Road Trip 2014: Day 7

Day 7 started very, very early. Here's why...the previous night we decided to get to the edge of the Redwood National Forest so we would have all day to check it out and get to Portland the next day. So, we spent day 6 driving down the Avenue of the Giants and stopping a lot so by the time it was time to stop for the night it was dark.  We had picked out a town and heard that it was pretty quiet so we drove until we got there. When we got there though it was crazy sketchy. It's a long story but believe me it was not a fun night and we were up at 4 a.m. and ready to get out of that town by 6. The early morning led to some really nice early morning beach photos though.

I didn't realize that most of the Redwood National park is actually a bit more east than the small section we drove through but it was still really cool. We got to see Paul Bunyon and his blue ox, Babe.

Many times on our trip we'd just see places to stop on the side of the road and we'd stop to stretch and take a few photos. This was one of those times. We saw this beautiful river and just had to stop and check it out. 

I took these first two photos of the river. ^^^ And then Fletcher took my camera and climbed down the hill and out onto some of the rocks and took some great photos. I just love that he's getting into photography with me. 

We got to the Oregon state line and as soon as we snapped this one photo my camera died. I forgot to charge it with all the excitement the night before so the rest of the photos from this day are on my phone. Before we went to Portland we stopped in Eugene, OR to see one of my best friends from middle school! I hadn't seen him in 10 years! It's so crazy how friendships work. It's weird too how similar we are now when back in 8th grade we seemed very different. It was really awesome seeing him and checking out where he works and meeting some of his new friends. They were all super nice. He works at a bar/coffee shop/restaurant in Eugene and it was really cool. He made me a delicious latte and we ate pizza at a local pizzeria a couple blocks from his work. It was a super fun day and I'm so glad we got to make a stop. Then we headed on to Portland. We stayed with one of Fletcher's best friends from his childhood just outside Portland. He was waiting on us to get there and we hadn't seen him in probably 4-5 years so that was a pretty fun reunion since we were all tired and a bit giggly.

Road Trip 2014: Day 6

Day 6 was pretty amazing. Before we get started I just want to let you know that apparently I didn't upload all of my photos from this day before I cleared my memory card. :( I know, I don't really want to talk about it. I'm not sure how I pulled it off. I lost about 2 hours of photos from the morning of this day but I got the rest uploaded that came after those. I don't know. It's so frustrating because they were some of my favorite photos. We went to the glass beach in Fort Bragg, CA first thing that morning after leaving our darling motel. I took so many photos at the glass beach and some really cool ones. :'( We even saw seal lions!!!!!!! Okay, enough of that. I guess we will just have to go back really soon. 

After an awesome time at glass beach we decided to explore the town of Fort Bragg because it was just adorable! It was about lunch time so we stopped into Headlands Coffeehouse and grabbed some coffee and a bite to eat.

Driving down the coast is the most fun. There are so many neat beaches to stop at and take photos. I think we stopped at 75% of them.

A little further down the road we started getting back into the crazy forests. Fletcher climbed up this mountain and took some photos from the top for me. You can see tiny little me down there at the bottom amongst the giants.

One thing we just had to do while we were in the Redwoods was drive through a tree! So, we stopped at the Chandelier tree in Leggett, CA.

Our next stop was the Grandfather Tree. At this point we weren't really sure about what we'd run into but we knew we'd see some pretty iconic trees so this was the first "famous" one we came across so of course we stopped for some photos and talked to the girl working in the shop. She was so nice and gave us some great tips about the Avenue of the Giants. We'd never heard of it and it sounded pretty epic so of course, we were in. 

 

If you are ever in Northern California and want that authentic Redwood experience go down the Avenue of the Giants. It's just as epic as it sounds. You feel like you are back in the 1950s on a family road trip just exploring the USA. It was so much fun and breathtakingly beautiful. We'd never seen anything like it. The trees are so so big! Just go! You won't regret it.

Funny story about this little trail we explored. I got lost. Well, here's the deal. Fletcher had left one of my camera lenses on the ground at the beginning of the trail and had to run back about 2/10 of a mile to get it. Doesn't sound too far but down a windy, barely there trail in the almost dark in the Redwoods it's pretty intense. I opted to just keep walking and I'd catch up and he could meet me once he found my lens. Well, he took off running and I kept walking and was a little scared being in a giant forest with no cell service, the sun setting and hearing things rustling in the woods. So, I get to this one open part of the trail where it opens to this big fallen Redwood that had a plaque about it and a nice little open area and I was lost. There was another fallen tree next to it that, laying on it's side, was taller than me so I couldn't figure out how to get around it. I knew we'd gone around it before but I couldn't see the trail we took. About the time I started to panic Fletcher came running back. He'd gotten a little mixed up there too because the trail was so so tiny and hair pinned backwards from where I'd come into that area. It was confusing but I didn't get attacked by a bear or anything so all was well. Haha! Definitely a (now) fun story and Redwoods experience.