Month: August 2022

We wanted to get out to the coast before school started up again so we headed out to Fort Bragg over the weekend of Aug 4-7. We stayed at the same place we’ve stayed for several years, but it now costs almost double what it did 4 years ago and it’s getting a bit ridiculous–especially since they’re not providing breakfast or housekeeping. It’s gone from being a pretty good deal to being rather expensive. So in the future we may have to explore other options.

Regardless, we had a good trip this go around.

We drove out on Thursday the 4th stopping for lunch at Chick-Fil-A on the way. We got checked in and headed down to the beach for a bit before having dinner at a BBQ restaurant and ice cream at Cowlick’s.

Friday was down to the beach again in the morning and wandering around downtown which we’ve never really done in the past. We took the scooters with us because I thought the girls might like to ride along the pedestrian path that runs along the shore. So I rode Jess’ scooter downtown and wandered about while Jess and the girls stayed on the beach longer.

I wanted to find a sun hat since I had left mine at home and that was going to result in sunburning. I did successfully find a hat and then spent some time wandering about until the rest of the party joined me for lunch.

After lunch the girls and I scootered back to the hotel for a rest out of the sun while Jess visited a yarn shop. For dinner we picked up pizza from a local pizza shop. And after dinner I did a bit of walking around with the camera to take some pictures as the sun set. I got some really nice shots.

On Saturday we visited the Point Cabrillo Light Station because they were giving lens tours. So we got to climb to the top and learn about the workings from docents. Everything was going great until it was time to go back down and Heather had a bit of a panic attack about coming down the ladders. The place was busy with groups ahead of us and behind us and only one ladder up and down to each of the 3 levels. So after some calming and coaxing we eventually had to simply put Heather on the ladders while I guided her foot onto each rung/step and we made it down.

After a quick lunch and bathroom stop we were on to our next adventure–the long-awaited horseback riding! We got to Ricochet Ridge Ranch and picked out helmets and then situated on our horses: Nightcap (Corinne), Whisper (Heather), Voltaire (Kyle), and Pancho (Jess). Corinne and Heather were on leads, but even so they loved every minute of it as we walked through the woods to the beach and back.

I had my camera on my shoulder strap, which allowed me to snap some pictures without worrying about it falling; but I couldn’t give it a lot of attention while still managing my horse. So there was a lot of spray-and-pray picture taking, especially over my shoulder towards Jess.

We had dinner at Lee’s, the only Chinese restaurant in town, which was quite good. Heather just about managed her whole meal using chopsticks. Then a walk around the block to Cowlick’s for ice cream afterwards.

On Sunday we packed up and started working our way home. Decided to take a slightly different route this time to try something new and see if the windiness was any better. So we came back via route 128 (instead of route 20), stopped in Boonville for lunch, and bought some real apple cider from a roadside stand. The windiness was about the same overall, but did have a break in the middle.

We debated whether to include this stop on our trip. We’ve taken the girls to Gilroy Gardens several times which targets the same age range and they seem to be aging out of it so we were concerned if they’d be interested. But it was good we went because they loved it.

I was impressed with how well kept the place was and all the employees were excited, high-energy types which really amped the girls up. It was a great day.

The girls loved the Elfabet game–finding and punching out each letter on their card. We rode just about every ride, we fed reindeer, the girls got nail rings from the blacksmith, we ate fair food. We even got the girls to go on the log flume at the end.

Corinne is much more of a thrill rider than Heather. She went on several rides all by herself and loved every minute of it.

The girls love swimming so we splurged and rented a cabana for the day. It was nice to have a place to stash stuff and sit in the shade while the girls played. They even both went on some of the big waterslides (like 30-ft tall) which was surprising.

Our commemorative picture magnet of the Yule Log:

We spent the whole day at the park, open to close. So we spent another night at the Evergreen Motel right across the street and didn’t need to do any driving.

On the 20th we checked out of the hotel and (eventually, with some difficulty) walked down to the Plains of Abraham museum to pick up our “escape rally” wheelbarrow. It was an escape-room like experience built around the history of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham.

Our wheelbarrow contained various locked items and clues and we needed to travel throughout the park to find information to solve puzzles and learn about some of the people involved in the battle. It was fun, but we ran out of time to complete it and needed to get on the move, so we returned it only partially completed.

Our destination for the night was Jefferson, NH which was many hours away. So we took a short break in Stoke, QC at Miellerie Lune de Miel, or, the Honeymoon Honey House. Unfortunately they weren’t doing any tours at the time due to COVID issues, but we bought some honey and saw some alpacas.

Then it was back on the road and across the border at the Canaan, VT crossing. We stopped for pizza at House of Pizza in Colebrook, NH. And ended our day at the Evergreen Motel just across the street from Santa’s Village, where we’ll pick it up next time.