After being in Wisconsin for a few days (for the “homecoming” of Brett Favre & the Vikings to Lambeau to play Green Bay on 11/1), I flew in to San Francisco on Friday November 6. I got to stay the night with my aunt and uncle in Clayton, CA before they kicked me out on Saturday morning (ok, not really, but we’ll pretend). I picked up a rental and set off for Northern CA, via Sonoma. Sadly, I didn’t take any pictures in wine country but it sure was beautiful.
Once I got out of the valley, the landscape began to change. The people started changing as well. 
I saw many beat-up Chevy vans with curtains – you know – the kind used by child molesters, hippies, and serial killers. There were also many hitchhikers.
Along the way, I detoured slightly off the main highway (101) onto Avenue of the Giants, in the vicinity of Humboldt Redwoods State Park. It was starting to get dark so I had to zoom through pretty quick (and no pictures!!!) but it was lovely, and it was my introduction to the beautiful redwoods that I would get to enjoy for the rest of the trip! The Avenue of the Giants was originally part of 101 until they built the bypass (current 101) – the road was very narrow and they obviously could not widen it because of the big trees.
My destination for the night was Eureka, CA, a cute little town on the northern coast. In the lumber heyday, towns like Eureka had massive lumber mills. Many of the buildings are Victorian – wood and ornately decorated. My Aunt Jo had told me about a microbrewery up there, so I went to check it out: Lost Coast Brewery. Loved the beer, loved the food! It was a great find. “Lost Coast” is the nickname for the area, as the topography of the area prevented state highways and interstates from being constructed and the region is generally undeveloped. That is what makes it beautiful!
Eight Ball Stout Beef Stew….yum:
The next morning, it was time to head for Oregon, stopping in Redwoods National Park along the way. It was a great drive along the ocean – where there were tons of warning signs about deadly waves (and tsunamis).
Tall tress…
Looking out over tons of Redwoods – it was lovely – and it smelled like Christmas! This vista was off an old logging road. I was shocked to learn that the redwoods aren’t considered endangered. I just assumed that they were fragile but that is not the case. There were many areas where groves of trees had been harvested (off the National and State park lands) and where new redwoods had been planted.
Resident elk heard appeared out of nowhere. There’s so many of them, and not much you can do when they are in the street.
Big tree, little me. I believe this is in one of the State parks near Redwoods National Park – on the west side of 101.
You’ll get dizzy trying to look for the tops of them.
This is Klamath Overlook. The mouth of the Klamath River and its sandspit, as well as the coastline to the south, are visible from this point.
Next, I headed up to Crescent City, CA to Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. It was probably my favorite of all the redwoods parks, because it is the least developed and more serene. The following photos are from the 12 mile drive called Howland Hill Road – which is 12 miles of dirt/gravel/mostly one lane through old growth redwoods. This was probably one of the most beautiful areas in the world. The sun was going down, it was beginning to get dark, so that really added to the spookiness of the forest (and it also meant that there were few other vehicles).
I stopped off for a few minutes to walk a loop trail – the trees seemed much bigger here – and I’ll be quite honest, Thank God it was a loop because you could easily get lost back there.
My favorite picture of the forest!! Ewok scenes from Star Wars were filmed in this forest.
I made it back to 101 and up to Oregon….in time for the sunset! This is somewhere between Gold Beach and Port Orford.
A little farther north, and the sun was on it’s way down….nothing like a Pacific sunset.
Sunday night I stayed the night Port Orford, OR, at the Compass Rose B&B. My hosts were Karen and Doug and they were excellent. Since it was a Sunday night in the off season, I had the whole house to myself. Doug was a WONDERFUL chef, I had a great vegetable frittata and homemade oatmeal (?) scones. They are also friends with a cranberry farmer, so I had some fresh cranberry juice, along with some homemade cranberry biscotti. I really enjoyed my time with them and I hope to return to Port Orford for a longer stay in the future!
Dinner @ Hard Rain in Port Orford. It’s a bakery but they make the BEST pizza crust.
…to be continued…
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