LAND OF GIANTS!

Sonoma & Redwoods

Our next major stop was the Redwoods!

We headed north on 101 and cruised through Sonoma.  Since we were doing a lot of driving and wanted to make it to the Redwoods with time to explore we didn’t do a tour of a lot of vineyards – but we did stop at one.  We stopped at the Jaxon Keys Winery - their wine was really good and the woman leading the tasting was really friendly, she had traveled a lot and we had a long talk about all the places we’d been.  We got a nice bottle of Cabernet and got back in the car.

We had tried to make reservations at campsites in any of the state or national Redwood parks but they all seemed rained out – rangers told us most sites were under several inches of water (and the forecast was not looking like it was in our favor: rain, rain and more rain).  We got a motel 6 in Arcata for the night -  just north of Eureka, it was nicely situated in the middle of all the parks.

The tourist traps start right as you enter Redwood country – and it’s hard to resist a lot of them.  Oddly enough, the area seems full of a retro-believe-it-or-not vibe:  giant paul bunion and babe the blue ox, a giant shoe house (of the old woman with too many children fame), Curiosity Hill with a house that “defies gravity,” etc.  Our guess is that the giant size of the redwoods and the magical, surreal feel of the area inspired that development.  Not sure though, thoughts?

There are also a lot of marvels created out of the trees – tree houses built in old giant tree trunks, the “single log house,” the “amazing chimney tree,” and several drive through trees.  Almost all of these things are right on 101 and you can see them as you drive by –except the drive thru tree – we, of course, HAD to stop and drive through one!  The first one we passed was the Chandelier Tree –it’s said to be about 2400 years old.  Our sears x-cargo made the car about an inch too tall to drive through – but we did get to pull in, take a photo and then back out.

We then hit Humbolt State Park which is home of the Avenue of the Giants – an amazing scenic drive through groves of some of the tallest Coastal Redwoods.   Aside from a hail storm right as we entered “redwood country” the weather held out for the two days we were here and we stopped a lot along the Avenue, walked some of the trails and marveled at these most amazing creations (and hugged them).  We’re not done with the trip yet – but I think the Redwood are the most amazing thing we’ve seen.  They are just spectacular – and the forests feel so spiritual and alive.

That night, on Greg’s recommendation we ate at the Lost Coast Brewery in Eureka – if you’re ever passing through you should stop by: good food and great beer!

The next day we went on more hikes through the redwoods and then made our way up to Oregon!

banana slug! 

the corkscrew tree

You can look at more photos here – we tried to get one of us in most of the shots so the scale would come across – there are some we didn’t, just know, they were all pretty huge.