We left our nice Fairgrounds campsite around 3pm Sunday and felt like we were heading into a vast uncharted wilderness. We had left the big cities behind and ahead were no Walmarts! We made it to a nice casino parking lot near Laytonville for the night. Mary Lou found another new friend! The pretty mountain views are still awesome to us, but they are changing from the grassy hills studded with oaks to heavily forested mountains. As you can see, this was a cloudy, rainy day. Administrative note: We have agreed that the GPS lady is a better navigator, so Mary Lou is Windshield Photographer, Tour Guide, and Bombardier. As Co-Pilot, she also drives a lot, but doesn't get behind the wheel! If that keeps up, she may become Tail-Gunner. As we entered the redwood country, we took a side road that paralleled Hwy 101, called 'Avenue of the Giants'. This took us into a heavily forested stand of HUGE redwood trees. These trees can grow to 300 feet tall, and some are reported to be over 2000 years old! We found a fallen monster that really illustrates how big these are. Notice the bark of these trees can be 6 inches thick. A popular attraction of this area are trees that can have a car driven through them. There are only 3 of them left and cutting a 'tunnel' through them is no longer allowed. The 3 are all on private property and a small fee is charged. The first one we stopped at was closed, and the second one is pictured below. We chose not to disconnect the Jeep to drive it through. But we got the idea. At this location, there were also a couple of 'tree houses'. The larger one had a bookshelf with books carved in the wall inside, plus a very small staircase going to the 2 floor. We were too big to go up there. The books and shelf. The little steps go up the the right. Sorry it's not a better picture. Chainsaw 'art' is all around here. Whoever has the chainsaw repair and sharpening business must be making a bundle. On our way up the coast, we stopped for a short tour around Eureka, a small fishing village. Apparently this place is known for it's number of Victorian style homes. The one below was built in 1883 by a lumber magnate. You might think the flowers below are Texas bluebonnets, but nooooo... they are lupin! We encountered more redwoods north of Eureka. We attempted to do some measuring on the one below and we estimate it to be about 40 feet around, which makes it over 12 feet in diameter. These 'new friends' were at a tourist 'attraction' along the way. Can you find Mary Lou? Incidentally, that's Paul Bunyan, the logger and Babe, the blue ox. Do the younger readers know about them? RVer's should associate the blue ox with the towing products of the same name. We finally made our way to Crescent City, near the Oregon border and parked at the local fairgrounds. This is a very nice coastal city with a lighthouse on a rock that can only be reached by land at low tide. The lighthouse keepers' family lives there. Beaches have a lot of driftwood on them, much of it from the large redwoods. This is a bleached out stump of unusual shape. Next appears to be a curved rock with a building nestled in the curve. That's exactly what it is! We talked with someone and were reminded that Crescent City had been in the national news lately. Anybody know why it was mentioned? It was the place hardest hit in the US by the tsunami that devastated Japan. The only real damage we saw was some boats sitting on blocks at the local shipyard. Anyway, here's a map of our travel to this point. California is a beautiful state, but we are looking forward to leaving it tomorrow. Oregon lies ahead. Stay tuned.
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Who Are We?
Chuck and Mary Lou have been traveling in their RV since 2002 and have lately been taking longer, extended trips. This is our way to share our experiences. Trip Reports
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