But I'll let Kristyn tell you about their family automobile trip to Eureka...

Friday we went four hours north to Eureka; Spencer puked five times during the last two hours.  I just sat in the backseat next to him, catching the vomit.  We checked into (finally) the Best Western in lovely Eureka.  We chose this hotel because we could get a family room - translation: two hotel rooms connected by a internal door and a mini-fridge.  Yippee!  Friday night we went to the famous Samoa Cookhouse.  It's REALLY family-style; they make something different everyday and that's all they feed you, like it or not.  Our meal consisted of vegetable barley soup, salad with choice of dressing, teriyaki chicken, roast pork, baked potatoes, green beans and peach pie.  Tea, coffee or water included.  One price, all you can eat.  Spencer, with his tummy now feeling better, enjoyed LOTS of soup (wouldn't have been my first choice after the day I'd had) and some bread.  Home to the hotel where we put the boy down in HIS room and his parents retired to vodka-tonics from small hotel shot glasses.  We didn't say we were going to rough it...

Saturday, we decided to stay in Eureka.  We started our morning on the Boardwalk in Old Town which had been completed just last year.

Spencer had a great time learning about gravity and running a grocery co-op (it IS Northern CA, after all).

After exploring the Discovery Museum, we had a terrific lunch of clams and chips at Cafe Waterfront.  Then it was off to the local mall to buy Matt a bathing suit (he'd forgotten his).  Crappy mall, strange people but had a Ross with a $10 suit.  We bought it and quickly vowed not to return.  It was now time for a nap so we headed back to the hotel.  Spencer decided to have one too.

Apres naptime, we decided to check out the Sequoia Park Zoo.  Besides having lovely gardens, this hidden Eureka spot boasted many fun animals, a petting zoo and a great playground.  We visited crazy spider monkeys, Bill, the 57-year-old chimp, prairie dogs, flamingos, llamas, wallabys and brown bears.  That was great fun so we kind of took our time visiting the animal kingdom.  By the time we reached the Barnyard (aka the petting zoo), it was closed.  Turns out it closes an hour EARLIER than the rest of the zoo.  This did not go down well.  Really, not at all.  We promised the boy we'd come back...and directed his attention to the playground.  We spent the rest of the afternoon on that playground, running around like crazy, climbing and going down slides all by ourselves (Spencer too!).

Then we made it home and passed out into a food coma.

Sunday was our physical exertion day.  After delighting a second time on our free continental breakfast, we headed out at 9am to drive forty miles north (that was a lie!) to Redwood National Park to hunt down the world's largest tree.  Who said two hungover parents with a kid on their backs couldn't accomplish this? The "book" said the hiking trail was three miles round-trip - piece of cake.

Going down took some time due to Spencer stopping every three steps.  You see, we spent the day before working out on some very tall slides.  All day long he'd heard, "It's steep, sit on your bottom to slide down." Well, this trail was steep don't you know, and our kid kept trying to slide down it.

About halfway through the DOWNHILL part of the hike, he decided riding on Matt's back in the pack was a better gig.

We reached the bottom and saw the world's tallest tree.  Wow, it was tall.

Okay, so it's back up the trail.  Except Spencer doesn't want to go up the hill.  He wants to play with leaves and such nonsense.  After minutes of negotiation, the elders decided it would be best for the boy to ride in his pack again.  For about 3/4 of a mile, the boy fought, screamed, pulled hair and pretty much beat up on his father, all the while reaching for me and ruining the still peacefulness of the nature around us.  Finally, since it seemed to be a Mommy-issue, I strapped the pack on my back, threw (literally) the boy in it and hiked the remainder of the trail uphill.  I've had better times but was glad to have done it.

Once we got back to the car, we headed twenty+ miles back south to a sleepy beach town called Trinidad for lunch.  We ate at Seascape Restaurant and got to walk the pier; we saw some sea lions and real fisherman catching fish.  The boy thought this was pretty swell.  After a late lunch (3pm at this point), we headed back to the BW for a nap.  At 5pm, we got back up and went swimming in the heated pool and played in the jacuzzi.  After soaking our weary bones, we dried off and decided to go to a local steakhouse for dinner.  Well, it turns out that NOTHING is open for dinner in Eureka on a Sunday.  Trying to avoid fast food, we hit up five or six restaurants in our guidebook - all closed! The only thing we could come up with was that god-forsaken mall, reasoning that the food court would have to be open.  We headed back over to the Bayshore Mall but even the food court was closed.  One restaurant in the mall WAS open so we headed in.  We were one of two dining parties at the Sweet River Grill; the really sad thing is that we have this SAME restaurant a mile from our house - ARGH! We felt pretty pathetic until the other redneck party informed us that they drove in from Trinidad.  Fine dining has not found it's way to Sunday nights in Humboldt county.  We made our way home and somehow found the Stoli again...

Monday morning after checking out & having our picture taken by the BW fireplace,

..we felt obligated to go back to the zoo (having failed Spencer earlier in the trip).  There the three of us were, nose to glass, as they opened the gates at 10am.

We visited our old animal friends and then made our way to the Barnyard petting area.  As Spencer's interest waned a half hour later, we then headed south to Loleta.  This is a very small town with a cheese factory so we had to visit.  On the way, we bought some chewable Dramamine.  The box said "not for children under 2" but since Spencer is such a mature boy, we shoved a 1/4 tablet down his throat and crossed our fingers.  We got to Loleta, sampled some cheese, bought some cheese and continued our journey south.  We then travelled to the charming town of Ferndale where the visit was like stepping back in time; gorgeous Victorian homes, quaint shops and a hometown feel.  We didn't dawdle as we were anxious to get to Myers Flat where we could make one of Matt's childhood dreams come true.  He's always wanted to drive through a tree; I know you're thinking, THAT'S an aspiration? Well, his goals are low and his dreams even smaller so we headed to (and thru) the Shrine Drive-Thru Tree.  Let's just say the Suburban barely fit through but we did in fact make it.

On to Willits - an hour and a half later (and still puke-free), we stopped in Willits for lunch.  Unfortunately, we chose a Jack-in-the-Box that had just had a busload of Chinese dumped into their dining room, ordering 78 Jumbo Jack combos.  Ignorantly, we still ordered our food and were thankful to receive it a half hour later.  There was nowhere to sit and eat (the Chinese owned the restaurant) so we took it to our car, ate our lunch and promptly stole the blue tray (it will come in handy in the future).  We continued to head home and arrived about 4:30pm.  All the books said just under four hours.  For our little fam, it was more like five hours -- but we really had a great time and at least created a fond memory for two of us.