Friday to the Treehouse Treesort

We had to leave the coast on Friday morning but Jack still hadn't had the chance to do one of the things on his bucket list: play on the beach with sand toys.  I took the three boys to the beach for a little while to do just that.  Luckily, it was less cold and windy that morning than it had been the other times we'd walked to the beach near the house.  I brought the kite that was at the house, and we just hung out for a little while.  The younger boys got cold and were ready to go back after about 45 minutes but Jack stayed a little longer (with Cat hanging out with him so I could help pack up the house) to finish the sand castle he was working on.

We would check in to our treehouse Friday afternoon but since the route to get there took us right by Redwoods State & National Parks, we decided to make a stop at Jedediah Smith State Park in Crescent City, CA on our way.  It was the perfect way to beak up the 2-hour drive.  We had PB&Js in the parking lot for lunch, then had fun walkng along the easy loop at the Stout Memorial Grove.  The Redwoods were so big and so tall and we loved taking pictures and exploring!

They found a banana slug.  Do you see it?

The views of the Smith River were so beautiful on the drive back to Oregon.

We arrived at the treesort (not kidding) just after 3, when we were supposed to be simultaneously checking into our treehouse and checking in with the zipline folks.  It was a bit crazy, but it worked out in the end.

We were so excited to go on our zipline adventure!  All of my kids had been on at least one zipline before, but it had been a while, and this was the first time we would have the experience all together.  I was a little nervous about Luke, our most apprehensive child, but he didn't hesitate once, even when we were on the highest platform for the last line.

For this tour, we had to go on a short hike through the woods to get on one line, then that connected to a second line, which dropped us off in a field.  We did that three times, with the even-numbered lines all being on the same tree, and each one higher than the last, until our final descent was from 70 feet high.

Eliza on the test line

Ben arriving from Duck Walk (100 ft long)

Luke arriving at the field from Poultree (650 feet long)

Jack got a little help from our guide arriving on Round Robin (430 feet)

Me coming down Round Robin - this was my favorite line because I couldn't
see the end when I started, so it was just a fun surprise soaring through the trees.

Sawyer was nervous when he was faced with the lines that went down to the field.
This was Little Dipper, the second platform on this tree, about 45 feet high.
He ended up going down tethered to the guide, and he and Andy decided that was enough for the day.

Lying down on the platform of Little Dipper (while tethered to the tree, of course)

Cat on the last canopy line: The Gap, 300 feet long

A beautiful view from the final platform: Big Dipper, 70 feet high

So proud of and excited for this guy!

We only had a few minutes of transition time before we needed to head into town to get some dinner, since we were all quite ready to eat by that point.  After dinner and a grocery store run, we finally saw our treehouse and got moved in.  It was a bit of an ordeal bringing our bags up 72 steps to the 47-feet high Majestree house we'd booked, but using the pulley system helped!  The older three kids slept in the loft of the treehouse that night, while Luke was on the floor on the main level with us.

I think this swing was Luke's favorite thing on the property.

The loft in Andy's treehouse