The Russians are Coming, or are those just Really Big Trees?

Tuesday was supposed to be a more relaxing day where we got to take a break from going going going in San Francisco and relax.  We took it easy and didn't try and get up too early.  This was really the first time we really had a chance to see our resort in Windsor, CA.

We headed west from our resort in search of the famous California redwood forests.  It's hard to believe trees this big exist, and even crazier to think we would be visiting even larger trees a few days later.  We stopped at Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Preserve to see a famous California redwood forest.  These trees are very tall, but lack the width (and therefore mass) of the Sequoia trees down south.  However, they are taller, and very impressive.

These roots of a fallen redwood give you a feel for their size.  I'm not sure how Erin always managed to take the pictures and not be in them.

 

The largest tree was the Colonel Armstrong tree.

Lyndsee had a really good time running around on the trails, but she insisted on being very independent.  More than once we found her a couple of hundred yards ahead of the group around the next bend.

She also enjoyed some daddy time.

There were several redwoods that were charred remains as well.  This tree looked especially cool to me.

There was one down tree that made an excellent slide.  Based on the shine of the wood, we were not the first group to enjoy this natural playground.

We found some trees to climb on top of.

And some trees to crawl underneath.

All in all, the trees were a lot of fun.  Given the chance, I think Lyndsee would have run right on back into the forest.

After playing amongst the trees, we stopped in the town of Guerneville for lunch.  After trying to get our small group of 11 into a couple of quaint little restaurants, we headed back to one of the larger joints on the main street through town.

After lunch we headed west to the Pacific Ocean and drove north along the coast to Fort Ross.  Fort Ross was the attempt by the Russian Czars to control the American continent, and was manned by the Russians from 1812 to 1841.

The fort was a very nice sized community that could house a sizable community.

 

The kids loved the church bell.

Canons are always cool.

A nice view of the ocean from a watch tower window.

The whole day was great for the kids, but it might have been a little too much for dad.

Erin worked on getting her kite up on the windy coast line.

Always trying to do things my own way, I had unwound the kite string to make sure it was tied to the spool since the kite store had mentioned it might not be.  That was first thing this morning.  I had worked on it in the car everywhere we had gone throughout the day.  However, I was still dealing with a major mess late in the afternoon as my kids cried because we couldn't use our kite.  It wasn't until 10:30 or so that I finally got the mess straightened out.

After playing with the Shiflett's kite, we headed back to our Condo for a relaxing evening together.  It seems like we just got to Windsor, and yet we will be packing up again in the morning and heading south.