On the second day of Liam’s graduation weekend we were lucky enough to have the clouds part for a gloriously sunny day. I gather that that sort of thing is pretty rare on the northern California coast. At Liam’s request we went to check out Fern Canyon, which is a gorgeous watershed very close to the beach just north of Arcata, CA.
Of course, despite the fact that we all partied hard and went to bed at midnight (what?! that’s pretty late for a family with a bunch of toddlers!), our son decided to wake up at the crack of 6 am as usual.
Here he is, mad that we wouldn’t let him put his shoes on because they were soaked from the day before.
It was a really glorious morning.
Reading time with the cousins and Uncle Andrew.
This little girl just LOVES to be picked up and tossed by her Uncle. 🙂 Lots and lots and lots of laughing.
Bug and I went ladybug and buttercup hunting. Success on both counts. 🙂
And then we headed to Fern Canyon! It was a twisty, narrow road to the coast, then we drove through a few (LARGE) streams to get to the parking lot…but Fern Canyon itself was an extremely short walk into a mostly dry stream bed just covered with ferns (I know, shocking). I continued to try out my father-in-law’s 105mm macro lens and was so enamored that I purchased one for myself at the end of the trip. 🙂
The graduate himself! And also a panorama to give you an idea of how steep the walls of the canyon were.
Fern gametophyte? Or a liverwort? We’re going to go with the technical catch-all term: THALLUS.
My son has always got to find and hold sticks wherever we go. I believe he used these to “leafblow.”
And a beautiful double rainbow to mark the end of our trip. 🙂
Kristen Hazelton is an Oak Park, IL (Chicago, IL metro area) and Livermore, CA (San Francisco East Bay Area) senior, family, and engagement photographer. She occasionally photographs in San Diego, CA, Tucson, AZ, and Seattle, WA. You can inquire about your own photoshoot here!
