Summer with the kids–part III

While we were in Florence we, of course, had to ride on the sand dunes, so we found a place that gave rides on a big dune buggy.  Micah was fascinated with the fact that it used airplane tires.  It was a nice enough ride, but as we were slowly traversing the dunes, a sand rail with a few passengers went whizzing by us and in unison, the kids pointed and proclaimed, “I want to ride on THAT!!”  So we did. 

The kids were lucky -

they had on helmets so they got minimal sand in their hair.  I spent the next week washing it out of mine, and over a week later when we delivered them to their mom, she commented on the sand that was still embedded in their ears.  It was worth every grain to have the fun of ripping over those dunes at what seemed to be 70 mph.  It wasn’t a slow traverse in any sense of the word!

 

Our last stop in Oregon was Gold Beach, where we traded a ride on sand for a jet boat ride on the Rogue River.

This was the view out our front window at the RV park where we stayed.  The jet boat picked us up at the dock of the hotel next door.  The ride was pretty wild, with the guide whipping that jet boat around and getting us all wet.  We were glad it was a warm day!

 

  A mini jet boat.

Our final stop was back down in California at the Redwoods, where Micah and Indy got their ranger badges for filling out the Junior Ranger booklet.  We had fun wandering through the tall trees and exploring the fire-hollowed trees.

     

And then the trip was over and we had to deliver them back to the loving arms of their parents, just in time for Indiana to get ready for her first day of 2nd grade.