Redwoods and California & Oregon Coasts

Santa Rosa, CA, where we spent the night is also the home of Charles Schultz, that one, and before he died he helped design a Charlie Brown museum. There are some pretty large cartoons there too.  We enjoy Peanuts and the characters and have for a long time.

And then on to Humboldt State Park and Awe Inspiring Redwood Forest. Just plain awesome. The Avenue of the Giants is just that.

A person does not feel "big" at all among these trees. And quiet, like very quiet, except for birds or a stream when close to one.

The coast was covered with fog all morning, but still quite a sight.

Further up the coast the cliffs and forest reaching the shore is stunning and so different from the North Carolina coast.

At the Klamath River we were disappointed that while down close to the river it was clear, near the mouth where the river meets the Pacific and up at the view point, it was completed fogged in with zero visibility.

Then is was on to the Prairie Creek State Park and another redwood forest. We alternately were on California 1 and US 101 on our trip and sometimes they were the same. We also left the highway to take routes through the parks.

This park has some of the largest trees in California and has a different flora on the floor of the forest as it has very large mature ferns.

One tree, imaginatively named "THE BIG ONE", is big. Patt and I are somewhat visible below in the splash of sunlight at the bottom of the tree. According to the information on the nameplate the tree is approximately 1,500 years old, 304 feet tall, 22 feet in diameter and 68 feet in circumference.

Parts of the Jurassic Park movies were filmed here. It is easy to see why.

The trees were an amazing experience to walk through and so awe inspiring that such grand things exist on this earth.

Then into Oregon, Patt's 49th state to visit, and more coastal highway. We had another hike along the coast with high winds and much cooler temperatures. The views of the shore were again beautiful.