Epic Road Trip 2017 - Day #15

Today we spent the day in Humboldt Redwoods State Park.  We had a breakfast of eggs with veggies and while I was cooking, Katy found her previously lost (now old) wedding ring in the box with all our kitchen supplies!  After breakfast, we took a shower with nice hot water at the campground and relaxed for a bit before going to the State Park visitor center that was near our campground.  It was nice and very informative, but a bit disorganized as far as visitor centers go.  After our tour around the place, we went down the road a bit to Redway, CA and had lunch at Deb's Great American Burger Company.  It had a great small town atmosphere and we sat outside while we ate. They even had some pretty good desserts and we had peach pie and carrot cake.  We spent the afternoon driving and walking around in the various areas of the redwood groves.

We did an "auto tour" that took us along the Avenue of the Giants and we learned lots about the area and the redwood groves.  The trees were just as impressive as the Sequoias, but many of them had also been cut down before the area was protected.

There were still plenty of large trees and "old growth" that had not been touched by logging.  We even did a little photo shoot of our new wedding bands with inlaid redwood on some redwood trees.

After our exploring, we stopped by the Miranda Market for gas, an ATM stop, and some bread and cheese.  Once we got back to camp, we made a fire and toasted the bread and cheese along with some leftover peaches for our evening meal.  Tomorrow we will head up the coast again.

What We Learned: Today we learned about the Bolling Grove of the coastal redwoods.  It was named after Col. Raynal C. Bolling of the US Army.  He was the first high ranking officer in the US military to be killed in WWI.  We took additional note that he was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas.  It was our interesting fact of the day.

For the day we traveled 47.9 miles and saw license plates from 16 states and 2 Canadian provinces.

Epic Road Trip 2017 - Day #14

We packed up a little earlier this morning and headed north on Hwy 1 to find some breakfast. Just a few miles up the way we found Stewart's Point Store and enjoyed a sticky bun, mocha muffin, coffee/London fog, and a Dr. Pepper in a glass bottle for Dean. It was a nice general store and bakery. I can see it being a regular stop for others along the route.

The road is pretty curvy and the cliff are pretty high and rocky through this section, but the scenery was beautiful. We got into some heavy "marine air" fog as we drove.

We stopped for lunch at Vinny's Pizza in Fort Bragg, CA and on the way out of town we filled up with gas and drove through a coffee stand. I love that every little town along the coast has a coffee stand with good espresso. Makes the drive short! lol
After lunch, the fog burned off and we were able to see a few beaches along the drive. We stopped off at an unnamed beach north of Inglehook and walked the shore for a bit. The sand was pretty hot but the water was crazy chilly!

Pretty soon after the beach we were starting see California Redwoods growing near the roads and as we merged into HWY 101 they became plentiful! Some parts of the Redwood Highway are very tight with giant trees on both sides of the 2 lane roadway.

We set up camp at Humboldt Redwoods State Park, home to the Avenue of the Giants. Our campsite was secluded and fairly quiet. We snacked around the fire and enjoyed the visible canapy.

Tomorrow: exploring the Redwoods.

What We Learned: Today we learned about the great Christmas flood of 1964.  We watched a video about how the flood impacted the area and how large it was.  The locals call it the "1000 year flood."  Based on the video and pictures, I believe it!  It affected most of Oregon and Northern California.  It was a "perfect storm" of circumstances that led to the flooding.  The temperatures dropped and the ground froze, then lots of snow fell early in December.  Later in the month a warm, wet storm came through and melted much of the snow and dumped many inches of rain on the area, but did not thaw the ground.  The resulting flood was devastating.  We saw a high water marker in the town of Weott, CA that was 35 feet above the ground, and it was nowhere near the current river.

For the day we traveled 166.6 miles and saw license plates from 20 states and 2 Canadian provinces.

Epic Road Trip 2017 - Day #13

Today we woke up in Monterey, CA and slept in a bit for us.  We took our time getting ready and went to the Del Monte Farmer's Market and got some fruit and veggies for the next couple of days of camping.  We hit the road for Salt Point State Park, our next destination.  We gassed up a ways down the road in Sand City, CA and chose to go over the San Rafael Bridge into Northern California.

We had done the Golden Gate Bridge before and wanted to go the cheaper and less busy route this time.  Once we got across the bridge we went to Ikoi Sushi for lunch in San Rafael, where Katy got some delicious seafood udon noodles.

In the afternoon we made it to our campsite at Salt Point SP.  We stayed on the Woodside loop, which is more secluded and less windy than the other side.

Our evening's entertainment was to watch the sunset at Salt Point.  It was a bit chilly and windy, but the sunset was absolutely stunning!  Katy got some great pictures and we came back to camp and got ready for the next day's adventures.

What We Learned: Today we learned that one of the most expensive places to live in the world is San Jose. With all the technology industry, higher education facilities, and the coastal location, San Jose is a very desirable place to live.  It has the highest real-estate prices in the country, and the third highest GDP per capita in the world.

For the day we traveled 222.2 miles and saw 19 state license plates

Epic Road Trip 2017 - Day #12

We did not get up early but we did grab breakfast at our hotel and then set out for for Monterey Bay Aquarium at Cannery Row. Parking was in a garage for Cannery Row and was a little expensive ($15 for the day, no ins and outs) but was totally worth being able to walk to and from the Aquarium. As we walked toward the main event for the day we noticed a Starbucks so I grabbed a latte for the morning and then we strolled around the wharf while I finished it. We enjoyed reading the informative signs and took in the sea air and view.

The Aquarium was fantastic though crowded as it was a Saturday in the middle of summer. I loved seeing the large tank featuring life in the Kelp forests and the deep sea exhibits. We also enjoyed viewing the otters and octupi. There was an entire special exhibit on animals with tentacles that was wonderful and a section just with jellyfish which I find super interesting.

We did leave the aquarium for lunch and enjoyed Bubba Gump's  that was just a couple of blocks away. While eating we saw a couple of otters playing in the bay as well as a couple of seals. Lunch was pretty fantastic and we had great service there.

We continued to take in exhibits at the Aquarium after lunch and finally headed back to the car around 3. We stopped back in at Starbucks, but encountered a long line. While we waited I noticed a few of the shops around. Directly across from Starbucks was Steinbeck Jewelers. They had a sign out front for titanium rings with wood inlay. Since Dean has developed a nickel allergy over the past few years to our bands and I recently misplaced mine, I thought it might be nice to see what they had. When we walked in we also noticed they had these rings with a California Redwood inlay (this seems to be super specialty and can only be bought in California from the artist who normally only works with Hawaiian Koa wood). This was a pretty perfect option to match our love of adventure and need for new wedding bands.

New rings on our fingers we set off for the famed 17 mile Drive. It was a neat but crowded experience. You pay for a brochure and access to a road that follows the coast to Pebble Beach through some ritzy communities. The stops were interesting and explained well in the brochure.

After a short swim back at the hotel we headed back to Fisherman's Wharf for Benihana's. Dean and I love hibachi, but neither of us had ever been to an actual Benihana's. The food was good and we enjoyed the experience.

What We Learned: Today we learned about Ed Ricketts, an ecologist and marine biologist who spent much of his adult life in the Monterey area.  He was dedicated to the study of the marine life there and during his time in the city he became good friends with John Steinbeck.  Steinbeck actually used Ricketts as a model for the character "Doc" in the novel Cannery Row.

For the day we traveled 25 miles and saw license plates from 23 states and British Columbia.