M & M Larsen Family: Oregon! Zobrist Ranch & the Redwoods

We spent a wonderful week in Oregon with our friends, the Conk's, from Las Vegas. Kristin's parents have a place in White City, Oregon on the Rouge River. They invited us a few years ago, but one baby led to another and finally...this was our year to go! We drove the 13 hours there with an overnight stop in Reno. At the ranch the kids loved to roam on the Mules (the motorized variety :) ), swing by the river, follow the deer, visit the Llamas, play tennis for hours and hours, the list goes on!
The must have experience was rafting the Rouge. We all loaded up, minus the babies, with four blow-up Tahiti boats. We had seven minors amongst three adults. Mark ended up with Jono and Madison. Right away Madi was nervous. This was warranted as I watched she & Jono separate from the raft running the first little rapids. I screamed from behind thinking for sure they were overboard. Luckily, they came back down IN the boat. From then on out it was petrified howling. Poor Mark was sitting back so low, his boat looked like it was submersed on the puniest of waves. After his tailbone took a beating he attempted to ride it out on his knees which didn't work any better. When they made it to the ranch it was discovered that the bottom of his raft was completely flat and the sides weren't all that inflated either. Needless to say, 2nd time around: Mark had an inflated boat and Madi road with Kristin. They played like the rapids were the buckin' bulls she's so fond of and then they weren't so scary.
We took a side trip to the Humbolt State Park just East of Cresent City, CA. We walked through The Stout Grove and stood in awe of the redwoods. The kids loved this Paul Bunionish playground; they ran the highways of fallen redwoods and climbed and crawled through burned out trees. The way there was eventful in the car sick category, but I'm sure Payt and Madi (and Mark who hates cleaning it up) would agree- the experience was worth it. We continued onto the Pacific Coast and the dads and big kids SLID down to touch the ocean. The tide pools held treasures of star fish. It was 55*F there on the coast and as we climbed East to Medfore it was 95*F; Mother Nature's A/C.
To get the local's experience, they took us to Mill Creek Falls. We found a GPS "GeoCache" there - a first for us. The falls were breathtaking, but The Avenue of the Boulders was where the fun was. A rock you could slide down, tens of "slip and you're a goner" perches and a raging river with a man-made wading pool accented by a black sand beach. It was just our style.
I can't wait until we get to Vegas and slideshow Kristin's photomemoir and relive the whole trip. My pictures of Oregon are so sub-par! I became lackadaisical the moment I saw Kristin taking pictures. It was a vacation to remember for sure. Thanks Terry and Kristin for the good times!!! And thanks to the Zobrist's - we love your patch of paradise!!!