The Burches hit the Redwoods!

Read this post from the BOTTOM-UP please...

We caught a wave back home. Great adventures--we're grateful to have such a fun family with Daddy the Driver, Momma the Planner and Claire the Destroyer.
Claire sizes up with the shark scale.
The most darling seafood you'll ever see. Adam's caption: "We got eated by a shark--but we got better!"
Claire communicates with a California Sea Lion named Cora.
We saw out of season whales! Okay, did the chain and hook give it away or was it the whole, "Don't Orcas sort of eat people?" thing?
Self-explanatory. The parents prevailed soon after and she slept in her travel crib (I'm unconscious at left).
Claire is tired after a day of Paul-sized fun, but she tries to convince me there's always time for more "jokes" (she babbles nonsense at me and then holds her tummy while she laughs this little guffaw that resembles something a yacht owner might produce).
Elk abound
Can you spot the little Laurel in this hollow giant?
Claire wouldn't be parted from this little Babe the Blue Ox doll she saw in the gift shop. Even a tightfisted penny pincher like me couldn't begrudge a momento of what just may be the center of coolness in the universe.
Claire fingers "Momma Bear", a cool chainsaw carving in the Tall Tales Trail at Trees of Mystery.
We decided to hike back down the mountain rather than being return tram pansies. Boy were we glad for the complementary walking sticks. It was stee-eep! Very fun to be out on our own with sporadic vistas of the ocean though...
We ride the new Sky Trail feature at Trees of Mystery to the tops of the redwoods at Ted's Ridge.
"Hey Paul!" (Or the way it really went, "Hey! Hi! This guy! Hi!")
Daddy's girl off the beaten path. We found the deep dark stillness very centering and peaceful. A natural temple-like atmosphere prevails amidst the ancient giants.
I'm wearing hiking boots in case you were thinking I had my Birks with me.
Claire and the great Coastal Redwood share a common hugeness.
We officially arrive at the Redwoods--notice the similar vantage? It's photography ala "I don't have anywhere to rest the camera while the timer goes off, nor is there any sentient life with opposable thumbs handy..."
The sea cave was really cold and full of bugs but we felt proud to have made the hike. The crashing waves in the cave made the nippy bugs worth it. Claire thought it was hilarious that I kept blowing on her hair to get the flies off.
Frankport Beach, from the vantage of a secret sea cave hike (secret because although Oregon's lottery paid to improve the area, they only put up a small nameless state park sign just before the blind turn next to a bluff).
What Claire saw.
Claire looks up in wonder.
Claire adores dinosaurs and we were pleased to take her to Prehistoric Gardens. A bit less psychedelic than when I was a kid, but still awesome and a great opportunity to practice one's "terrible roar."
Battle Rock Beach at Port Orford.
Little toes take a stand.
Claire takes her first sand steps.