Redwoods

Please excuse my photo bomb posts... but you must know, we went to some of the most photographed places in the country... so we aren't the only crazy clicking camera guys:)  The redwoods delivered with their enormous trees, and their simple surroundings.  I remember playing hide and go seek in the redwoods as a child.  The first tree we pulled over for was not nearly as grand as it was in my memory, but the rest of the forest didn't disappoint.  It's hard to grasp how these giants (avenue of the giants) even exist.  To think that they were here long before Christ (many of them, not all) is earth shattering.  It's truly amazing to stand next to one and instantaneously recognize just how tiny we are in the vast world of creation.  My favorite part was going inside all of the trees.  We also drove through two trees (for 12 bucks).  These were not the same as my memory... I wonder if there is another drive-thru tree somewhere or if my memories are fuzzy enough to not quite have the recall.  One thing that I really appreciated about the avenue of the giants was that we didn't have to pay to get into the park... there weren't tourist traps at every stop.  For the most part, it was left free for people to enjoy and visit.  We had a lot of fun tooling around, climbing in, out, under, and on top of various trees, going in tree houses made from the enormous trunks, and being astounded by the many monster trees laying on the ground.  Because they share a root system, where one tree is collapsed, there are bound to be others.  It's hard to imagine a tree of that magnitude simply falling over, but we say many trees that had done just that.  It's also hard to imagine logging these majestic redwoods nearly to extinction.  I mean, I can see the appeal as the wood is beautiful and enormous, but it still seems crazy to think that we would just go ahead and wipe them out... many (perhaps most) of these trees were several thousand years old.  I don't think we'll be able to replace them in our lifetimes.  Still, the whole experience was wonderful.  I'm glad our children got to see them so that their own fuzzy memories can shape and reshape until the day that they decide to take their children to this magnificent forest. 

This little wishing well was at the eternal tree house.  Brian got change for everyone so that we could all have a wish.  Xiana talked and talked about how excited she was because she "wished-ed the bestest wish in the whole world."  A little concerned, I asked her what her wish was... "I can't tell you," she exclaimed, "then it won't come true."  I figured she would forget about it quickly, but she held strong and told us repeatedly that she couldn't wait to wake up in the morning for her wish to come true.  Brian tried to tell her that if she didn't use the exact terminology then it wouldn't come true, but every time he changed terminology she said, "that's exactly how I wished it!" When morning came, she was sadly disappointed.  She waited each night for her wish to come true every morning, but to no avail.  It was sweet, and sad, and adorable.  Finally, after much persuasion, she told us that she had wished, "to be bigger than Ekco...." Pretty hysterical.  We had a lengthy conversation afterwards.  Because Xiana told her wish, Ekco divulged that she had wished that Kolton and Xiana would grow up healthy and happy.  I asked her why she didn't wish for herself to have the same and she answered, "I just have a feeling that I'm gonna grow up safe and happy."  Sweet girl!!