Day 29: The Redwood Coast

Getting from Santa Rosa to Pt. Arena (where Gail hoped to see whales) required a long drive on a roller coaster two lane road through the mountains. But it was really beautiful up there, with redwoods abounding.

Once on the coast (we saw no whales) we were again treated to a coastline that bedazzles with its ever-changing scenery from the cliffs high above or from the beach. There isn't much "beach" to speak of on the CA coast. The mountains literally stop at the surf line here. Rivers run down from the mountains into the ocean, and where they do there is an abundance of driftwood, washed down from the forests. The skies were blue today and the Pacific was as well. And again, the surf was impressive.

Hwy 1 can be scary. In many places there is no shoulder at all, and if you cross the white line on the side you meet Jesus after plunging 500 or more feet below to the ocean. Really. I heartily recommend taking this trip from south to north so that you're driving on the east side of the road.

When you stop at the pump in CA you pay big time. But, for the first time in the coastal town of Ft. Bragg we found gas under $3/gallon at $2.96. It's $3.17 in Fortuna, where we're spending the night.

Leaving the coast we followed Hwy 1 inland, again going back over the mountains and connecting with Hwy 101 at Leggett. That's where the sign "World Famous Drive thru Redwood" caught our attention. Why not? So we paid the $5 and drove the Toyota through the tree a couple of times.

From there we got back on 101 and took it to "The Avenue of the Giants", a 30+ mile winding road along the Eel River through forests of ginormous redwoods. They literally lined the roadway, close enough that if you weren't careful you'd leave yor car's color on them. The are so impressive. Tomorrow we'll travel north a bit more and see another park full of them.

We've changed our plans a bit and won't be venturing into Oregon to the north. There's really nothing up there we're dying to see, so after the redwoods tomorrow we'll head east to the Mt. Shasta/Lassen area. Big mountains and snow! There we'll be visiting with my college mentor Gordon Luff and his family.

Gail here - before we left for this trip, I had a list of things/places that I wanted to see and do. Today I got to see those huge redwoods, so big that you could drive your car through, and we did! Check that off my list!