Tree Giants

We left the Coos Bay/Charleston area a day earlier than we had planned and followed Hwy101 south. Had a travel day with on and off rain and sunshine.  The air at some times seemed so thick with moisture it was like driving through the clouds.  We were headed for the town of Arcata, CA and excited to see some redwoods.  We took lots of pictures because the views of the ocean and cliffs from Hwy 101 were so beautiful and there were lots of pull off areas.

Driving down Hwy 101

We made it to California sometime in the early afternoon and was the first state border that we have crossed where we had to pull over like immigration and answer questions about wood and fruits that we might have on board.  We had entered California........The land of fruits and nuts :), according to my Meemaw

Arcata is a college town and we soon found out; a home for many wandering folks.  It was hard to put our finger on it in only a week, but as soon as we entered California we started noticing more hitchhikers and backpackers along the route.  Around mid-week we realized that there was this sub-culture around the area and almost a village of wanderers.  Some by choice it seemed. Others maybe not, but also we found out from asking around that this area is where a lot of marijuana and meth come from, so a percentage are addicts as well.  The security guy at our campground told us that mayors in other California cities send their street dwellers one a one-way bus ticket to Arcata. Not sure if that's true, but it was an interesting culture to see around the area.

That week we drove the Avenue of the Giants scenic route,

The base of a redwood.  We could literally crawl through if we had been brave enough.

went to Moonstone Beach a few times,

Rock climbers in action

Sunset on Moonstone Beach

Passed by Trinidad, CA and hiked down to the beach,

hiked in the Community Forest in Arcata,

and spent an afternoon at the Redwoods National Park.

Redwoods National and State Park

Crazy big Redwoods

Sunset on the drive home from the Redwoods NP.

It was a nice week.  The trees are beautiful and the ocean too.  It was nice to see the sun again.