Hiking in the Redwoods

After we left the Boardwalk, we ate at Pleasure Pizza (it looked like a total dive, but the pizza was delicious!) then drove 45 minutes up into the Santa Cruz Mountains. We've camped there a few times, but we decided to stay in a hotel this time. I found a hotel in the redwoods, right outside of Big Basin State Park. 

The next day was much cooler, which was nice for hiking. 

We had already done the same hike there a couple of times, so we wanted to find something different. We talked to a ranger, who recommended a 6 mile hike to the summit. He said it was longer than other routes to the summit but not too strenuous, so that sounded good. 

The first couple of miles were mostly uphill, so we stopped to rest a few times.

Apparently that's the ocean out there in the distance. 

The terrain totally changed when we got near the top - no more redwoods. We found a geocache, had a potty break, and got out our sandwiches.

 In fact there were several geocaches on the hike, so that added to the fun. 

And of course banana slugs! My kids have been obsessed with these guys for a few years now. They named their club The Banana Slug Club and start each meeting with a banana slug theme song they made up. They looked for them the whole hike (there were literally hundreds!), which never got old. 

I love hiking in the redwoods! It's so shady and beautiful. The kids did great; it helped that the last 4 miles were mostly downhill.

Chloe got out of the carrier and walked/ran the last couple of miles. She especially liked looking for banana slugs!

 Even the mushrooms are bright yellow, which really stood out against the drab brown leaves.

We had to stay focused and not stop too much on the hike, since it was so long, but we let them climb around for awhile when we got back to the beginning. 

We were all pretty tired by the end! We went back to our hotel and collapsed. After dinner (I made meatball subs in the hotel room), we went out for ice cream at Baskin Robbins. It was March 31st, and apparently whenever it's the 31st of a month, their ice cream is super cheap, like $1.31/scoop. What a nice surprise!