Fathers Day in the Redwoods

Day 17, miles 3950, states 9

Hey, it's George again.  Even though we only travelled about 200 miles yesterday, we were on the road for 12 hours.  We finally pulled into the "Redwood RV Resort" just as the sun was setting last night.  We got a fairly early start, leaving Fort Bragg around 8am and finishing the winding, spectacularly beautiful tour of the northern California coast along Highway 1.  The RV survived several more hairpin turns and fairly steep grades before we got on the more reasonable Highway 101 to head through the Redwood Forest.  Our first stop was in the tiny hamlet of Leggett to visit the "Drive Through Tree".  We did witness several people actually drive their compact vehicles through the tree for photo opportunities, but even I was not going to try squeezing our 32-foot RV through (that would have been an embarrasing call to the RV rental company: "Uh, I'm afraid your RV is stuck in a tree in California").  But we did all pose for the obligitory family photo at the entrance to said tree.

Following our stop at the Drive Through Tree, we continued north on 101 and pulled over at a lovely park in the Redwood Forest where the dogs and kids got some needed outside time and Natalie made lunch.  We left 101 for 30 miles to tour the scenic "Trail of the Giants", which snaked though miles of gorgeous, towering redwoods.  There were many giant trees with a diameter wider than our RV, but I seemed to be the only one awed by them.

Stopped Along Trail of the Giants

At the end of the Trail of Giants, we made it to the "Trees of Mystery" park just in time to catch one of the final cable gondolas that provide a gentle and majestic ride up and over a sea of redwoods and offers a wonderful view of the forest and Pacific coast in the distance.  Natalie (not known for her love of enclosed vehicles that rise into the air) had to steel her nerves.  But having determined to do everything her family does on our trip, she made herself board the gondola.  After some initial jitters (the term "white as ghost" comes to mind), she did fine and wound up loving the ride.  I was proud of her.

Natalie is All Smiles after Surviving the Tram Ride up the Mountain at "Trees of Mystery"

By the time we got to Crescent City (a small town at the northwestern tip of California with the dubious distinction of having survived the worst tsunami in North America), we were all fairly exhausted.  Waiting for an hour or so for a table at the recommended local seafood restaraunt was not going to work, so we wound up having a more speedy, if not quite as delicious Fathers Day dinner at Denny's before finally heading to the RV park north of town which was very lovely and fortunately equipped with clean, hot and fully functional showers.  All in all, a wonderful Fathers Day.