Coastal Driving

Because of slow internet in SF and the redwoods, I'm two days behind in blogging.  This is good and bad, as it's annoying that I'm not necessarily blogging about the things that are most vivid in my memory, but its also nice to remember.

We left San Francisco the morning of the 6th.  Making our way back to the airport from our hotel and then driving across the city was our challenge, and actually, it wasn't too bad.  We started early and were going to ride the BART system all the way back, but a cabi kindly and lucratively informed us that it was not running until 8:30.  Our car pickup time was scheduled for 7, and we didn't want to wait around for traffic to get bad...so we took the cab.  It was expensive, but also low in stress.  He took us directly where we needed to go.

Driving across the city was also uneventful and actually very easy.  It was early and no one was out.  The bridge was cold and foggy of course.

We drove the coast for 12 hours.  It was supposed to be about 7, but it took 12.  It was absolutely one of the most beautiful drives of my life though!  Its crazy, like driving from Garfield to Eureka (for those of you who know what that means ;) for 12 hours straight.  Hundreds of hairpin turns, just back and forth and back and forth.  We would get an incredible view of the ocean for about 5 minutes, then turn back into the forest.  Occasionally, and especially at the beginning of the trip, we kept driving past the smell of eucalyptus, and realized it was growing wild along the side of the road!  One of my favorite smells.  

At Mendosa we stopped for lunch and took some clam chowder for a picnic to look at the Pacific.

Jacket and hot clam chowder for a picnic in July.  Totally different weather than home!

This guy really really wanted to share our lunch.

We also stopped in Fort Bragg to check out the Glass Beach.  Basically, it was an old dump in the 1950's.  And now, the glass and metal that was dumped into the ocean, has been churned and churned into a beautiful, glistening carpet of sea glass.  It's a very unnasuming town and the area you park in is still industrial...you'd never find this gem unless you knew where to look.

A few of my favorites

 We also enjoyed the wildlife in Fort Bragg.  I made up a story about this squirrel, that she was the squirrel wife of a sailor squirrel who went away to sea and hadn't made it back yet.  She waits, patiently on this rock day in and day out, and someday, he will return.

Shortly past Fort Bragg, we turned inland toward the Redwoods.  The road was still crazy and Allen enjoyed his turn zooming and pretend racing through the forest until he made me car sick and I made him slow down.  

The first gigantic redwood we came to was this "treehouse."  Its a tree that was struck by lightening, but lived.  The burned out portion in the bottom was hollowed out by a woman in the 1930's.  She actually lived inside the tree and installed doors and windows.  We were so excited to have finally made it to the redwoods!

Past the treehouse we drove toward our cabin in Miranda.  The trees kept getting bigger and the woods thicker.  Miranda Gardens was our destination and we were not disappointed when we got there.  It is on the road called the "Avenue of the Giants." and several giants were right inside the complex.  Dissapointment did set in, however, when we realized just how remote we were and that there was no food to be found in the little town of Miranda at 7:00 PM on Sunday night unless we drove back 15 miles or forward 30.  WiFi was also extremely spotty, so researching a restaurant was difficult.  Luckily, we made the decision to go back, kicking ourselves for not stopping on the way...and found a little hamburger place that saved us!  We were starving.

I'm happy here!  I was turning into that person from the Snicker's commercial.  

Mmmmm! Food!