The ocean is so calming, maybe that's why we decided to take our vacation there this year. All four of us stayed a week at Russian Gulch. It was a great time, we spent lots of family time together hiking, kayaking, shopping, playing on the beach...you name it. We arrived Saturday and decided to just relax and set up camp. Sunday we found ourselves hiking and playing on the beach. It was very relaxing and Austin and I enjoyed soaking up the sun while Todd and Alexxa explored tide pools. Monday we decided to take the kayaks out on the Noyo River. It was nice, but the trip ended about two miles in as trees were blocking the river, so we turned around and headed back. This was Austin's first time kayaking and it was quite interesting, we had a hard time keeping the kayak straight and were in the sideways position for about 1/3 of the trip. Tuesday we decided to visit the Mendocino Botanical Gardens and explore the area between Fort Bragg and Mendocino. We also decided to watch the sunset and it was spectacular. Wednesday we decided to hike Fern Canyon (a 5 mile hike). Todd was disappointed and said that he thought there would be ferns growing straight out at you. I kept telling him that it was Fern Canyon not Fern cliffs. We then visited the Pygmy Forest, ate lunch, and then decided to do a little more kayaking. This time we explored Little River and it was spectacular. We were so in awe, we didn't realize we had kayaked about 7 miles. We managed to see some wildlife, but most fun were the family of otters, about 10 of them. They would just come right out to the kayak. Thor and Loki found this particularly interesting and dove in after them. Thor almost drowned as he got caught in the seaweed and couldn't find a place to rest. Everything turned out okay, and our little buddy is still with us - Thank Goodness! The next day everyone recuperated from all the physical activity and we went shopping in Mendocino, visited Jughandle and relaxed. Friday, all of us slept in except for Todd who took the kayak into the ocean and explored the local coastline and caves. When he returned we briefly went back to Mendocino and then headed in to Fort Bragg to eat some seafood and watch Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. When Saturday rolled around, we cleaned up camp and headed back home. The entire time while at the coast, the temperature never exceeded 70, we get back home...it's 103. I want to go back!
