Of beaches and trees....

Day 11:

We woke up just south of Grants Pass, OR, driving southwest on the Redwood Highway toward Crescent City.  Before we arrived, we first drove through the spindly Smith Canyon, with its switchbacks and corkscrew roads and crazy-amazing scenery.  Finally arriving at the coastal community, we stopped first for breakfast, then a pair of visitor's centers, one of the town and one of the National Park.  Both stops were extremely educational.  I hadn't realized that Crescent City had felt the effects from the Japanese earthquake/tsunami, but she showed us pictures of the damage to the harbor, and they are still reconstructing it.


Before leaving town, Jenny wanted to stop at one place we found at the visitor's center, Rumiano, which had free cheese tasting.  She wanted to go somewhere not quite so commercial as the Tillamook factory we visited the day before.  Rumiano proved itself very well.  Not only did they make great cheese, they also sold it for good prices.  We left with a variety of different cheeses to combine with what we bought from Tillamook.

Jenny and Ben look at the cheese-making facility at Rumiano Cheese.

On our way out of town, we stopped to find the sea lions that the lady at the Crescent City visitor's center promised me were always at the harbor.  I must have turned in at the wrong place, because we never found them.  I continued on because I figured if we didn't see them there, we'd always have the opportunity to see them when we were in San Francisco, at Fisherman's Wharf.  

Rebekah and Kimberly stop at a scenic spot overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Redwoods National Park.

However, half a mile down the road, we did see a plethora of surfers riding waves.  Continuing on, we stopped at a beach.  We didn't get out, but it was high tide and the kids were enchanted by the waves curling and breaking on the rocky shoreline.

At Redwood National Park, we saw the largest trees in the world.

Riding into the forest, we saw many Redwoods, stopping at the Trees of Wonder, but not going through the tour.  We drove on to the Prairie Creek State Park Road, a ten-mile stretch with some of the most amazing groups of Redwoods in the forest.  At one point down the road, the older kids and I got out to explore a trail while Jenny fed Jonathan and Daniel took a nap.  Stopping at the Ranger Station on the way out, all five of the children received junior ranger badges.

Even Jonathan got to be a junior ranger at Redwood National Park.

Then, going out of the National Park, we saw an elk in a reserve area.  Then, we took off down the road, stopping at our first glimpse of cappuccino, in a little town called Oriq where we advertised our blog a little.  It was a charming little cafe and I wanted to buy everything in the store, but we sufficed for just a beautiful redwood clock.

The gallery in Oriq was very impressive with yummy coffee.

The owner of the coffee-shop/gift-store told me it was about three and a half hours to Redding, and she wasn't kidding.  The drive, 135 miles on Hwy 299, took much longer than I had budgeted.  By the time we reached Oregon Pass, Elevation 2888, it was almost already dark.  It was also there that we found four deer climbing up the hillside next to the road.  It was a nice drive, but took far too long, probably at least three and a half hours by the time we actually reached Redding.


By that time, it was after 9pm.  We set the kids down in their sleeping bags and let them sleep.  I had found a place called Sacramento Shade, the first place we've stayed with a reservation (and I've pushed back our arrival two days.  We are officially two days behind the original schedule, but we'll make it up with a little shorter visit with our family and friends in Sacramento.

Wildlife count to date:  2 moose, 21 bears, 6 rabbits, 7 deer, a squirrel and an elk