Yesterday was Emily’s turn to have some fun so she and Karen left mid-morning to go Pier 39 in Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. They are linking up with some the local area Brownies and Girl Scouts who are attending the Save the Bay “In the Bay” event at the Aquarium of the Bay. About 40, mostly Brownies turned up for this event. This was an educational programme aimed at teaching the girls about the marine life found in the bay and surrounding areas and what damage is being done to this environment and what we can do to help. There are all the usual things to do in the aquarium such a touch pools with sea stars and urchins and others where you get to touch rays and small sharks. Emily just loves going to aquariums.On Saturday evening we went back to Jack’s Scout camp where after the days activities they handing out awards and provided entertainment in the forms of songs and skits. Jack did not see us arrive and it was great to see him with his patrol having great fun. The whole thing lasted about 90 minutes and it was great fun.
This morning our first task of the day was to pick up Jack from the Scout camp. Of course he was totally exhausted and extremely grubby – not only this his tiredness made him very grumpy. Rather than take him home and let him rest we instead decided to take the children to the Great Basin State Park to go and see some of the giant coastal redwood trees. For those who have never seen a giant redwood these are truly amazing, with some specimens reaching 340ft into the sky and over 70 ft in circumference at the base. The oldest of these trees stretch back 3000 years when the Egyptian empire was at its height – truly amazing. We are in awe of these arboreal giants as we wander through the groves with the sunlight being dappled by the canopy overhead. Not for the first time on this extended journey through the United States are we struck by the spiritual essence of a place. Luckily the threats posed to these spectacular forests are now abated by state and national preservation control so we can all enjoy these giants of the forest for many years to come.We gently wind our way back to our campsite on the Pacific coast highway. It is quite a warm day, even at 5pm so we decide to take the short walk from our motor home to the beach. We cross some extensive sand dunes; this is a conservation area so we make sure we stick to the pathway. After a few hundred yards we descend down a steep dune on to the beach. Whilst it had been fairly warm when we set off – it was
considerably cooler here on the beach with the wind coming off the sea. Most definitely not sun bathing weather – the wind was the sort that gets your nipples standing to attention. The grown up Hoblets hunker down behind some rocks, and out of the wind it is quite pleasant in the sun. Jack and Emily after a brief and frigid incursion into the sea decide instead to build dens amongst the rocks – a good decision. It is not too long before we decide enough is enough, after all -despite two weeks of an eat-a-thon on Hawaii we still had considerably less blubber on us than an anorexic sea lion, and we set off for the balmier climate of the camp site.
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