The Avenue of the Giants

Saturday, May 26th – We left the Mendocino area driving north on Hwy 1 and Hwy 101. It really feels like the start of this next part of our ‘adventure’. All along the way, today, I took some time to tuck the kids, and my family, and thoughts of home into that special part of my heart where they stay and are cherished, but where I can make room for the travels ahead of us without feeling so torn……

A couple of notes……We are traveling well. The camper is comfortable, and much nicer than the pop-up was, now that we are in the damp and cool Northwest. We are looking forward to seeing how much better we can handle the Alaska weather, this time around.

Jade is fine, and apart from just ‘being a dog’, she really is little trouble. She might even be just about the best dog we could  have for traveling.

Oh - We got a new ‘toy’ while at Laura’s....a Kindle from Amazon. Actually, Fred and I each got one.  Fred was reading through so many books that we were stopping to buy more and running out of room to store them. While at Laura’s, we downloaded a number of books, and they don’t take up any room! The perfect solution for travel! I still like my ‘reference’ books in book form, but we can read any number of other books without stopping to buy more. : )

Along our drive, today, we detoured down the “Avenue of the Giants”, or what used to be the old Hwy 101, to get our first look at the giant redwoods.

It is hard to imagine the size of these redwoods……

The Coast Redwoods  only grow in a narrow band along the Pacific coast of California and southwest Oregon. They are in the same family as the Giant Sequoias that grow on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The Giant Sequoias are thicker, but the Coast Redwoods are taller, growing to almost 380 ft. Standing next to them, the redwoods seem impossibly wide and tall!

We stopped along the Avenue of the Giants for several ‘famous’ log houses…..This One Log House was crafted from a single log.

The room is 7 feet high and 32 feet long……And the gift shop serves a fairly delicious Mocha.   : )

The Eternal Tree House is a 20 foot room hollowed out of a living redwood tree.

I could picture living here…….Just needs a bit of fixing up…..   ;- )

We drove on through the Redwoods National Park and are staying at the northern end at Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park.

This campground is nestled in amongst the giant redwoods. Our campsite has a secluded feeling…..underneath the trees and surrounded by ferns that must be at least 4 feet tall. The undergrowth is lush and green.

Giant stumps from the clear cutting of the virgin timber in the 1920’s dot the campground. It is damp and cool and shady underneath the redwoods, and green moss grows on everything……One could easily feel closed in….yet I would describe the feeling as being protected……or sheltered…..Certainly a sense of experiencing the redwoods.

We will be here 3 nights, then we will be working our way up the Oregon/Washington coast, stopping a few nights in each place.