We departed Crescent City, California at 7:45am to meet up with the Jones family in Eureka, California to drive the Avenue of the Giants. We arrived promptly at 9:45am and met them at a lovely coffee shop. What are the chances that both families were going to be in the same part of the country during spring break? Just so glad we were able to make this work. We grabbed some coffee and pastries before taking a stroll to look at their cute Airbnb apartment. We then jumped in the cars and followed them so they could show us the famous Carson Mansion. This mansion was built in 1886 by William Carson, one of Northern California’s first major lumber barons. It has since been a private club since 1950. The victorian architecture is awesome. But also looks like a set from a horror movie.
We then ventured down the 101 to the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. This is the world’s largest remaining contiguous old-growth forest of coastal redwoods.
Once in the park we were amazed by the size of these trees and how thick the forest is. The best part of today is that we were able to experience it with the Jones family. We made many stops on our adventure and at each turn it seemed like the trees were getting larger and larger. Some laying on the ground and others reaching towards the sky.
I couldn’t stop taking photo’s of these amazing trees. And the girls loved exploring just as much as i did.
Its crazy, around any given turn you find a tree large and hollow enough to fit us all in for a great photo op.
Sienna and Abby had to reproduce a scene from the Titanic.
We then made our way over to the Giant and Flat iron tree. The best part about this part of the adventure was the “Natural” bridge that we needed to cross to get over the river. Needless to say, not everyone was happy about climbing up a huge tree and then walking over a river via a tree. I LOVED IT!
The best part was that we all had to come back over the river via the natural bridge.
At this point we were all ready for some lunch and headed to the Avenue Cafe in Miranda. Great beer and a great Philly Chicken Cheese sandwich. This is where we had to say goodbye to the Jones family and continued on our way to Fort Bragg, California. Our Waze app had us jumping off the 101 and onto 1. And can I say Rt 1 had me white knuckled the whole time. I know I never went over 35mph, it was impossible. With sheer cliffs that appeared to be hundreds of feet from the valley floor. This made Sienna put her jacket up in the window so that she could not see out her window. And it made for an exhausting car ride for me.
We finally pulled into the Beachcomber Motel at approximately 6pm. This cute little motel is oceanfront and has several firepit’s on the back deck. You can sit and watch the sun set and enjoy the warmth beside the fire. All the rooms here face the ocean and we are on the 2nd floor and have a lovely little deck for relaxing and whale watching or just enjoying the sun. Briana and I quickly popped a lovely Oregon Pinot Gris and the family bundled up for a walk on the beach to watch a beautiful sunset. Magical it was!
Here is a time lapse video of our sunset Briana took.
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A few more pics from our sunset on the beach. So far this trip has been amazing. And I would highly recommend it to all if you have the chance.
Tomorrow Walnut Creek, California. Jill and Mark, I sure hope you know what you’ve gotten yourself into with this family showing up in force. Can’t wait, should be a ton of fun.
We are ready!