I was so anxious to show pics of the reunion with Ads that didn't post any from my travels through California. What a trip that was! I know this is totally cliched, but I do feel like this summer has been a rite of passage for me, of sorts. I finally got a chance to do some extensive travelling, work in my field of study, and be almost completely independent. It has been wonderful. I realized as I was about to embark on the trek down through California that it would be the last week of all that. As soon as I was reunited with Adam, my summer solo adventures would come to an end. I was afraid that I would miss being on my own. While I have to say that I do look back on this past summer with fondness, and I am grateful for the experiences I had, I am very glad to have my partner back. Between his companionship, his additional support while taking care of Shabbs, and general funny self, my heart aches when I think of how much I missed him while he was gone. It aches even more now that I'm hearing about some of the experiences he and his comrades had over there. We are very very lucky to have him home safe and in one healthy piece.
But this is supposed to be about California! I set out of Oregon last Monday morning and made it across the border into Cali in about 3 hours. Only after crossing the border did I realize I'd made a slight mistake--I should have been driving along the coast instead of on I-5. The Redwood Forest and just about everything else I wanted to see was along the coastline. I decided to take Hwy 96, aka the Scenic Byway through the Coast mountains. This took a long time but it was beautiful. Hwy 96 follows the Klamath River the entire time, passing through very small logging towns before finally ending in Bigfoot country, aka Willow Creek. They had statues of Bigfoot everywhere, so I can only assume that's where most of the sightings have occurred. I finally made it to Arcata that night. Arcata is home to Humboldt State University and is renowned for being Hippie Central. I felt really at home there, and was sad that I didn't have more time to spend there.
The next morning, the girls and I left Arcata and got on Hwy 101 south toward San Francisco. My goal was to get to the Bay area by early evening so I could spend a day or so sightseeing. However, before I knew it, I had entered the Humboldt Redwood State Forest. It was incredible--the smell of the forest as soon as I stepped out of the car, the girth and height of the trees, the peacefulness of the forest. I spent about 4 hours on 32 miles of scenic routes through the forest. That drastically set me back in my travel timeline, but I was happy that I took my time and saw everything I wanted to see. I got back onto Hwy 1 afterward to drive along the coastline. The Pacific Ocean at dusk was breathtaking...but Hwy 1 at dusk is death-defying. It was a big mistake to try to navigate Hwy 1 (aka the Pacific Coast Hwy) at night, as you're dealing with hairpin turns, limited vision and loads of people driving far too fast (if you've ever seen Hitchcock's "Suspicion", you'll know what I mean). My only saving grace after navigating that road for 3 straight hours was that I somehow got sidetracked onto Hwy 138, which led me back to Hwy 101. I finally made it to Santa Rosa by 10:30pm, where the girls and I plopped gratefully into bed.
Day 3 was spent re-energizing for yet another day of driving. I decided to bypass San Francisco (you can't "do" a city in less than a day anyway) and get to Monterey that night instead. Monterey was the single most important objective of my entire summer (well, second to seeing Ads). Monterey is John Steinbeck country; I was reading "Cannery Row" before I left Michigan, and this blogsite is named after one of his more famous novels. It was important to me to get there. I made it into Monterey around 8pm that night. The girls got me up around 6am the following morning, so I got myself together and went to the beach to do some birdwatching. There were Heerman's gulls, greater blackbacked gulls, dowitchers and (endangered) snowy plovers out on the beach. I spoke to a park ranger who encouraged me to travel 10 miles north to Moss Landing, where the shoreline birding is astounding. There were dolphins, seals and tons of birds. Afterward, I went into downtown Monterey to visit Cannery Row, aka John Steinbeck land. It was wonderful to see the places he wrote about in his books and to feel a part of all that. I was glad that my guitar instructor, Dr. Batie, had lent me those books to read and encouraged me to visit Cannery Row in my travels.
About 1 hour south of Monterey, I was driving down Hwy 101, and it was like a scene out of "Top Gun" (one of my fave movies of all time, by the way). Two fighter jets were doing some practice dogfights in the canyons on either side of the highway. It was freakin' amazing. I really wanted to pull over and get some pics but didn't think it prudent to start photographing on the highway shoulder. Oh well. My only regret leaving Monterey was that I didn't get to see any California condors *sigh*
Below are some of the pics from my travels down the coast. Hope you enjoy.
Driving alongside the Klamath River on Hwy 96...this took much longer than I had prepared for, but was a beautiful drive nonetheless.
Willow Creek is Bigfoot Country...I kept my eyes open as twilight set in...
The obligatory I-am-but-a-small-nothing-in-this-big-world picture
Driving the Jetta through Chandelier Tree in the redwoods
Sunset on the Pacific; this was the first sight of the ocean I'd had once I got out of the Redwoods and the magnitude of its beauty hit me like a brick wall.
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