One of the best things about going on a trip with lots of ages of children is that you don't have to do EVERYTHING TOGETHER! Ha! I do LIKE to do things together, and it always gives me great satisfaction when the older ones are happy to do things with everyone else, but it is also so nice to not have to drag people along to do something they aren't very interested in!
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| You know it's going to be a good hike when it starts out like this! |
In that spirit, Sam and I went out on a hike by ourselves one morning, and it was lovely to just leave the little ones playing at the house and the big ones sleeping in, and enjoy being together…without them! We were just five minutes down the road from three different state parks. We started on a trail at Sunset Beach State Park and then hiked up onto the cliffs along the ocean and into Shore Acres State Park. It was so beautiful!! The morning was cool and misty, and there were long lines of rocks along the coastline that made the water spray up in huge hundred-foot-high plumes when the waves crashed into them. (I didn't have our zoom lens, but look at this picture, for example!) Sam and I could NOT get enough of it.
I know all these pictures look basically the same, but each wave was so different. Some sprayed up in columns. Some broke across flat rocks and made whirlpools and waterfalls. Some crashed over outcroppings and formed impossibly-located pools and channels lapping back to make new patterns with the oncoming waves.
This was my favorite—a huge waterfall that only formed every so often, when a big enough wave crashed at just the right angle over the rock.
We watched the waves until we absolutely could not justify staying any longer (we were sure the children would be tearing each other and the house apart) and then we went a little farther and saw THIS place, with all these cool concretions and tilted sedimentary layers. It looked like the best place for playing and climbing! We knew we had to come back with the rest of the family. Luckily, there was a road running roughly parallel to the hiking trail we'd been on, so we wouldn't have to hike the whole way again.
Six brothers!
I would just like to point out again how perfectly wonderful it was to be a little chilly! The summer had been SO HOT in Utah for just weeks and weeks with no relief. No rain. Temperatures in the 90's and 100's. Never cooling off below the 70's even in the middle of the night! I had been dreaming of when we would finally have some cool and cloudy days on the coast, and when we got there I enjoyed them SO MUCH. I loved going outside on our little balcony in the middle of the night, and listening to the ocean and feeling the cool mist in the air. It was such a delight.
Tiny far-off people on the rocks across the way. I had stopped to watch the waves again!
We could see some seals basking happily on the rocks (can one bask without sun? They seemed to be basking). I think there are at least three of them in this picture!
Such cool rock formations. They reminded me of the Petrified Dunes at Snow Canyon State Park, for some reason. Those tilted sedimentary layers, I guess.
Seb is so good with Gus. He is always happy to get Gus out of the backpack and let him walk around or show him something. Which keeps Gus very happy! (I, on the other hand, never want to get the baby out of the pack—because it's such a bother to gather him up again, and to buckle him in and out. The poor child would stay in there forever if it were up to me!)
There was a big pool of water (an "ant ocean," as Teddy called it) up high on the rocks, and when we looked into it we discovered a whole bunch of tadpoles swimming around! We were quite excited (I have actually never seen tadpoles before, if you can believe it!) and had fun imagining a whole…fleet?…of frogs croaking there someday soon.
Junie peeking out!
Daisy peeking out!
Goldie looking out at the ocean like a mermaid.
Gus being mad that he has to hold someone's hand
Gus being mad about being held
Gus being mad about the backpack
Gus being mad about being out of the backpack (ungrateful little scamp)
Ziggy pretending the tree was a tractor to drive
A little farther up the coast is Simpson Point, where you can look out and see SO MANY seals and sea lions resting on the rocks all around. If you click to enlarge this you might be able to see the rocks all furred with them.
With binoculars you could see some little BABIES in a protected spot on the beach (left arrow). And I also loved the two seals who kept kissing and rubbing their noses together (right arrow).
After our hike, we went home for lunch and to let the little ones have their naps, and then the three girls (the only ones really interested) went back with us to the Shore Acres Botanical Gardens. They used to be part of some rich family's beautiful estate here along the coast, and now they're part of the State Park. We loved them!
There was a Japanese Garden with lilypads…and some newts and salamanders swimming around too.
I recognized both these roses because I have them in my yard! Except mine are just starting out this year and haven't had big lovely blooms like this yet. But I love this English Rose variety with its tightly-packed petals!
Buttercups
And best of all…we saw 10 or 12 little BUNNIES in the botanical gardens! They were really tiny, small enough to fit in the palm of one hand. Some of them hopped quickly away when we got too close, but this one…
just held very very still and hoped we would think he was a rock. But we weren't fooled!
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