California, Here We Come

We began our almost week-long excursion into California by driving to Mt. Shasta.  It is only about five hours away from my grandparents' house in Oregon, but I deliberately chose a short day for our first camping day without Tim.

The kids were great!  The boys set up the tent, the girls set up the inside, and I worked on dinner.  As we drove into the KOA, we noticed people all along the driveway picking blackberries.  Apparently, we came in during the Blackberry Festival, and the (very large) patch of wild blackberries were ripe.  They were so delicious.  We scratched ourselves up quite a bit getting them, but oh my, were they delicious.  We played Chinese checkers, I began reading Island of the Blue Dolphins to the kids, and we made it an early night.  Usually when it gets dark, we go to bed, since we awake with the sun.