So far into our adventure, we have all hiked in the Rocky Mountains (very briefly) and put lots of miles on our boots in the desert… and watched The Parent Trap 8 times.

Day 6

While we were in Moab, our oldest had expressed to us that she really wanted a fossil. But she didn’t want just any fossil. She had to dig it up herself to “earn it".

Knowing that there was no way she was ever going to dig anything up in Moab, Jonathan had the brilliant idea of researching places to stop and dig up fossils. Luckily, he found a spot that was semi-on our way to through Nevada (11.5 hours)!

This spot was in, what I have to say is the most middle-of-nowhere place I have ever been in my life. Literally NOTHING for miles and miles and miles around. I felt like we were heading into The Hills Have Eyes, but that I was weirdly ok with it.

When we got to U-Dig Fossils: Quarry, in Delta Utah, it was by far the coolest place ever. Here was what looked like a random construction site, complete with excavators, where they would give you rock hammers, bring you over to the spots they had dug up fresh rock slabs and let you go to town pounding the crap out of them in the hopes of finding Trylobites (the worlds oldest, multicell organisms - roughly 500 million years old). We spent about 3 hours here, with Jared showing us where to dig and how to best look for the fossils. We ended up with way more fossils than we would have ever hoped for and had to figure out how to fit them in our already over-stuffed truck.

So next time you are going through Delta, Utah (you won’t be), you absolutely need to venture out to the foot of Swasey Peak and dig yourself some fossils!

After this gem of a find, we drove across Nevada on Route 50 (literally named “The Loneliest Highway in America”), where again there was absolutely nothing but miles of mountain passes and valleys.

It was in this stretch of our trip that we (the girls) decided that we wanted to switch from binging The Parent Trap to Free Willy, another of my favorite 90’s classics with which I had no issue indoctrinating my children.

Free Willy Count: 2

Day 7

Day 7 we finally made it to California (7 hours)! Stopping at Lassen Volcanic National Park for lunch, we then drove through northern California to The Redwoods!

Total Free Willy Count: 3

Total Free Willy 2 Count: 1

Back into our camping vibe, we were lucky enough to be able to camp in The Redwoods! The first night, we stayed on the beach at a campground called Gold Bluff Beach, were we made dinner, went out to watch sunset and I inadvertently photographed a peeping seal (or sea lion?… I’ll be honest, I don’t know the difference, if there is one).

Days 8 & 9

The Redwoods are now one of my favorite places ever, as I suspected they would be. I mean, 70 degrees, rocky beaches, gorgeous, giant, old growth wooded areas, and slimy banana slugs? Talk about heaven.

Since we stayed in the Gold Bluff Beach campground, we were lucky enough to be able to hike Fern Canyon, a trail that is only accessible with a permit and reminded me of Zion’s narrows… accept with ferns.

Nights 2 and 3 in the Redwoods we stayed inland at the Elk Prairie campground, where we took nighttime walks through the woods to hear a Park Ranger talk about the Redwood ecosystem, ventured north to more of the Old Growth woods with massive trees that made my woodworking husband nearly soil himself, and got a one-on-one daytime Ranger tour to walk through a hollowed out Redwood and hear more about the plants and animals that live there.