We had set our alarms for 6 this morning. So much for that. It was warm in the sleeping bags! We wanted to leave kind of early, but then remembered that it wasn't that far to tonight's stop on the other side of the park. So we took our time packing up and went to Starbucks (again!) to catch up on everything. Then it was off to get some duct tape. That's how we do things. Duct tape fixes everything. And I can tape Dawn's mouth shut with it later if I need to! Better watch out, hopefully she doesn't have the same idea...
Then it was off to Redwood National Park. The park is a straight drive on 101. We took a few detours along the way. The first was to a little trail, that didn't lead to very much, since it was super foggy. It was supposed to be a coastal look-out trail, but we could hardly see the beach. Unfortunately, or fortunately, the fog burned off later in the day. So, from there, we kept driving, and decided to stop at another trail, which led to some huge trees. We took a picture with one- our arm span didn't even come close to the width of the tree- and this was only a stump... We kept going, and stopped at "The Big Tree", which they sort of memorialized, because back in the early 1900s, when the loggers wanted to knock it down, and someone wanted to make a dance floor on top of the stump, some wealthy people decided that was enough and wanted to protect it, along with others. We took a short trail, that was supposed to be a loop, but wasn't. It was muddy, so we didn't continue. We walked back and took the trail that was actually a loop. We posed with some more trees, and Robyn laid down on one of them. Now she thinks it's an even score. (I don't know if I'd say it's quite even. One jumped out at me and my camera and hit me in the mouth...Redwood:1.5, Hudaks:1) From there, we kept going, and were headed to an information center. We got there and it wasn't anything special, just a kiosk, so we kept driving. The center was supposed to be near herds of elk, but we didn't see any there. We kept going, and there was a sign that said to turn the radio to hear elk information. We did, and as we were listening, we saw a whole herd of elk grazing. It was really neat. There were tons of them in the area. That was the only herd we saw. We kept driving, and went over a bridge that had golden bear statues at the beginning and end, and there were tons of people looking over the edge. Since it was so crowded, we decided not to stop, but probably should have. We're thinking that there might have been some bears there, but kind of hoping not, because then we missed our chance to see them. We did finally stop at a Visitor's Center, and got our obligatory map and postcards. To bad it was at the other side of the park and we were leaving. The bird almost pooped on our head. That would have been most unfortunate. However, we did learn the difference between Coastal Redwoods (the trees here) and Giant Sequoias farther down the state. Redwoods are taller and (supposedly) skinnier, while Sequoias are wider. If these are the skinny trees, I can only imagine what the fat ones look like! Maybe we can make it out there to see them...
After the park, it was time to head for camp. We put the address in our GPS, but as we were driving down, we saw the sign for it. We almost missed it. Anyway, we set up camp, made some plans, and there's supposed to be a big bonfire across the way from us. It's off to San Francisco tomorrow!
Showing posts with label Redwood National Park. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Redwood National Park. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Day Thirty-Nine: Redwood Tree: 1, Robyn's Car: 0
We left pretty early today since it was supposed to be an eight-hour drive down to California today, and we figured that we would probably need a few extra hours, knowing how we like to get lost. The ride was pretty uneventful for the first two hours. Until we got to Eugene. For those of you don't know, Eugene is the home to the University of Oregon, and is nicknamed "Track Town USA." Hayward Field is where they have the USA Championships and Olympic Trials. Well, it was closed for resurfacing, but as wanna-be runners these days, we had to stop and get some pictures of it! The school is pretty cool. The buildings are huge and look pretty fancy. Their stadium would eat all of Central. After driving around the school, we got back on the road out to the Oregon shore.
It was about another 2 hours out to the shore. We passed through Linn County, which boasts being the "Grass Seed Capital of the World." The spot where we met 101 was the Oregon Dunes Recreational Area. These weren't any dunes. They were HUGE! I mean, like building height. We stopped at some of the viewpoints along the way to see the Pacific Ocean. It's neat to see the difference in the northern Pacific and the Atlantic. The Pacific is so much rockier. There are all kinds of rocks sticking out of the water. And it's definitely chillier here than at home. It's a very comfortable 60 degrees out.
We finally got out of Oregon and into California! They have border patrol where we crossed. The ranger asked if we had any live plants or fresh fruits or vegetables. Well, luckily they didn't check the car or anything, because I totally forgot that we had oranges. Shhh... Don't tell anyone! I'm not sure what they were looking for, but in other states, they have signs about how you can't bring things in from one place to another. In Washington, you can't transport apple trees from one part of the state to another because of apple maggots (gross) and in Wyoming, they had watercraft checks. Interesting, too, that you can't bring fresh fruits, vegetables, or live plants into Canada. Wonder what California is worried about... We also passed through Smith River, the "Easter Lily Capital of the World." These small towns will brag about anything! Like Mitchell, SD and their corn palace!
We got to the campground for the night. It is right on 101. Great area. It looks like an area out of Jurassic Park, with huge trees and all the ferns. Kind of like the rainforests in Washington. That's where the fun started. Apparently when they tell you that a road is a dead-end, you shouldn't try to drive through it anyway. Luckily I have a small enough car that I was able to get around the posts telling you not to go that way (my co-pilot didn't foresee to tell me that it was supposed to be a dead-end. Well, we got almost all the way through... Didn't see the small-ish branch sticking out of the stump on the side. It jumped out at me! Luckily, there isn't much damage to it. I think when we stop at Wal-Mart to get some duct tape, bright pink will look fantastic on the gray. Maybe I can find a color that kind of matches...
(Just noticed that the guy in the corner is wearing cut-off jean shorts that are cut so high you can see the pockets...)
Life is a Highway Pictures updated: 8/3/11
States Visited: California, Connecticut, Idaho,Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New York, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming (15/50)
It was about another 2 hours out to the shore. We passed through Linn County, which boasts being the "Grass Seed Capital of the World." The spot where we met 101 was the Oregon Dunes Recreational Area. These weren't any dunes. They were HUGE! I mean, like building height. We stopped at some of the viewpoints along the way to see the Pacific Ocean. It's neat to see the difference in the northern Pacific and the Atlantic. The Pacific is so much rockier. There are all kinds of rocks sticking out of the water. And it's definitely chillier here than at home. It's a very comfortable 60 degrees out.
We finally got out of Oregon and into California! They have border patrol where we crossed. The ranger asked if we had any live plants or fresh fruits or vegetables. Well, luckily they didn't check the car or anything, because I totally forgot that we had oranges. Shhh... Don't tell anyone! I'm not sure what they were looking for, but in other states, they have signs about how you can't bring things in from one place to another. In Washington, you can't transport apple trees from one part of the state to another because of apple maggots (gross) and in Wyoming, they had watercraft checks. Interesting, too, that you can't bring fresh fruits, vegetables, or live plants into Canada. Wonder what California is worried about... We also passed through Smith River, the "Easter Lily Capital of the World." These small towns will brag about anything! Like Mitchell, SD and their corn palace!
We got to the campground for the night. It is right on 101. Great area. It looks like an area out of Jurassic Park, with huge trees and all the ferns. Kind of like the rainforests in Washington. That's where the fun started. Apparently when they tell you that a road is a dead-end, you shouldn't try to drive through it anyway. Luckily I have a small enough car that I was able to get around the posts telling you not to go that way (my co-pilot didn't foresee to tell me that it was supposed to be a dead-end. Well, we got almost all the way through... Didn't see the small-ish branch sticking out of the stump on the side. It jumped out at me! Luckily, there isn't much damage to it. I think when we stop at Wal-Mart to get some duct tape, bright pink will look fantastic on the gray. Maybe I can find a color that kind of matches...
(Just noticed that the guy in the corner is wearing cut-off jean shorts that are cut so high you can see the pockets...)
Life is a Highway Pictures updated: 8/3/11
States Visited: California, Connecticut, Idaho,Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New York, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming (15/50)
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