Preparing for our journey down the 31-mile Avenue of the Giants.
Out of Eureka, we continued our journey through the Redwood forests of coastal northern California. These trees are truly massive. The denseness these groves achieve is at the same time beautiful and a bit eerie. The fern undergrowth is equally beautiful.
Of all the cheesy tourist traps we could have visited along the Avenue of the Giants (i.e. gift shops, seeing the largest treehouse, searching for Bigfoot, etc.), we had to get a picture of the car going through a redwood tree. It didn’t look like a vehicle much bigger than the Alfa could have fit through this one. This tree is an example, though, of how they survive even when hollowed out. Greenery grew out of the top branches.
The Pacific Coast Highway, CA Route 1, begins south of Leggett. This is a shot of one of the many small creeks and rivers that flow directly into the Pacific along the way. Unfortunately the day was gray and foggy so the pics are not spectacular.
South of Mendocino we started inland on Route 128. Too bad we couldn’t bottle the cool air of the coast and take it with us as we drove through the rolling hills and vineyards of the Sonoma and Napa valleys. Temps approached 100°.
We stopped off in the Sonoma region’s Alexander Valley at the Stonestreet Winery and sampled some very nice cabernets.
Our destination for the day was Roseville about a half hour from Sacramento at Jean’s dad’s home where we’ll be visiting him and Jean’s grandmother. That’s where we’ll be until Saturday. Tune in again after that as we begin our drive to southern California down the PCH. The sunset as we approached Roseville, CA.
