Yellowstone!

Friday, June 26

Goodbye Jerome, Hello YELLOWSTONE!  The drive to the park was lovely; the eastern section of Idaho, driving into southeastern Montana is beautiful.  Rolling meadows and bright blue skies guide you nearly the entire way toward the west entrance which, always surprisingly, is a full-blown tourist attraction of a city. There's even a McDonald's!

The ranger at the entrance handed each of the girls a wild life scavenger hunt game which turned this leg of the journey into a challenge, playing quite perfectly to the interests of our eldest daughter.

Kier and I have both been to Yellowstone before. We found the park to be a magical, beautiful place, full of adventure and wonder as well as endless options for hiking and backpacking. This time we saw things a little differently. DANGER. PERIL. SCALDING DEATH. Oh, the life of parents of wreckless toddlers; we see risk and caution in every creaky boardwalk plank, unstable railing, overcrowded bridge, and unmaintained trail. Annie was determined to swim in the boiling waters of each and every geyser we "hiked" to - I use the term "hike" loosely since we never actually were out of site of a parking lot. We did very much enjoy seeing herds of bison (from the calm and safety of our car) as well as elk, geese, heron, mule deer, and pelicans; the kids loved the wild life! We also made sure to treat ourselves to ice cream from the Old Faithful Inn and to line up our stop there with the 6:11pm eruption of that timely geyser.

We will certainly be back to Yellowstone again - likely in 3-5 years, when the girls are a little more hardy and have a more clear understanding of mortality.

Devils Tower, we're on our way!

(Photos to come)

Oregon to Idaho

Thursday, June 25

So it turns out that the plan to as far north as Glacier National Park was a little aggressive. We had an Aiston family pow-wow over the campfire at Crater Lake and decided not to push aisventure too hard and to shave off Washington and Montona, turning east toward Idaho from there. It was a bummer of a call to make but we all think it's the right one.  Soooo.... YELLOWSTONE!

A drive around the north side of Crater Lake was in order before we put tires to asphalt. Seriously, THAT LAKE! It's simply breathtaking. We were able to see the morning boat tour and it's never ending wake as we headed toward the 138.

And we drove.

And drove.

And then we fell in love with Bend, OR; a town that has officially been added to our list of places in which we'd happily be willing to live one day. 

As we pulled out of town Kiernan noted that we should definitely get gas in the next town we hit so we started to keep an eye out for a filling station... which didn't seem to be coming up... at all. Finally we came to a little dive of a stop that had two antiquated gas pumps out front; one of which had a wagon ironically hooked up to itself. The attendant told us that the next station wasn't for 60 miles in either direction, which would put us at about 315 miles in that tank - we'd never gone more than 300 before. At least we had no water in the car. For the next 68 miles (LYING LIAR STORE LADY!) we drove, drafting a semi we came upon, running ZERO air conditioning in the 96 degree heat of the day. And we made it (barely)!!! 

We decided to spend the night at a Best Western in Jerome, Idaho; a hotel that boasted an indoor pool. The girls swam and swam for over an hour - which means we didn't get them into bed until almost 11:00 but since the sun didn't actually set until 9:45 it didn't feel like terrible parenting.

Yellowstone is a quick 3 hour jaunt from Jerome... can't wait!!

Happy Birthday, Billy Boy!!

Wednesday, June 24

Happy birthday, Billy Boy/Daddio/Grandpa! We're bummed that we missed being with you but we're pumped that this will likely be the last one we don't celebrate together!

Jedediah Smith Campground is home to the last wild nature river (undamned) in California and boy, it's a beauty! It's also home to about 13 trillion Mosquitos - thank you $9 June Lake bug spray.

Kier and Lily set out early to catch tadpoles in the river; this time they brought along her bug box so she could enjoy one or two for the morning.

We broke camp and hit the road, headed for Stout Grove, home of 300 foot tall Coastal Redwoods. What would've been a pleasant stroll was made perilous by exposure to massive cliff drop-offs and boundless bushels of poison oak. Kier and I spent 90% of the hike rescuing our children from near death but you would've never known had you just been watching them; the Girls had the time of their lives in those woods! There were sword fights and games of hide and seek, fort making and tree climbing... oh, to be 4 and 2 again!

Our next destination was Crater Lake, which would finally put us across the California state line! The drive was only about 3 hours so we took our time, enjoying a decent lunch in Grants Pass and treating the girls to some home made chocolate at the candy shop next door to the restaurant.

The first time you lay eyes on Crater Lake is shocking to say the least. None of us had ever seen a lake so blue in all our lives - Lily said it best when she shouted "WOAH! You guys see that?! That's the bluest blue in the whole world!" If you ever have an opportunity to get to that Park you must; it's absolutely beautiful.

We drove through the various campground areas, seeking out the perfect site to roast hot dogs and marshmallows (purchased moments earlier from the camp store) when we came around a bend to find two tiny towhead girls who looked to be about 4 and 2 standing on the side of the road. We knew we'd found the place. It was immediate friendship; the girls dug in the dirt and played tag and shared toys for the next several hours. Genevieve and Adelle's mom and dad proved to be as awesome as their kids! We enjoyed hanging with them so much that we picked up right where we left off the next morning. Traveling this way is so special in so many ways and meeting fun/cool/interesting people as you go makes the journey even more meaningful.

(Banana Slug at our campsite at Jedediah Smith Campground)

Clark's Nutcracker

NorCal

Tuesday, June 23

Waking up to the smell of pancakes and bacon is the greatest.

Lin and King were up before our brood and had breakfast ready by the time we made our way downstairs - they're the best! We enjoyed some coffee and delicious food, chatting about our travel plans for the next few days and the work that they're doing on their guest house; if you've ever considered visiting Sonoma County and would be into trying out an AirBnB you've GOT to look Lin and King up in Sebastopol! Their set up is fabulous.

A stroll through the woods was definitely in order before we said our goodbyes and hit the road, heading north for the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.  The drive was about 5 1/2 hours and felt more like 9 or 10 but we made it to our campsite by about 6pm and we're thrilled to be hiking down to the Smith River by dinner time. The kids hunted tadpoles (FINALLY, TADPOLES!) and were super pumped to be playing in warm water so we let them have at it for about an hour before shooing them off to bed.

Oregon, you're next!

Redwood Shire

Monday, June 22

Exiting San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge is quite the dramatic departure from a truly epic city. We sure loved our stay in the City by the Bay and will most definitely be back one day - hopefully, soon!

Once in Marin county we felt the call of lunch so we reached out to our old pal, Yelp, to help us find some tasty grub. We ended up at an awesome little joint in Petaluma called Mr. Mom's Cafe. The girls ate every single bite of their pancakes, bacon, and fruit - a rare occurrence for the Aiston toddlers.

Both Kier and I fell in love with Bodega Bay after Liz and Shiloh's wedding last August so we headed straight for the coast, destined for Goat Rock State Beach where the fog rolled in and out of the warm sand shores and seals sunned themselves along the inlet to the Russian River. The kids collected rocks and played hide and seek amongst the drift wood while Kier and I took in what would likely be one of our last views of the Pacific for a while.

The breezes were picking up along the shoreline by about 3pm so we hit the road, taking the Bodega highway east toward Sebastopol, to spend the night at Redwood Shire with Lin and King. We were so happy to pull up to their beautiful home; the girls had been talking about going back there since our visit last summer. We spent the evening enjoying great food and wine, eventually by campfire, roasting marshmallows and catching up with some of our favorite folks; it was wonderful! 

We're looking forward to heading into Northern Cali tomorrow!

Happy Father's Day!

Sunday, June 21

Happy Father's Day! The Aiston girls woke up early to hide in the bathroom and draw pictures for their daddio on his special day; boy, was he pumped!

Getting our act together quickly wasn't too much of a challenge since we had promised the girls that they could ride a street car to get ice cream at a pier where we'd see Sea Lions sunning themselves 50 feet away. The weather was perfect, cool and hazy, so we grabbed a cup of coffee and some fresh biscuits from the ferry station and jumped aboard the next street car that came out way.

After we saw everything we needed to see at Fisherman's Wharf we headed toward Ghiradelli Square for dessert; it was delicious! Kier had read about a park called Koret Children's Quarter in Golden Gate Park and it sounded like a blast so we grabbed the car from the hotel and made our way to the other side of town.  We found a break in the fence along the sidewalk above Koret and snuck down to the play structures and boy, the reviews were not overselling that place! There were at least five different sections of swings and slides, bridges, rings, ladders, and tunnels. There were climbing walls and sand pits, play houses, and a carousel - a kid's dream park!  But best (maybe worst) of all was a concrete slide, about 30 feet high and about 100 feet long. Lily must of gone down that slide 20 times, on slabs of cardboard left behind by kids before her, in order to make the slide at least twice as fast! 

We picked up some mediocre Indian food on the way back to the Omni and feasted while the kids went nuts on some chicken strips and fries. We.were.SPENT.

Looking forward to crossing the Golden Gate Bridge tomorrow!

San Frantokyo (thank you, Big Hero Six)

Saturday, June 20

Laundry! It's amazing how much dirty crap a family of four can accumulate in a 7 day period.  We took advantage of a low key morning in the neighborhood of our Best Western to freshen up our gear and dine off the fine offerings of the local McDonald's.
Once we were refreshed, repacked, and reorganized we hit the northwest highway toward the The City by the Bay.  As we neared our destination, Lily - who's watched Big Hero Six about 7 times in the past week - told us that we kept saying the name of the city wrong; that it isn't San Francisco, it's San Frantokyo.  There's really no point in arguing with her.
We arrived at the Omni (THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU, Colleen Anderson and Erin Scholes) and were greeted by some of the friendliest and most professional hotel staff we've ever encountered.  The bellman gave each of the girls a welcome bag, a glass of fresh juice, and an apple - they were PUMPED!  Our room is beautiful and was topped off with a lovely gift of wine, fresh berries, chocolate, and cheese, as well as a tear-jerking photo album, courtesy of the Scholes family.  All in all, our arrival here was absolutely divine.
We gathered our necessities and headed out toward Chinatown in search of delicious food and fun touristy-type sightseeing.  Annie - napless, of course - melted down as we narrowed down our choices for dinner and passed out in my arms as we took our table; the poor girl missed the entire meal.
We are so excited to spend an entire day in this awesome town tomorrow!