Day 15: 9/30/2010

Orman Guest Ranch-Fortuna, CA, 145 miles

Good Morning! Said the cows, horses, roosters, fog horns, and I'm pretty sure other animals were involved as well. Showers again! Oatmeal for breakfast and then off we go. We headed south on Highway 101 looking for redwoods! Oh wait... You don't really have to look around there. It's amazingly beautiful, everywhere you look. We were told by the campground host to look for the Newton Drury Scenic Parkway as a little detour.

Near the beginning of the day we found a drive through tree!! (And by found I mean pointed ecstatically at the various billboards announcing it). I didn't think we'd actually be able to drive through it, just see it, but we could take the car! It was really fun, but I had mixed feelings... It's a living tree... But as the hole was cut in the 1960's and the tree is still going strong and gorgeous, my guilt was minimal. Something about not being alive when the damage was done will take away any personal sense of guilt :p

Soon after, we turned onto the "coastal drive" pointed out on one of the official brown signs of the road. Yeah... coastal... By the time we made it back to 101, Mathew realized we'd somewhere connected to the Newton Parkway without knowing it, and we'd enjoyed approximately three short glimpses of the coast. Lol, still worth it!

Next... Trees of Mystery! I wasn't expecting Mathew to actually agree to this, but YAY! He rocks, as did this completely amusing tourist trap. First you're greeted by a massive stature of Paul Bunyan... That talks!! Along the trail there, the trees are named various things like "Elephant Tree," "Cathedral Trees," and "Upside Down Tree." Along the way you can stop and listen to the lectures... Now that is a brilliant way for parents to not have to take their kids there! "Honey do you want to go hear the lectures at Trees of Mystery? They're very educational..."

It was really a lovely walk and there's some pretty incredible history there. (In the forest I mean... not so much the business :p). A main attraction there is the Sky Trail, this huge tram that takes you up to a viewpoint in these big gondola thingies. Very cool, so long as I forgot to look down. And then on the trail back we learned about Paul Bunyan and his friends with these awesome sculptures and stories. One of the sculptures was a huge squirrel dashing down the tree. We took an arms length shot with it, classic. But wait, sculpture? RUN!!!!! Lol.

We stopped a few times for awe inspiring redwoods, some with gorgeous flowers and moss, as well as the famed "Big Tree." (The others are just dinky really... lol). We also say Roosevelt Elk, in the only place they're found in California! We turned in at Elk Meadows... To see Fern Canyon! Mathew had already been telling me about it. He used to stay at a camp around there with his family and they went there. It's gorgeous! I was lucky to have Mathew along or I would have missed it... It used to have a great trail going through it. That trail is now simply called a stream. Wet feet, five fingered ferns, and lovely trickling waterfalls. I kept my feet wet for a long time, but finally gave up the ballancing acts on logs and just walked through the creek so I could enjoy it with Mathew instead of far behind him. And on the way, Pretty Car made it through some streams!

We stopped in Trinidad to see a lighthouse with a lantern blown out by storm waves in 1912... Or rather, a model of said lighthouse :p Still quite photogenic though, and it was a night place to sit together for a bit on the beach.

Eureka! It's time for dinner! Lol, we stopped in the town of Eureka and wandered around a bit though some of the shops. We saw the Carson Mansion, which was built and ownded by a logging company owner and is crazy gorgeous. I was happy to wander through a used bookstore for a few minutes, and Mathew got a book on the history of the Carson Mansion. Then to the Grill for dinner. We went to one more shop on our way out, it had some really interesting historical photos we looked through, many of San Francisco after the 1906 Earthquake. Since it was near the end of the trip we'd have together, we wanted to rest and have fun the next day, so we decided on the Super 8 in Fortuna a bit further south. Night night!