Half a mile up the road is the trailhead to Mill Creek. We hiked from the full sun of the coastal hillside into the dark, damp fairytale world of the redwood forested canyon.

We finally returned to our favorite wide spot on Nacimiento Road, 1/4 mile uphill from Highway 1 and set up camp. Last time we were here, Dec. of 2004, there was a tremendous storm that drove us away. This time the weather forecast is much better and our first day bore that out. This is our view south down Highway 1.

Our view of the sunset;

We made it to our favorite spot on the coast as the sun set on the shortest day of the year. As the golden sun approached the horizon on the wide Pacific ocean it cast our shadow on the hill across the pavement of Highway 1.

We continued down the I-5 corridor, visiting friends, and made it over the Siskiyou mountains between storms. While visiting friends near Sacramento the next rain storm came through and bogged us down in their driveway, not once but twice! Thanks to Tim and his 4 wheel drive Ford Ranger, he pulled us out once, only to have us stuck again, but at least in a more level spot where we stayed for the duration. Tim pulled us out again when the skies cleared and we headed further south for more visiting.

We left Bend after the huge storm that struck the west coast of Washington and Oregon. We headed north to The Dalles to visit Dean & Wendy. Dean and Robert were sent on a mission to the airplane hangar to get the Christmas ornaments stored there. Wondering why the boys were gone so long, the sound of a small plane buzzing the house alerted Wendy and me that they decided to take the plane for a ride. With help from Dean, Robert took the controls to practice takeoff and landing! Our next stop in our travels was with Buster & Judy in Grande Ronde. While there we were able to help them with some cleanup of one of the several trees that were downed from high water in the creek behind them during the recent storm. Their house, thankfully, came through the storm fine.