If You're Going to San Francisco

February 11, 2009 - So we left Eureka and headed south through the final bit of the redwood forest. The drive is through the last great stand of old growth redwoods in America. The old highway 101 winds 18 miles through 200ft + tall trees and is totally humbling. When you think that some of these trees have been standing/growing/surviving for over 600/700/800 years it truly is amazing. In the hopes of not standing up on my soap box too much and pontificating I will simply post some of our best pictures and give a few simple captions.

The last bit of the redwood forest snakes through Humboldt county, the home of meth heads and weed growers. When Sarah and I stopped in the town of Arcata we were truly "weirded" out but the people. I am guilty of sometimes painting the brush stroke too broad but this place is different. If it was not for the natural beauty of the surrounding area I don't think there would ever be a reason to go there.

As I said, 200ft + tall trees with a little highway cutting through the forest. Only bad part of the drive was that the sirius radio didn't get reception in the forest.

At this point in the trip we were looking forward to getting to SF, hence the picture. We were very lucky to get a sunny day while driving through the forest. Quick side note, we drove with the windows open most of the way and to describe this smell is simply put as fresh. For those that grew up outdoors the smell is unforgettable. think your childhood mixed with early spring practice mixed with fresh rain. Highlight of the trip without a doubt.

The tree that Sarah is standing in here is over 500 years old. It used to stand about 35 feet to the left of this picture. She is crouching down here but probably could have stood up straight had she wanted to. The point is these trees are HUGE!!!

About 14 miles into the Avenue of Giants drive you come upon the visitor center and this tree. I don't have a strong enough camera to take a picture that would capture both the size of this trunk and the name plates clearly so I will just tell you what some of them say. The tree began growing in 1148AD, the inner most tag says 1215AD the signing of the Magna Carta, and some of the more interesting tags highlight Columbus discovering America (1492), the Pilgrims land on Plymouth Rock (1620), and the declaration of Independence is signed (1776). What I am trying to say is that this tree is OLD and it was very cool that they had the tags posted on the cross section.

We are like any other tourist who drives the Avenue of the Giants so we drove through a tree. Enough said.

So after the Avenue of the Giants we put the pedal to the metal and cruised out to the original California highway, Highway 1. As soon as we hit the coast we pulled off the road for lunch and a little sun. I wish we had driven a little further but this spot was not bad. It sure beats every single lunch spot that the blog readers have. PS lunch was avocados and tuna, so good.

Just a few shots we took of Highway 1 as we drove down to Mendocino from Eureka. The road really does live up to its reputation.

California - The land of happy cows. This picture was too perfect not to put up. Just an FYI the reason this cow is so happy is because she lives directly on the ocean. Million dollar real estate for cows, what a world.

We finally got to Mendocino and when we pulled into town this rainbow burst out. We had been experiencing sun showers most of the afternoon and this was the leftover result. Simply amazing.

The afternoon we arrived in Mendocino we found a little pub along main street and sat down for a few beers/cocktails. We have found that this is the best method to find a place to sleep when we come into a new town. We go to the visitor/information center get some information on places to stay then head down to the pub to make calls and pick a place. We have been using this method for some time and it has proved to be successful.

While at the bar we found a dart board and Sarah played her first game. She put a great fight but in the end I prevailed. Here is the result from the game, it needed to be memorialized.

Our little Inn. Alegria, if you are in Mendocino we both highly recommend it.

The treehouse. Look how cute Sarah is up there on our private deck!

Yes that is a real wood burning fire in our room. I am the best fire maker, thanks Dad.

Sunset from our deck.

If you are in the bay area and you have a good weather day (anything other than rain/clouds) you have to get into a car and drive over the bridge and up to this lookout point. Make sure you take the road ALL the way up to get the best view. Alcatraz is in the background on the left, Oakland in the center background, the city in the center right background, and the red bridge across the center of the picture is the Golden Gate.

Looking back at this picture I really should have positioned my car better so the bridge was more visible. Next time I guess.

I think the new trend on the blog is posting really embarrassing pictures of myself like the one below. In my defense I have to say the picture taker (Sarah) could have told me I looked like a total tool in my pose.

I have shared the state line pictures with you all so here is our coozy collection to date. My favorite is the Beverage Babe coozy (red & white coozy stuck in the blue flag coozy). Sarah's doesn't have a favorite coozy yet but I am sure we will find her one.