle to Mendocino, and she said it took her a year to get used to being mostly disconnected - no social media or other technology distractions.  When I asked one of the park rangers if it was safe to stay overnight at the beach his response was, "This is Mendocino County.  No one wants to get in trouble here because it show's up in the sheriff's report in the local paper the next day."  There is something very appealing about this mentality.  We have heard very little about the news, and honestly I don't feel that constant low grade sense of worry I've felt in the last few months.  

We drove along highway 1 and stopped for a windy lunch in the coastal town of Jenner.  

 

 

Chad navigated the twisty roads like a boss.  After lunch we drove to Bodega Bay and decided to take hwy 101 through Mill Valley, to pick up a package at one of Chad's coworker's homes (a part to help stabilize our bouncy bike rack) to Half Moon Bay where we were hoping to camp for the night.  The traffic through the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond was crazy.  We could feel our blood pressure rising as at one point it took 10 minutes to go a half mile.  Remember how hard it was to find a spot the night before on Friday night?  Well, Saturday night on the California coast on a beautiful Father's Day weekend... we're talking about a whole different ballgame.  No campsites - zero, zilch, zip.  All the camp grounds in Santa Cruz and surrounding area - same story.  We decided to start calling around for inexpensive hotels in Santa Cruz.  Nothing. So at about 9pm at a restaurant in Santa Cruz, we called a holiday inn express and dropped $350.00 for one night in, wait for it, beautiful Watsonville!  Enough said.  At least it was a place to rest up.  It was right next to a Chevron.  We were already missing waking up in a campground.  I think we learned a bit of a lesson on our "wing it" philosophy.  Probably having some spots booked would give us some peace of mind.  We grabbed the very last spot in Santa Barbara for Wednesday night!  Whew - long driving day!  

The kids are holding up great overall, and seem to really be enjoying the experience.  I have only been called "mean" a few times, and I overheard Henry say, "Dad is high strung" when we were rushing a bit to get on the road that morning.  Then he asked what "high strung" meant.  Ha!  We plan to spend Father's Day driving to Anaheim.  Ah, the things we do for our kids!  Ok, I may be a little excited to go on space mountain, and Chad wants to take Lilly on her first upside down roller coaster (her idea!). When we told them we were going to make it to Anaheim by Sunday night they went bonkers with excitement.  Disneyland, here we come!