Lovelock

I read about a neat little tourist attraction on my Nevada visitors' map, and noticed we would be driving right by the town. So we made it our fill-up/restroom stop (as I'm sure was the town's intent in setting up the attraction in the first place) and checked out Lovers Lock Plaza in Lovelock, NV.

The blurb from my tourist guide says, "Lovers from around the world lock their love in Lovelock following the ancient Chinese custom of placing a lock on a never-ending chain...It is said that as long as your lock remains on the chain, your love will endure.

The place was pretty cute, and I was surprised to see that the plaza had only been created in 2006. It worked to increase tourism and commerce for Lovelock, since we filled our gas tank plus bought luggage locks and some snacks at Safeway across the street. It would have been nice if a kiosk selling souvenir locks and offering engraving had been nearby. I guess you can get that at one of the casinos in town.

You can see some of the souvenir locks alongisde our cute, tiny ones. So now Gary and I are locked together forever! He threw the keys in our campfire that night, so I guess I'm stuck with him. :) We locked the other one onto ours to symbolize our love for Madelyn too. It was a cute thing to do, since it was right along our path.

Donner Memorial

We had really wanted to stay a third night in Tahoe, but between our site already being booked and the cancellation fees imposed by moving our next reservation, we just couldn't make it work. So we changed our plans and drove to the north side of Tahoe to visit the Donner Memorial on our way out of the area. I was really looking forward to this part of the trip because I recently finished reading a fascinating historical account of the Donner Party's tragedy. I don't believe I would have found the pioneer museum here nearly as interesting had I not read it, if I'm being shamefully honest.

Madelyn is playing here on the rock which formed one wall of the Murphy cabin. There is a plaque there memorializing the names of the wagon train members--those who survived and those who perished.

A bittersweet juxtaposition to see my playful, carefree little one bouncing around the very place where other children endured unfathomable misery.

We enjoyed our picnic lunch in the shade before heading out on another long day of driving.

Chocolate pudding face!

Lake Tahoe

After a very long nap (in a trailer so hot that I worried enough to check on her inside, even though Gary was sleeping in there too), we finally went to a Lake Tahoe beach.

Actually, first we walked to Fallen Leaf Lake, which is near our campground, but found it to be full of algae and very rocky. Then we got lost walking back to the car lugging our chairs and towels and a slow-moving child. Then we drove to a Tahoe beach which turned us away because dogs aren't even allowed in the parking lot. And we ended up at a wonderful beach and enjoyed every minute of it when we finally got there.

Swimming was fun, even though I forgot my swimsuit at home (so unlike me!!) and sported shorts and a tank top.

It was fairly nice sand here, great for making castles.

I recently bought this squirt bottle for Madelyn to play with at home, and I swear it's one of the most brilliant toys. On this trip it did not disappoint, and was one of the best things we brought along. Here Madelyn is using the spray bottle to wash the sand off my feet. How thoughtful.

Nature Walk

At the South Lake Tahoe Visitors' Center, we took a little nature walk.

Madelyn was really into holding the dogs' leashes on this trip. At this time, Kezia actually had an injured paw, so we didn't really worry about her being too strong or fast for Madelyn.

Madelyn did a great job walking the dog, and only got pulled over a couple of times.

Sometimes we helped.

The pièce de resistance on this trail was an underground cutaway of the creek. Through the windows we viewed the actual creek habitat full of fish.

Tahoe Campsite

We had long way to go on Sunday, so we drove the whole day, arriving at our campground near Lake Tahoe at about 5pm. We're really particular about how we like our surrounding while camping, and I found it very challenging to book campsite ahead of time online, sight unseen. We couldn't have been more pleased with Fallen Leaf: the campground was really great, and we felt like we had one of the best sites in the place. It was beautiful, serene, private.

We laid out this blanket to give Loki and Kezia a soft place to lie down, also hoping it would help them stay relatively clean. But it seems somebody else liked the idea even better. At least she was occupied while we underwent camp setup again. It got easier and easier as the trip went on.

Ready for a bike ride with Care Bear and books.

Wiyaka's House

Back at Wiyaka's house after camping, the girls were stripped of shirts in order to enjoy a yummy popsicle.

Gary worked on fixing the next things that had gone wrong in the trailer, got the oil changed, and took my bike in to fix a flat. I did the ridiculous amount of laundry we had already accumulated in only 4 days (not entirely necessary to wash it all, but there were some key items we wanted to wash, and so why not just do it all, right?). It was nice to have a "home base" while we did some of this housekeeping.

Wiyaka and I took a bike ride with the girls, went to the park, and just tried to keep them entertained even though we were all tired. I really enjoyed visiting with Wiyaka the whole time. We took showers and Madelyn slept in a spare crib in their living room while we watched a movie with our friends, and when it was over we moved her out into the trailer with us, and she had no problem sleeping.

Saying goodbye to Wiyaka.

On the road again, with another special surprise! She is brushing a little plastic kitty doll.

More Camping

I painted fingernails for both the girls, which was a great way to keep them occupied. Doing "manicures" is actually my way of getting Madelyn to allow me to clip her nails. They were way too long and with all the dirt it was very necessary!

Then Madelyn got to have another s'more before bed. What a lucky girl.

The next morning Madelyn and Lilly took a fun double-trike ride! I also paraded them around the campground in the bike trailer while the others packed things up.

River Afternoon

Gary read stories to the two girls before naptime. Madelyn took a very long nap, but unfortunately Lilly wasn't in the mood for that.

After Madelyn woke up, we joined the others at the Eel River.

This was a great way to spend a warm, sunny afternoon with friends.

Redwood Forest

I was so excited to see my friend Wiyaka, her 8-month pregnant belly, little Lilly Sue, and finally meet the Phantom Husband. We technically missed our intended camping trip last year, but we decided to count her Springtime visit and beach trip so we can still consider it an annual event.

This year we camped among the Redwoods along the Avenue of the Giants. Madelyn and Lilly had fun playing together about half the time, and pushed each other to tears the other half. The catch-22 of toddlers together: it's great to have a friend to play with until she takes your toy or looks at you wrong. :)

Our walk through the forest was beautiful, albeit slow with these two tagging along.

Darling!

That is one TALL tree!

A bunch of tree-huggin' hippies! :)

Ocean World

On our way to Fortuna, where my friend Wiyaka lives, we revisisted Ocean World. Gary and I went to this dinky little aquarium when we camped in the Redwood Forest years ago. We remembered it and thought it would be a great experience for Madelyn.

Daddy showing Madelyn how to surf. Think you got it, Madelyn?

Hm. Maybe not, but still totally adorable!

Mommy and Madelyn enjoying the tidepool "petting zoo."

It's a pretty small aquarium, and all done by guided tour. Madelyn loves starfish in her books and has starfish shaped Omega-3 gummies, so it was cool to be able to see and touch real ones!

Look at this one!

Fishy faces

So funny!

Eek! Giant shark jaws.

I was a little surprised that Madelyn was wary of petting the Leopard Sharks. She was very interested in looking at them, but chickened out each time she went to pet one.

This was a fun bit of nostaliga for Gary and me (remembering the good ol' days of freedom before kids), made even more fun by witnessing a munchkin's perspective.

Carseat

Madelyn spent a great deal of time in this carseat while we traveled over 2500 miles.

She happily read stories here while we packed up the campsite we'd arrived at only hours before. I had raided my mom's bookshelf and brought along dozens of new books for Madelyn, many of which were favorites of mine growing up! That was really fun, except that several of them seemed really odd now, and even poor choices for children's stories. Very interesting.

The peaceful ride while she slept was a highlight. And Loki liked to lay on top of the coolers behind her seat, presumably to have better proximity to the air vents.

Campfire

The first day we drove through Oregon and about 20 miles into Northern California. We found a site in our campground furthest from the highway and bordered by a babbling brook, so it ended up being quite peaceful. We quickly learned that the tent trailer my dad so generously allowed us to bring along was not as simple as pitching a tent, and therefore made more work than we'd normally consider appropriate for one night. We also experienced problem after problem with the tent trailer throughout the trip, but that's another story. Even so, we were glad to have it.

Madelyn is helping Gary blow on the fire, after "riding" her trike (sitting on it begging to be pushed). She did a great job of staying nearby and playing nicely during the ordeal of setting up camp and cooking dinner in the trailer with non-functioning power. Then while I washed dishes, Gary and Madelyn roasted marshmallows.

The first of many a s'more made on this vacation.

Madelyn had no complaints.

And she went to sleep more easily than I could have hoped for given the circumstances. I was more than pleased--I was gleeful.

Having the first day under our belts with Madelyn behaving quite admirably and only minor incident to speak of, we were ready to relax and enjoy the ride.