This morning we headed west and south towards the California coast.

Sadly, we’ve missed four National Parks and Monuments thanks to the government shutdown.  The National Forests are closed as well:

We spent some time looking for a dispersed campsite near the coast and found one marginal candidate.  We continued on to Crescent City on the coast of northern California:

We walked down to the beach and looked back at the RV:

The local playground has a maritime theme:

At low tide, we were able to walk out to the local lighthouse which is on an island except at low tide when it becomes a peninsula.  The lighthouse was unfortunately closed for tours but it was still neat to see the grounds:

We explored the tidal pools and found a wonderful collection of anemones, starfish, crabs, fish, and hermit crabs.  We pulled a handful of hermit crabs out of the pools and placed them on a rock to watch them come out of their shells and crawl back into the water.

Looking back towards the lighthouse:

Tonight we’re staying at the Elk Valley Casino near Crescent City.  Trish gave us all haircuts tonight and for me she “accidentally” used the #2 fitting on the shaver instead on the #4 fitting, so I’m now ready to try out as an extra in the next GI Joe movie.

  See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.