Redwoods!

On Monday we drove from Portland all the way down the coast to northern California. It was a beautiful drive; however, the wind was strong, strong, strong. We rolled in to Jedediah Smith State Park around 8 o'clock at night. We and our tent and Geronimo were dwarfed by the massive redwoods on our site. We were amazed to see mosquitoes and other insects flying around in our tent, a welcome change after shaking frost out of our fly a couple weeks ago. We slept well, especially with the peaceful sound of the falling rain on our tent.

Unfortunately, the peaceful rain made a huge puddle in the middle of our campsite. Our tent was like an island in the middle of a cold, brown sea. So we packed up quickly and hit the road. After a total gongshow of misleading signs, we made it to a Chevron and got the slow leak in our left rear tire patched for $16.00. Huzzah! Then it was back to Jedediah Smith State Park to pay the $35.00 (!!!) we owed for the pleasure of sleeping in a cold puddle. Grrr...

We hiked in the Stout Grove, a beautiful forest of redwood trees preserved by a woman in memory of her lumber baron husband. The redwoods were beautiful and awe-inspiring, like nothing we've ever seen before. Then we drove on to the Ladybird Johnson Grove, where we hiked through many more amazing redwoods.

Despite the rain, the drive today was great. We drove through grove after grove of redwood trees. After a quick stop for coffee and Internet-ing, we drove a long and winding road through dark and fog out to the coast. Geronimo and I handled the curves fabulously. We did see a number of deer, including a couple staring straight into my highbeams. as well as a skunk that scuttled across the road in front of us, but we made it to Fort Bragg just fine.