Into the Land of Trees

We are getting connectivity so infrequently that you’ll have to put up with long, late entries. Here’s the report for Sunday, August 23….

North of Ukiah we chugged through some road works, then it was onwards along 101 to the redwood coast. The traffic has been very light since we got out of the Bay Area. It is only since Ukiah that we’ve really started to notice our fellow RVers (and the RV size seems to be increasing too, must be the clean air helping them to grow). Some of the roads were a bit too twisty for Little Starlet’s taste, but it was all very picturesque.

The vineyards continued into Sonoma. We stopped for a few photos at the side of the road in Alexander. Little Starlet inspected a Merlot vine and asked “Are these blueberries?” We rolled through a bunch of little towns including Legget, Willets, Laytonville, Garberville, Weott, Mercer, and Myer Flats on the way to the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. None of them seemed particularly large or remarkable. Hubby refused to be diverted by a side trip to the “Drive Through Tree” in Leggett.

A couple of times we drove past tiny beat-up middle and high schools, which made the kids go “whoa” in appreciation of what it might be like growing up in these kinds of rural outposts. (It was good to know that they did occasionally look out of the window. Much of the time they were glued to the DVD player – we could tell because they were singing along to the “Annie” soundtrack.)

At Willets, we felt that we’d entered logging country. That was roughly the point where the vineyards gave way to the redwoods. The road follows the Russian River, and then the Eel River, some of which seems little more than dry river bed. All the tributaries seem to be dry, with some pretty dramatic rocky beds and craggy hillsides. We passed several amazingly big piles of logs too. Some of the small towns up here have a “wild west” feel, with wooden store fronts complete with hitching posts. We thought Geyserville was a particularly pretty example (which also had an interesting mix of artsy-crafty stores, Victorian bed and breakfasts, and fancy hotels).

We came off 101 at Phillipsville to follow the Avenue of the Giants into the State Park. They aren’t kidding either: There are some truly giant redwoods trees along this route. We stopped to admire one that must have been 25 feet in circumference, and another fallen tree with an exposed root system that dwarfed Hubby. In fact we stopped so often to admire trees and take photos that the kids started to complain we’d never arrive. So Hubby reined himself in, and we pressed on to the campground.

The last five miles to Albee Creek were along a stunningly bumpy road, so narrow in places that the RV only just went through (Deep Thought likened it to the Knight Bus breathing in to squeeze in between the London buses in HP3); and so uneven that at one point the food cupboard burst open, showering the kids with bagels and cheese crackers.

The campsite is really pretty, shaded by second growth redwoods, with a meadow leading down to a creek. We’re looking forward to a hike tomorrow back towards the Avenue of the Giants.

Notable moments of the day:
1) The Avenue of the Giants – a “must see” if you are in this area - something that, for once, merits the word “awesome”.
2) Following a deer through a field on the edge of the campsite: Amazingly, the deer had appeared even though Little Starlet was entertaining us with a very loud rendition of “The Sun’ll Come Out Tomorrow”.
3) Seeing a frog jump into the creek, watching huge water boatmen on the water’s surface, spotting a red-headed vulture sitting in a dead tree, and picking up a stone that might contain a fern fossil.
4) Deep Thought’s second birthday cake in one weekend – because today was actually her birthday. Double digits!
5) The kids declaring that McDonalds was only just acceptable as a lunch place, and they’d really prefer to go to a proper restaurant. Progress!
6) Hubby refusing to let me stop at the Starbucks in Ukiah. He says he’s making me go cold turkey. What a meanie.
7) Little Starlet panicking at bedtime, fearing that a bear was going to come into the RV. She’d been worrying about a displayed photo of a bear in the campground taken in June, poor little thing. We had to lock the kids in so that they’d feel safe while we drank our tea by the fire.