Have a cold and the best thing about it is that it made me slow down and read a good book, watch a neat old movie, watch cartoons and snuggle on the couch with the kids, rediscover my acupressure book, drink lots of nourishing teas and soups and blog.

We are still surrounded by boxes. After living in temporary housing for a month with so little, I sit here and consider how many boxes I could just not unpack at this point and we would do just fine.  I'm beginning to miss the simplicity of not having so much stuff and wondering if I have the courage to actually do something about it.

Here are the last few pictures I wanted to share from our drive up. These are from The Redwoods National Park near Orick. We stopped just north of Orick off Highway 101 at the Big Tree. I did not get a good picture of the Big Tree but suffice it to say that at some point someone wanted to cut it down and use the stump as a dance floor. Luckily a group of locals got together and was able to stop this from happening. Some pictures from the trail that goes past Big Tree....

 These are all huge trees similar to the one below.

This is called a nursery tree. It fell over and then provided a fertile place for offshoot trees. You are looking at the base of the tree.

Lots of clover and ferns everywhere.

And lots of little areas for fairies to live in.

Heading North from San Francisco we followed Route 101 up the coast and stopped at the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. They have a drive through tree there.

 It is estimated to be 2400 yrs old. I did not ask but it looks like the hole was cut many years ago and the tree seems to be doing well. Poor tree. By the way that is not our vehicle driving through. Our van would not have fit had we tried.

Change....lots of change. Moving away from cherished friends was very hard to do. Adjusting has been hard which is funny because I moved around so much as a child.  But we have moved back to old friends and family and another good friend which moved here from the place we left. That has helped.

I wanted to share a few photos of our drive up....from the southwest to the northwest.

The windmills in California. We were all amazed at the number of them. Rows and rows. I bet the birds and bats now know to avoid those areas. This was from I-10 heading toward LA.

Hills next to a highway running from LA to San Diego. They were all mostly treeless and covered with grass. My husband and I wondered whether they were once covered with trees and were cleared. It was a beautful area.

We drove down to San Diego to visit Legoland. The kids had a great time and dh got to see his favorite golfer Phil Mickelson. He happened to be there with his family.

More pictures to come.....