Redwood Forest and California Beaches - Our homeschooling family roadtrip

We made it to the Redwood forests in California!  Kai, Luke and I rode our bicycles through groves of giant Redwood trees.  We must have screamed, "Look at this one!" about 75 times on our half hour ride.  There is nothing like experiencing these huge trees without the RV ceiling obscuring the view.  It's like floating through a hushed cathedral.

The beauty of visiting this area in winter is the lack of crowds.  We have all the gorgeous trails to ourselves.  And we have been taking advantage of this.  Jedediah Smith State Park and Redwood National Park has been ours.  We have hiked many trails and hugged many Redwoods without having to yield the paths to tourists.  Some of the growth rings on downed trees show an age of 1,000 years.  We have been taking our little RV on unpaved roads not recommended for RVs, but sanctioned by an old-timer ranger.

It's only been four days of road tripping, and we've already been immersed in nature.  Redwoods, beaches... The kids played at several beaches, chasing waves and sea foam, and getting completely soaked.  Hurray for RV parks with a laundromat!

On the boring parts, when we have to drive on the monotonous interstate, the kids read, write and do their school work.  Here are the boys doing math on I-5, while Eva colors, and I knit my brains out.  I'm also working on a couple of magazine articles - more on that later...