Otter Trot/Santa Cruz Camping

Addison and his friend Jaden ran the Otter Trot this year. It's the kid's race that is associated with the Big Sur Marathon. Addison ran it last year and had a lot of fun. Tom and I, and our friend Micah (Jaden's dad) ran along, too. We had lots of fun, even though it started out a little chilly!

Just before the race.

I love this picture. He looks so happy to be out running!

Look at those long-haired boys!

After the race, we drove up to the Santa Cruz mountains to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. It was the first national park in California, and has lots and lots of, you guessed it, redwoods. They still freak me out as much as they did when I was 15. They are so big. When I look up and get to the point where I think they should stop, that's where I start feeling a little dizzy and scared. Really weird, but seriously they make me nervous. It was really sunny in Santa Cruz, but because of how tall the trees are and how many of them there are, it never really gets super warm as it's always so shady! We set up our tent and had lunch and then headed out on a hike.

Santa Cruz is famous for having a lot of banana slugs. In fact, the banana slug is UC Santa Cruz's mascot. I had never seen one, and before we even got out of our camp, Addison spotted one. In my opinion, they are pretty disgusting. My friend's daughter went to a science camp where they learned that if you kiss a banana slug, your lips will go numb, and all the kids at the camp tried it. Addison, thought about it....

But, decided not to.

The following are a lot of pictures of us in trees...

Addison in a tree.

Addison and Mom in a tree.

Addison and Tom in a tree.