Crescent City to Redway, California

Today we managed 160 miles so we are slowly but surely making our way to San Francisco.  It was real foggy this morning when we left Crescent City but, being the adventuresome type, we thought we'd stop at the beach anyway.  Even though it was foggy, the particular place we decided to stop wasn't too bad.

We had a nice walk here though.  The sand was a dark gray here.  It's been interesting how the sand is different colors in different areas.  This sand is real fine.  It doesn't stick like the Gulf sand does either.

I loaded my pictures on the computer last night before we went to eat.  We ate at a seafood place in the harbor, next to these guys.  They are the ones we could hear INSIDE our motel room!  I'm thinking the gray one in front is a seal and the others are sea lions.  The others sure didn't want him in their group!  He went over the side after I took the pictures and never did get back up on the dock.  

Back to today....We started out at the Trees of Mystery in the Redwood Forest.  We walked the trail and saw some huge, beautiful redwoods.  It's so hard to capture the massive size of these trees.  Some we saw today are listed in the Ripley's Believe It Or Not.  At the halfway point or so, we got on a gondola and rode up 1/3 of a mile to 750 feet.  It was cool looking down on the huge trees!

                                              Here's Conrad playing in one of the trees.

                                                  The trees have interesting shapes.

                    These trees are probably 200 feet tall but the pictures just can't show it.

This was taken from our gondola, either going up or coming down.  It was so cool to see these trees from the top, looking down.

Yep, that's me driving through the tree.  It seemed like a snug fit with this little car but they say all standard cars, vans and pickups can get through.  The tree is approximately 735 years old.  The opening is 7'4" wide and 9'6" high.  Very touristy, huh?

                             Conrad is standing next to part of a root from a redwood tree.

I'm having internet problems again tonight so I can't load any more pictures.  It's taken and hour and a half to get this much.  The place we are staying is in the boonies.  It's a motel/campground/RV park.  We have no cell service here.  The lady told us that sometimes Verizon will work but AT&T never does.  

Before I quit, I want to tell you that we ate lunch near Eureka, CA at the Samoa Cookhouse.  It is the last cookhouse in the west and has been serving meals for over 105 years.  The food was served family style.  They had rows of tables so you might be eating with strangers.  The food was wonderful.  Today they were serving Beef and Rice Soup, Salad, Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Corn, Baked Beans and Cake.  We really enjoyed it and they also had a lumber museum there.  

We also found another cheese factory but it wasn't near as interesting as the one in Tillamook.

After lunch we drove through the Avenue of the Giants.  It's a 31-mile drive through the Redwoods.  It was such a beautiful drive.  The worst part was that the locals drive it like maniacs!  The speed limit was 55 mph but it was almost too fast to go 40 mph.  Two vehicles that passed me were lucky they didn't hit someone head-on.  They passed on a double yellow line on a curve.  It was nerve-wracking.  We tried to pull over whenever anyone got behind us.

I'll add more pictures tomorrow night.  Right now it's bedtime for this tired girl!  Excited about seeing Brent and Jackie TOMORROW!!  Unfortunately, Brent has to work late tomorrow night but we'll spend some time with Jackie.  

Night night!