Before I get back on the road, I wanted to share just a little about our campground last night. We were just a little “over dressed” for this lovely state park. Believe me, it was absolutely beautiful. But when the first several campsites were reserved for “hikers and bikers”, it just stands to reason that a 40 ft. motorhome might have trouble maneuvering between those big redwoods. The camp host assured Gary that we would fit – but believe me, it was a “just barely”. Here is a shot as we were making our departure –

It was beautifully quiet, and we slept well and the good news is we took no bark with us!
We also stopped at the visitors’ center right next door before we continued down the “Avenue of the Giants”. We love visitor centers with their 12 minute videos and interesting facts about the area. Inside this center was Charles Kellogg’s “Travel log” –
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Made from the trunk of a giant redwood, it was his mode of transportation as he traveled the country promoting conservation (and giving concerts of bird songs. Really. He even made records of bird songs. Who knew?). We decided we like our “mode of transportation” a whole lot better.
But, back to the Avenue –

The rest of that drive was lovely. We looped around those big old trees, crossed the Eel River a time or two

and eventually made it back to good ol’ 101 North.

We drove through downtown Eureka

and eventually caught a glimpse of the ocean!

(Even though I know we’re heading to the ocean, it’s always – “look, there’s the ocean!” when it comes into view.)
Except this wasn’t quite the ocean, it was Humboldt Bay. Hmmmm.
Here it is out my side of the rig –

Still kinda pretty I think!
But, eventually, the ocean did come into view –

And this time I was pretty sure of my identification!
But it was just a tease, ’cause before I knew it, we were back in the trees.

Look – more Elk –

And they were right by an “Elk Crossing” sign again. I think they’re on to something out here!
I’m going to throw this picture in here –

so you’ll know that Gary does occasionally get to look at the view. I should say GLANCE at the view, since he’s usually pretty darn busy keeping us on the straight curvy and narrow.
We did finally come to a pull off where I could walk to the beach and then later we stopped at another visitor center (with a great 12 minute video) and had a little more beach time. Here is a selection of those shots

Back onto another scenic drive –

(kinda looks like that other one, eh?)
We crossed the Klamath River,

waved at Paul Bunyon who was out for a walk with Blue,

saw a little more rugged coastline,

and climbed back into the mist in the trees.
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We called it a day when we made it to Crescent City, and found a friendly Home Depot who gave us permission to spend the night in their parking lot. 🙂

Not quite as nice of a view as last night, but still, the price is right.

If you’re reading, (and thank you if you are!), someone has suggested that I try to post some maps of our journey. So, by special request (you know who you are….), this is where we traveled today –

And our entire “Drive to Washington” looks like this –

I’m not sure how far we’ll get tomorrow. Right now we are looking to get as far as Beachside State Recreation Site and spend the night there. It looks like they have campsites right on the beach. And we think that would be pretty cool!

One final “out the window” picture. Today I took 221 pictures of our travels. This one truly demonstrates the risk of taking pictures from a moving vehicle:

Gotta love digital cameras (and that delete button!).

Sleep well – it’s off to bed for me!

PS – I might have missed a photo or two of the set that I uploaded from today’s journey, so if you’d like to see the whole set (in order no less) – they are here!