Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Day 8: California & Redwood National Park

Today was a sad day for us. Leaving Oregon, was unexpectedly sad and disappointing. I thought originally we'd be excited to get to California, but Oregon was truly amazing. Our little cabin was so awesome, we didn't leave til checkout time at 11 a.m. We tried to relax and soak it all in.

When we got in the car, Klay told me he had a song for me...Can anyone guess what it was? If you thought "On the road again," you were right on the money! I guess he got tired of singing and decided to let Willie Nelson do it for him--or at least thats what he said.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag3w0MS6wv0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3]



We decided to stop off at one last beach right before the Oregon/California state line.

We ended up spending an hour just walking along the beach with the dogs and picking up white rocks along the shoreline. It was nice and relaxing, and I knew that when leaving the stunning Oregon coast I'd be sad.



We got to California without a hitch and with Oregon behind us, I figured I'd focus on our excitement for Redwood National Park.

We stopped at a Redwoods visitor center to get some more info and directions on nice paths to take, so we'd know exactly where to go. When we got to our first path, our immediate reaction to the redwoods was: "Whoa." Here's why (see the pics!)...

These trees can get up to 361 feet and 25 feet wide (according to Klay; he's the one that remembers). So they really are giants.



Majority of our day we spent driving through the parks gazing at these gigantic beauties. While driving in through the parks, we passed a ton of wild elk.



So the destination for today's trip was for Fort Bragg, CA to spend the night and it was a horrible idea.

By the time we were almost to Fort Bragg it was pitch black and I was driving.

We turned off to Hwy 1 which took us down the curviest, swerviest, ridiculous road ever. It took an hour just to get 30 miles. We were running low on gas (which I was slightly worried about) and I couldn't see anything. I have a tendency to hit deer, or they like to run it to me (that's the way I like to think), so it was crazy scary for me!



But we made it to Fort Bragg just fine. I'd looked up places to stay in that area and found what I THOUGHT was a nice place (it had a spa). Boy, was I wrong! We still stayed, but had a horrible night sleep. Glad to leave in the AM!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dvqLjV6zYg&w=560&h=349]

Stay tuned for more "From the Road..."

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2 comments:

  1. I'll be in the Redwoods in two weeks! Arcata, CA here I come (for my brothers graduation!) Loving the updates!

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  2. Yay!!! How exciting! Something to look forward to!

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