April 25 - United States: Redwood National Park, CA
Runs Through Caspar State Beach
It was a cold night last night. And despite the fact that our sleeping bags are supposed to be for 30° weather, I think I could definitely have been warmer. We woke up to the sounds of sea lions on the beach. We both went for runs, up from the campsite and into the neighborhoods on the cliffs. It was a cloudy morning and nice and cool. I couldn't see any sea lions on the beach, so they must have been in the rocks somewhere. But I wasn't wearing my glasses, so what would I know?
After showering and packing up the tent, we hit the road and drove into Mendocino to find a post office. This was an adorable little town with a main street and a church with a steeple. From Main Street, it looked as though you could drive right off the cliff and into the water. What a view. We also found a little bakery which sold some real bagels. We're pretty sure that these store-bought things are going to kill us soon.
Drive Up Highway 1
The weather started to clear up as we began the drive up Pacific Coast Highway, and it turned into a lovely day. We really do have a serious problem with resisting scenic views. It seems as though we stop every five minutes for pictures, and it's getting almost silly. We spend more time on the roadside than on the road. But we have great pictures to show for it.
A Lovely View From Pacific Coast Highway
For the picture stop above, we pulled over and walked through wildflowers to get a better photo op. At one point, I looked down and thought to myself, "Oh that's an interesting-looking worm.". Then, when it slithered quickly across my toes, I realized that the worm was actually a snake. And much larger than I'd originally thought. I had a very satisfying female reaction for a moment or two, and squealed accordingly. Nearly scared Jon half to death.
The Drive-Through Tree
After an hour or two (I lost track after a while) on the road, we reached the intersection of Highway 1 and 101, the location of Leggett and the Chandelier Drive-through Tree. Being the tourists that we are, we decided that the Beemer wanted a go through the tree. The little park is a privately-owned redwood park, and costs all of $3 to go through. But the only thing to see is really the Chandelier Tree and the little gift shop. So there you have it.
The Chandelier Drive-Through Tree
Redwood National Park
Finally, we arrived at Redwood National Park. When we were in Muir Woods, we bought an annual pass to all the parks and were excited to finally get to use it. But there's no fee to get into Redwood National Park, so we'll just have to wait.
We stopped by the Ranger's station and picked up a map, not mention the ranger's take of the campgrounds with the hottest showers. It all sounded promising, so we hopped back on the park road and continued on. Not far from the information station, there were two massive elk grazing on the side of the road. Believing this to be a rare sight, we pulled over to the side of the road and snapped some pictures.
Two Male Elk in Redwood National Park
Then, not even a mile down the road, there was a turn-off road for "Elk Viewing". So we pulled off and parked in front of a huge herd of elk. It seems that this herd is always here, so I guess elk-sighting isn't as rare as we'd thought. Duh. But most of the herd was female, and pretty far away, so this makes our road-side photo session a bit more special.
Elk Prairie Campsite
We stopped for the night at a campsite called "Elk Prairie". True enough, it was right next to a prairie on which elk like to graze. However, we never saw any elk there so it was less of an "elk prairie" and more of a "prairie". But as the campsite was hardly crowded, we were quite happy with it. It was going to be another cold night, so we'd stopped at a store earlier today and purchased two fleece liners for the sleeping bags. I'm sure they're going to come in quite handy when the wind kicks up tonight.
Since it was early and we had a relatively late lunch, we decided to shower before making dinner. The showers in this place were fantastic. I had my own bathroom and the shower got super hot. The shower was coin-operated, which I like much better than the hold-down-the-push-button showers we had in Monterey. Jon figures that the new and clean showers and bathrooms are a direct result of eight years with a Democratic President. He remembers his years camping in the Boy Scouts when - during the Regan Years - the bathrooms were pretty dodgy because money was spent elsewhere (and rightly so). Don't get me wrong. I'm still a Republican. But I can enjoy the touchy-feely benefits of the democrats while we're on the road.
Cooking Pasta Over the Camp Stove
Pretty soon, the moon came up and the temperature dropped and we got ready to hit the sleeping bags.
Bad Moon Rising
I told Jon that this very full moon explains why he's been acting so goofy all day.