6/15/17 - Day 5

We all slept well on our first night in the Redwoods.  We woke up to cloudy skies and hungry mosquitoes.  Just as we started cooking breakfast it started to rain.  Thankfully Chad and I had already had coffee and it wasn’t raining too hard.  Without any cover to cook under we kind of did a rush job on breakfast and clean up and got on the road as quickly as we could. We headed out to Highway 101, and caught our first glimpses of the beautiful California coast.  We passed by the Paul Bunyan restaurant (?) with the big statue of him and his ox.  We made the smart move to not fall into that tourist trap!  Chad shared a memory of when he was a kid and he stopped there with his Dad.  He said that when they came out of the restaurant/gift shop or whatever it is, his Dad saw someone putting a bumper sticker on their car (the nerve!).  John got so mad that he made the person scrape it off!  Not sure how that same interaction would go in this day and age. 

Our first stop for the day was Patrick’s Point State Park. 

We learned about the Native Americans that first lived in this area, and took a hike out to Wedding Rock, where we saw a humpback whale and several seals. 

 I took a little meditation time while the kids and Chad explored the rocks.

Then Henry bought a souvenir in the gift shop.  He has named them Banana and Slug.  Apparently they are brothers and they like to hang out with him.  

Had he not chosen this set of banana slugs then he could have chosen a banana slug magnet, key chain, or one crafted out of recycled glass.  Despite the many banana slug gift options, and aside from the first night’s banana slug “incident,” we really haven’t seen any. Mosquitoes on the other hand…. have taken over since we got to California.  Is it the state bird I wonder?  Luckily they haven't really been around during the day.  Only at our campsite when we want to sit around and relax.  There’s nothing like walking around camp with your coffee being followed by mosquitoes, or trying to outrun them while cooking dinner.  But I digress.  Next stop was Eureka for some groceries.  That is not a place worth stopping unless absolutely necessary.  Afterwards, we took a drive along Avenue of the Giants where we saw breathtaking scenery,

and stopped for a hike in Founders Grove.  

We felt so tiny among these massive trees.    

We stopped for the night at Hidden Springs Campground where we scored a really nice campsite.  Because of the aforementioned mosquitoes, however, we spent a little more time in the van than we had planned, but we are so lucky to be surrounded by such beauty and fresh air.  I wish I could bottle the forest smell and bring it back to the city.  Tomorrow promises to bring new adventures!