is a new place to see. Since I am quite certain you REALLY want to come along when we drive from location to location – I have whittled down the 150+ pictures I took today to the following –
We had a smooth departure from underneath the big trees at Alliance Redwoods Conference Grounds. From there we worked our way over to Rte 101, which we plan on following (more or less) most of the way to our next destination – Warm Beach Conference Center in Stanwood, WA.
Although we started the trip with field after field of vineyards-

they soon started to melt into the mountains –

We weren’t too far into our day when Gary remembered that he wanted to check the tire temperature (one of the rear tires had been a little low when we (he) did our pre-trip check). So while he was doing his thing –
(yikes!)
I was busy practicing with the macro setting on my camera –

ooo – that one needs some work…..

Ok, that’s better! Like I said – I’m practicing!
Back to the trip –
The 101 would go from 4 lane freeway

to two lanes with an occasional climbing lane (really helpful when you’re a slow climber like we are).

to driving through quaint (touristy) towns.

Right after we saw a sign that said – ELK CROSSING – we came upon this field –

See those little dots before you come to the mountain? That’s a herd of ELK!

(pardon the fuzzy zoom – remember, I am trying to do this from a moving vehicle!). Isn’t it nice that those sweet elk stay near that sign? No one looked like they were going to cross the road anytime soon, though.
We climbed up some big mountains and went down some biggggggg hills, went from two lanes to four lanes and back again….


(Oh, we decided NOT to do the “Drive Thru Tree Road”. When we’re driving the house we don’t do much drive-thru anything!)

This is the South Fork of the Eel River, which we followed off and on for the better part of the afternoon. Gary actually pulled over so I could get out and take this shot. Isn’t he a good guy?

There were two stretches of 101 that actually drove through the redwood forests – twisty turny roads with giant trees on both sides.

Those stretches of road were very impressive, so when we saw signs for “The Avenue of the Giants” we decided to take a little side trip. The road runs almost parallel to the 101, so it wasn’t actually out of our way, just a lot slower (and more scenic!). And before we knew it we were nestled in for the night beneath some massive trees in one of the campgrounds along the route-

We didn’t quite make it as far as we were thinking we would, but then again we don’t really have any set agenda, so it’s all good. Gary’s already in the back with his book, and I’m about to join him. 🙂

It was a beautiful day for a drive – thanks for coming along!