2011 was good to me. I expect the same from 2012...

Sure there were some ups and some downs. But there were more ups than downs in 2011...

And to ring out the old year and ring in the new, Rebel and I headed to his hometown of Crescent City, CA. We left on Friday under somewhat stormy skies and were immediately greeted on the road by this...

Starting to snow...

Snowing a little bit harder...

It's really coming down now...

But it made everything look so beautiful...

And then it was clear skies on the other side of the pass...

We had packed for the long weekend by bringing every waterproof layer we owned. It turned out we didn't need it. It was gorgeous weather the whole time we were there.

On Saturday we went down to the harbor to check out the sights and the ocean...

The Sea Lions were happy to see us...

We remember the ocean...

Rebel and his mom climbing up the rock...

Rebel Sr. checking out the view from the top...

It's a long way down...

Rebel and his dad...

The girls posing on the top...

This is great, mom...

Me and the pups...

The whole fam (minus the equine)...

After that, it was off to see the giant Redwoods. They were amazing to see...

Those trees are HUGE...

Mom, we don't like it here...

It's dark and scary...

And this tree above us is huge...

Rebel and Noelle had fun climbing on the trees...

Look, mom. I'm high up...

Yeah, I'm not going up there...

Can you see me now, mom?

What's wrong with my foot?

Never mind. It's fine...

That's a long way up there...

Trying to get a good photo...

Getting pictures of Noelle on her perch...

Standing in front of the biggest tree I've ever seen...

There's a hole in this one...

There's still a hole in this one...

After that beautiful hike in the forest, we were off to the beach...

I'm on the bbbbbeeeeeeaaaaaaaacccccccchhhhhhhh...

 

Getting up the dune is a lot of work...

That's why I'm not going up there...

Pet me, damn it...

Fine. I'm outta here...

And then we took a drive through Deliverance. Can you here the banjos? I can...

After all that, we were too tired to stay up until midnight. Although the thoughtful neighbors next door made sure we didn't miss it by firing off guns and something that sounded like a canon. There was a small smooch right around midnight :)

The next day we took a drive up the river...

And then we drove up to Brookings for some good pizza. Our day finished with a beautiful sunset over the ocean. It reminded me of Lincoln City...

It was a great mini-vacation and a perfect way to kick of 2012. Here's to a great new year...