Day 2 - Crescent City to Mill Valley, California

What an AWESOME day!!!! Did I say today was AWESOME???

When we started out, it was foggy. I was sure we were going to have problems. This is the beach on Hwy 101 coming out of Crescent City. Beautiful, but foggy.

We hit patches of blanketing fog throughout the early morning, but it did finally clear up. Just in time to see these random golden bear statues on the bridge abutments in the middle of nowhere. One on each corner.

Then, we made it to the Avenue of the Giants! They were AMAZING! The fog had mostly lifted, and it was just beautiful. Back in 1982, I camped with friends somewhere in the Redwood Forest. I don't remember them striking me with such awe back then. Maybe we just weren't in the right place. Just for perspective, this wasn't the largest tree we saw.

I couldn't reach the top of this downed log.

And, Bruce had room to spare in this hollowed out spot in the tree.

I love the way some of the trees had bark that had buckled up into different designs. Some that we drove by looked like they had faces on them. I was just waiting for them to start talking to us.

And, just because I like pix from the ground to the top of the trees - This one is a very long way up!!

And, just so you're aware, the trees have the right-of-way up here. They grow so close to the road, and if they start encroaching on the roadway, the white line just gets drawn around them! Did I say this was AWESOME!!

We even drove through a couple of them. This is the Shrine Tree. Yes, it is still alive, and most of the separation is natural.

Now, I'm going to try to post video of us driving through the tree. This is my first time posting video on here, so wish me luck. I have learned something today. Video doesn't view well sideways, and unlike pix, I can't just rotate it when I get it on the computer! Sorry about the beginning, but I do eventually have to rotate the camera and bring it inside the truck. If you listen closely, you can hear when we scraped the mirror on the tree!

The guy had carved some treehouses out of some logs. Bruce was happy to take a break in one of them! Look at that smile!!

We were having so much fun, we decided to cook our own lunch instead of stopping to eat! The defroster works great, except for cooking frozen burritos. Good thing I had already nuked them before we left!!

This is me in a hollow log at the Chandelier Tree (another drive-through tree - not nearly as cool as the Shrine Tree in my opinion)

We finally made it to CA-1, the Pacific Coast Highway! Beautiful views! The Pacific is still my favorite Ocean! Sorry, East Coast and Gulf folks.

We stopped in Ft. Bragg (not the military base) to visit Glass Beach. Glass Beach used to be a dump. Over the years, the ocean has smoothed and polished the broken glass into little pebbles. I was expecting it to be more colorful and for the glass area to cover more of the beach. People were going there picking up the glass. Normally, I would be all for picking up broken glass off the beach, but these are a little bit different.

Then, we headed back inland toward Highway 101, through wine country (We'll hit that more in depth some other time. Might need a designated driver! Any volunteers?)

The stickers on the window are starting to build up, and we're just getting started!

Can't wait to start again tomorrow!