Summer Trip 2016 - coast and Oregon

We were late this year into our summer trip planning and at the end decided to stay closer to home.  We started by making a 3-hour trip off the coast to Mendocino (always one of our favorites) where we stayed at Sanford Inn and kids got introduced into vegan food (not fans!).  Lots of hiking and kayaking...we then drove across to go to Lake Almanor which was such a gem. It reminded me of Okoboji - we went out on the lake nearly daily with the finale of watching the fireworks on the 4th (we often tend not to be in the country on the 4th - this was the first time the kids saw fireworks).  We went out on the boat late into the evening and the view was spectacular!  We then went north into Oregon where we played in Bend for a while.  On the way back we stopped by Crater Lake (rainy and cold though, so missed most of the views) then hiked around Lake Shasta to cap off the trip.  It was our first major American road trip (not counting often visits to Southern California) and based on how much fun we had last summer in Poland, we thought that we are ready for something big here.   The girls got to be junior rangers - a great program from our National Parks.  They are ready to do more.  Can't wait to do it again soon. PICTURES