cali adventures {big basin}

As mentioned in my last cali adventure post, miraculously none of woke up with a hangover for our planned 10+ mile hike through Big Basin National Park.  And let me tell you, if I had been hungover, I cannot imagine how I would have survived the windy ass roads to get to Big Basin.  It would have been a lot like that time when we were driving to our resort in Colorado from the Denver airport when I was in the 6th grade and as we were twisting and turning up the mountains I said to my dad (who was driving at the time) "I think I am gonna be si..." I did not get the chance to finish saying the ck before I blew chunks all over a family friend's game boy and games.  I don't remember feeling embarrassed or even anyone in the car getting mad at me but I do remember feeling like a million bucks.  

So, I guess it could have been a lot worse.  For everyone.  Although, I did immediately regret eating my leftovers from the delicious diner breakfast I had before we left.  

Anywayyyyy, I made my sister pull over twice to walk it off it a little and get some fresh air (another thing they don't tell you about turning 30 is that motion sickness will get worse).  So as we pulled into the parking lot, M quickly stopped the car, I got out and laid down on the sidewalk (with the below photo as my view) while M and the husband went to the office/check-in area to register us.  

And if there was not a more worse time to be feeling sick.  M came back talking about how cute the ranger guy was who checked them in.  

Cute Ranger guy had M put a piece of paper on the dashboard of M's car so cute ranger guy and his friends knew where to look just in case we didn't return by night fall.  Comforting.  Luckily M remembered her first-aid kit she had in her trunk which clearly made us all feel a little bit better. 

Off we go! 

Have you ever visited a Redwood forest park before?  If not, add it to your bucket list because they are beyond amazing.  If you ever want to feel insignificant in the grand scheme of things this is the place to be.  But in a good way.  Extremely humbling. 

I have a thing for bridges in the middle of a forest. 

Me standing in a hollowed out vagina  vajayjay shaped hole in one of the trees.  And can I please take a minute to let you know I had to Google how to spell vajayjay and do you know what came up?  If you guessed vajazzle, you would be right.  W. T. F. 

Some fun info M thinks she remembers hearing about the Redwoods that are bunched together like the ones I above; apparently when the older, larger trees start to feel threatened in anyway they communicate to the younger,smaller ones to protect it by shielding it from whatever it feels threatened by.  So Avatar of them. 

He's so little and tiny. 

I loved how these ones twisted at the top. 

Stopping for mid hike snack.  

Stopping so M could pop some Advil for her knees.  T.G.F.F.A.K. (thank goodness for the first-aid kit). 

Hey M, whatcha lookin' at? 

Next to the building where we registered there is a cross section of a really old Redwood.  See all of those lines in the one below?  Count those and that is how old it is.  Apparently it goes way back the height of the Mayan Civilization and when Mohammed is born. 

We completed the 10+ mile loop way before the sun set.  M showed me cute ranger guy.  I thought she should give him her number.  She guessed she couldn't be the first to give him her number.  Probably true.  What did she have to lose?  The possibility of having adorably cute outdoorsy ranger kids.  Just my opinion. 

As goes with spending too much together, a long hike, and blood sugar dipping way low we started to get a little cranky so we stopped in Saratogga (the first town we hit after the long winding roads to the park and now I kinda wish we spent more time in) for Mexican.  As you can see we housed the chips, salsa and quac.    

After filling our bellies we headed to SFO to pick up our cousin, KDKA. 

We had some time to kill so we headed to the cell phone lot and obviously watched the Pens game on M's phone. 

linking up with Shanna, Sara, and Melissa. 

until next time