Goodbye San Fran, Hello Redwoods?

We got up relatively early and were on the road by 8am. The plan was to dawdle up the Pacific Coast Hwy (CA-1) until it ended at US-101. Then probably head up to Eureka for the night. That would be redwood country and I looked forward to walking amongst them, smelling them, and generally feeling their presence.

Alas, the same ol’ weather pattern was holding and it was gray and foggy on our drive out of San Francisco and up to Petaluma. There we stopped for coffee and a pee and the final decision about CA-1 vs US-101. We were optimistic and voted for CA-1 and the hopes that the marine layer would burn away as the day warmed up. Nope, it never did. You could tell this would be a very pretty drive in better weather, but it just didn’t happen for us.

We stopped in Fort Bragg for lunch at the Home Style Café. Comfy sounding name and, actually, the food lived up to it. Not really to my taste, but usually I’m looking for something I can’t easily cook myself. I had the bean soup and grilled ham & cheese special. Ken had the BBQ pork special. The real annoyance was that the waitress kept forgetting about us. I saw a couple of tables that were seated after us get their food before she even came and got our order. Looking at the GPS log, we were only there for an hour but it seemed longer.

Finally back on the CA-1 and more cloudy coastline driving until we curved around east and hit the 101 about an hour+ later. Somewhere along the way inland, the sun came out.

Ken has been in the area several times in the past umpty-ump years, most recently with Guy a couple of years ago. He thought he remembered the Drive Thru tree being somewhere around the intersection of CA-1 and US-101. Sure enough, the billboards were there as we approached. So, of course, we dropped a bit south on US-101 and drove through it. Actually, we both did. But I was the only one who stuck my head out the window so it could be proven.

Then it was on up US-101 to the Avenue of Giants through Humboldt Redwoods State Park. On the way we stopped at several old kitschy tourist traps:

The Tree House (couldn’t go inside),

the Grandfather Tree,

the One Log House (didn’t go inside),

and the Chimney Tree (went inside but nothing much to speak about).

Ken seemed excited but I honestly was only minimally interested in them. I was tired – it had been a long day on the road with no real down time – and lunch’s sandwich wasn’t really sitting well.

We got to Humboldt Redwoods State Park late afternoon and drove through on the Avenue of Giants. Truly a fitting name here. But we didn’t stop and smell the roses, er, redwoods. I did make Ken slow down and took a couple of shots out the window.

Then we headed on to Eureka to find a hotel for the night. So much for the redwoods. I was (and still am) disappointed in the experience. I’ll have to come back some day when I can spend some more time and maybe hike in them a bit. Either here again or Redwoods National Park.

The motel we ended up at in downtown Eureka (Travelodge) was on the lower end of things in my opinion. It was also between the two separated northbound and southbound legs of US-101 so was fairly noisy. I told Ken I wasn’t interested in supper (that sandwich kept coming back) so he went out to scrounge a bottle of beer while I set up the computer and toiletry kits. I then plopped down on the bed to read & de-vibrate and found out the bedside lamps didn’t work. Neither of them. Oh well, the ereader I use doesn’t really need them, I just like a bit of light and the last person to bed will have to do it in the dark.

When Ken came back, he brought some junk food as well as a carton of wine for me. A nice thought. After I poured myself a glass, I noticed I had somehow dripped on the floor (and my foot) which I thought was strange since I could easily see what I was doing. As I screwed the cap back on, the whole cap assembly rotated and that broken seal is where it had leaked.

When I realized that, I went out to the car, dug out an empty water bottle from the back seat floor (default clean garbage area), and poured the wine in that. Dribbling all the while. Except I was clever enough to do it over the bathroom sink. I wasn’t clever enough, however, to not drink the remainder. And it was much more than I usually drink and on a nearly empty stomach to boot. (I swear that sandwich was still there!) Suffice it to say I gave Ken some comic relief as I got ready for an early bedtime.

[written 11/10/13]