When I woke in at Petaluma I was still undecided as to which route I would take, part of me wanted to finish on the 1 (I am not a quitter) and part of me just wanted the interstate! In the end it was the wind forcast that determined my path. 15-20 miles an hour in the morning and 35+ in the afternoon along the coast, I was just not ready for that. Up the 101 I went. This is inland for about 4 hours, sometimes divided highway sometimes two way but not too bad. Driving through vineyards--many more than I ever thought possible! I remember then that Napa is only one range of hills away on the east, there would be even more grapes there. When the road begins to go up seriously the land changes into a mixed conifer forest and the road gets to be a typical mountain road-up, down, curve to the right, etc but in retrospect it wasn't awful. At Eurika the 101 hits the ocean again, here the beaches are sandy but have driftwood on them and there are huge rocks out in the water. They are more the size of small hills, really. I have been here before as my mother's father lived here for a time. I remember playing on the beach here (and getting drug under) in a DRESS! My mom said she never got the sand out of the hem-serves her right who takes a kid to the beach in a dress? This is the southern gateway to Redwoods National Park and I have memories of this as well. There is a private place called "Trees of Mystery" where we stopped. I didn't remember the name but they had a gigantic Paul Bunyan and his ox Blue which talked to you! I remember my mom said something to me about fixing my hair and Paul said- "Gail, let you mother fix your hair." Freaky! My Dad always talks about this place so it was fun to pass it and learn it's name again. They had a tree cut out so a car could be driven through the trunk, these trees are BIG. I quickly learned how to spot the redwoods, they are much taller than the other trees, have amazingly formed trunks and are a darker green. All along the way today I have passed or met semis loaded with logs, some fir or cedar and some redwood. They are specially made with a U-shaped holder built onto the trailers and when empty they load one onto the other to go back to the cutting. It wasn't like I saw hundreds or anything like you might where they are growing trees for harvesting but it was interesting. After the park I drive into Oregon (at last) and the redwood trees stop. Almost like they followed the state line. I remember thinking that the roads were better in Oregon than California, more on that later. I spent the night in Gold Beach, Oregon, one of hundreds of shore towns along the way. The shore in Oregon is PUBLIC, unlike California where you sometimes have to pay. I knew that soon I would turn away from the ocean so I determined to go to the beach and watch the sunset, so after dinner Kelsey and I did. Let me just say Kelsey does not like the beach but in spite of that she went along. I took beach towels (thanks Beth and Lucas) and a blanket and fixed a spot high on the dune and we sat. I just watched the waves break on the sand and the people who were beach combing. It was so windy I could hear the grains of sand hitting the side of my hood like sleet and we soon had a layer of sand covering us. It got really cold sitting there-even a long sleeved tee, sweatshirt and wind breaking jacket, blanket etc couldn't keep me warm. Kelsey just laid down on the lee side of me, turned her back to the wind and went to sleep. I've tried several times in San Diego to watch the sun go down and the marine layer always comes in and covers it so I wasn't expecting to actually see that but I did.
It was so worth sitting there in the wind and sand and cold just to watch. At one point the waves were backlit so all you saw was a dancing line of sparkling light! No way to capture that on film. I'm so glad I did that, so very glad.
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