Travel close to home. There could be more than what meets the eye in a cheap way. I found this out with my children and driving a vehicle that is great on gas in Northern California.

"Where are we going?" my daughter asked on a fine sunny Sunday morning.

"Oh, we are going to Crescent City." I replied.

"What's in Crescent City, Mom?" my son asked.

"Lots of things," I replied, " like the beaches, parks, pool, aquarium, kites and a lighthouse."

I rushed them to get them cleaned and dressed. We drove up the coast for 90 minutes from Eureka to reach Crescent City. The last 15 minutes was filled with awesome sights of the rocky beaches, which were approximately 100 feet below where we stood. The scenery was breath taking if you love the beach. Standing close to the edge of the cliff adds a different perspective in heights and mortality but looking at the horizon, one can witness the open space and a vast body of water with the wind blowing across your face. The sun can be quite warm but the wind cold but crisp. During our journey north, we encountered Roosevelt Elk herd that sat in front of the historical little Red Schoolhouse. We stopped the car and roamed around the area but stayed within car distance to watch the elk interact for a few minutes. How often do you encounter an elk in the wild with no one shooting at it for game?

As we traveled further north, the more Redwood trees we pasted. The scenery was awesome. Nothing is more breath taking than traveling through thousands of giant Redwood trees. The winding roads created some motion sickness, which was an excuse to stop the car, get out and stretch a bit. We hiked a short trail from the road so that my son and daughter could burn off the energy that they had built up while being cooped in the car. We drove a long distance, which was something that they weren't prepared for in any way. As their tummies grumbled, we rolled back into the car and cruised out of the forest. Within minutes, we were welcomed by a panoramic view of ocean and sand. There was a huge area of sand, seagulls, and surfers. These surfers with long boards wore wet suites because the cold north pacific waters and the biting freezing ocean air. Watching the surfers of all ages, race, and gender in their wet suits and riding the waves, there were people flying their kites not too far away from the surfers. The beach was busy with people but not enough to deter us from walking along the beach and enjoying our time.

After playing on the beach, we drove a little further and reached our destination, which was the aquarium. This aquarium costs some money but it was well worth it. They had an entertaining tour host who described the different little creates in the hands-on tide pools of starfish, anemones, and rocks. There was also a guided tour of the aquarium with a leopard shark touch tank and the sea loin show with a charming trainer who lead the sea lions to do all sorts of fun tricks. The gift shop had tons of unusual items worth perusing through, just tried not to knock any glass items down.

The best part was that we spent way less than $100 for a family of four to eat lunch, visit the aquarium, purchase souvenirs plus gasoline. However, everything else was free and making memories was indeed, priceless.

Learn more about this author, Ruby Diamond.
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