Craig and Merikay at Avenue of the Giants, California
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Saturday, July 14, 2012
Back to CA and marine influence
Today (Friday the 13th) we drove south from the Oregon Caves to Klamath, CA, on the ocean within the overall Redwoods National Park. The Klamath are a Native American tribe that live in both states. After several days of 96 degrees near the end of the day, in Klamath the high today was about 65. In the Bay Area we call this "marine influence".
Our new home is Mystic Forest RV park on US 101. What a difference! Civilization! Good Verizon signal and Internet access.
Shortly after starting out we found ourselves following an Alfa Gold coach. When they pulled off into a rest stop after the CA border, we followed them in and found ourselves one of 3 adjacent Alfa RVs in the parking lot. Not bad for a company that went out of business in '08...
We got to talking to the owners of the Gold and now they're parked next to us at Mystic Forest. We spent the evening with them and enjoyed gabbing like long lost friends. RV people are so easy to be with!
We got settled in our site, and then went to see a nearby tourist trap called Trees of Mystery. First reaction was "what's the need for a commercial site about trees inside Redwoods National Park?"
We will checkout some of the rest of the NP tomorrow. I count this as research into "tourist gift shops."
There were some good trees.
About halfway through their tourist walk we took a gondola-lift several hundred feet up the mountain. Made us feel like we should have brought our skis.
We opted to walk back down. I hadn't brought my poles with me, but they had a barrel of "loaner" natural walking sticks. Good thing because the path was steep and slippery. At one point I took a tumble but was not hurt. Craig of course was right there with the camera.
Redwoods are not new to us. We have several growing on our land, but we have never seen the old growth coastal giants. We will be exploring more in the next few days.
I've kept up reading your Blog. So much fun you and Craig are having.
On our last USA trip we stopped at the same place but did not spend any money ... we were Poor Tourists haha! We did have a good look through the Native American Museum and were suitably impressed. I remember being awed by the beadwork.
We did have lunch opposite the Trees of Mystery and were fascinated by the decor of the restaurant. The ceiling was dotted with ducks feet hanging down as though we were under the water they were paddling in. It was all very tacky but fun.
As far as the redwoods are concerned the most wonderful experience of all was driving through the Old Stage Coast Road, Stout Grove in Jededaih Smith SP. near Crescent City. It was so incredibly beautiful I teared up and decided it was the highlight of the whole trip and that included a Cruise from Vancouver to Alaska.
how great of Craig to capture your not so graceful moment!..what a guy!!!..enjoy your stay in civilization!
ReplyDeleteYou're now hiking in ANOTHER National Park!
ReplyDeletePersonally, I'd rather do research on shrimp po-boys than tourist gift shops. :)
ReplyDeleteWere you safe at the plate? It is fun to talk with others that have motorhomes/r.v's from the same mfg.
ReplyDeleteHi Merrikay,
ReplyDeleteI've kept up reading your Blog. So much fun you and Craig are having.
On our last USA trip we stopped at the same place but did not spend any money ... we were Poor Tourists haha! We did have a good look through the Native American Museum and were suitably impressed. I remember being awed by the beadwork.
We did have lunch opposite the Trees of Mystery and were fascinated by the decor of the restaurant. The ceiling was dotted with ducks feet hanging down as though we were under the water they were paddling in. It was all very tacky but fun.
As far as the redwoods are concerned the most wonderful experience of all was driving through the Old Stage Coast Road, Stout Grove in Jededaih Smith SP. near Crescent City. It was so incredibly beautiful I teared up and decided it was the highlight of the whole trip and that included a Cruise from Vancouver to Alaska.
Keep on having fun.
Blessings
Wow - love that last photo - what a beautiful area! L(
ReplyDeleteOops - that's supposed to be :) at the end... I should turn on the lights in here, but I'm too hot!!
ReplyDeleteI remember the Trees of Mystery..quite hokey, but the redwoods are always beautiful.
ReplyDeleteMy first thought was that it was so steep that you sat down on purpose because sometimes its easier that way. Glad that nothing was hurt.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos, you are sure giving me hitch itch!
ReplyDeleteCraig is brave, I never post a picture of Jo without her permission
ReplyDeleteBob and Jo,
ReplyDeleteOne of us is confused. Possibly both! Except when we say "from Craig", Merikay controls what images and words are posted here. It's her blog.