Bodega Bay Vacay

With how busy last year was, we didn't make it to the ocean like we had originally planned. Instead, we put it off until this year and it came at the perfect time! We invited my sisters Tami and Julia to come along and all of us definitely needed the break!

To start off our trip, I got roped into another time share presentation deal... I didn't think we would do this again but we decided it would be worth it one more time to save some cash. We left on Saturday morning for Nevada and stayed at David Walley's Hot Springs. For those first few days, we had cake for Brooke's birthday, did a waterfall hike, completed a scavenger hunt at the pool, went to a local church meeting, got donuts, swam in Lake Tahoe, and chilled in the hotel pool.

We went to Pope Beach at Lake Tahoe and with Tami's inflatable boat, Tami, Julia, John, and David were all able to use it to paddle out to a giant log standing straight up in the water that people were jumping off of. They each took a turn climbing it and jumping off!

After Lake Tahoe, we split up for Tuesday. John took the kids to Bodega Bay to enjoy the ocean while Julia, Tami, and I took a detour and went to Yuba City. There we were able to visit the Feather River Temple which was built and dedicated after we had all moved away from our hometown. We also got to visit with some of our friends that still live there, get good Mexican food for Julia (it is apparently lacking in flavor in Georgia), and of course, go to Brock's Ice Cream!

Wednesday was our first day all together in Bodega Bay. Here were some of the beaches and places we visited on that trip:

Schoolhouse Beach

Super cool secluded feeling beach with small pebbles instead of sand. I loved the different colors of tiny pebbles surrounding us and John enjoyed the tide pools to the left of the beach stairs. We also tried out some cool surfer guys Julia brought along. Unfortunately, the tide was too strong for them to get pushed back onto the sand and they are lost forever to us. One thing to note about this beach, it does have a sudden drop off right at the edge of the sand where the water comes in. A local came down and warned us about it since it is a drowning hazard with little kids. Thankfully, none of our kids were planning on getting in the cold water anyway and we enjoyed our time at this beach.

Goat Rock State Beach

We went to this beach twice and had completely different experiences. The first day, it was sunny and beautiful! We walked along the beach looking for sea glass and the kids built a driftwood fort by adding to one someone had started and left. Then, we walked down the beach to the right and found the sea lion sanctuary. There were tons of sea lions we could see resting on the shore across from us and easily over a hundred large pelicans that would circle the skies every 10 minutes or so. it was incredible! 

We loved this beach so much we came back another day but unfortunately that evening had turned incredibly windy. The super soft sand turned into what felt like bits of glass hitting our shins and faces and after trying to brave it and hide in the fort for a few minutes, we gave up and all rushed back to the cars. The evening wasn't a complete bust though since we were still able to enjoy the hot tub back at the airbnb.

Sebastapol

On Thursday, we drove inland about 20 minutes to do a hike to nowhere. John saw how stressed I was feeling so busy and trying to plan everything myself the week before and asked how he could help. I asked him to find a hike for us to do and he accidentally picked one that was over 5 miles long one way... With 5 kids and me being in my 2nd trimester of pregnancy, we only made it about an hour before turning around and later finding out it was the right choice! After that, we got In-N-Out for lunch (always tastes fresher in CA for some reason) and then picked blackberries to make a cobbler back at the airbnb.

Campbell Cove Beach

This beach had the perfect sand for sand castles! It was fine sand but it stuck together very well. At this beach, we (obviously) had a sand castle competition with John, Sammy, and I against Julia, Tami, and the rest of the kids. We also explored a tiny cave on the side and got to see the boats docked in the bay. This beach was so fun but also best in the morning before the wind picked up.

Fish and Chips and Clam Chowder

One thing we love doing at the coast is to enjoy fish and chips and clam chowder one of the days. Thankfully, we found a place that makes it fresh! The lines were long but so worth it! We got Fish and chips from Fisherman's Cove and then John bought clam chowder from Spud Point Crab Company. Just writing about it I wish I was back on the bay eating this again! it was seriously the best!

Shell Beach

While looking up places to look for shells, a lot of places suggested Shell Beach. It was a long walk to the water and unfortunately a bit of a bust for shell hunting. I did take a short nap here though and the kids had fun exploring so it wasn't a complete bust. Haha! 

Overall, this trip was the perfect balance of fun and relaxing. John still says he prefers the Oregon coast to Northern California, but it was fun to try a new place as well. One other funny thing was that we got salt water taffy at a candy shop in town. I saw a few people say online that they make their own taffy fresh so I thought it would be fun to try it our. After buying a plastic bagful, however, I got in the car and John saw that they had Taffy Town labels on them! We had driven from Utah to California just to eat taffy that had been made 20 minutes from our house back home. I guess that was a good reminder to not believe everything you read online. Haha!

It was so nice having Julia and Tami come along with us on this trip! It turned out perfect and you better believe we will be planning our next trip out to the coast again soon!