Northern California

Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens
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Northern California is gorgeous and has some wonderful outdoor attractions for those passing through.  We passed through the town of Mendocino, where there are some interesting shops and nice walks through town.  As we were passing through they were having a film festival - the locals were very enthusiastic and proud of it and their other attractions!

Our favorite site of the day was the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, outside of Fort Bragg.  The Botanic Gardens are fantastic.  They start like most others, winding paths through beds of bright flowers and lush trees.  Then the path takes you all the way out to the ocean.  The coastal prairie was beautiful, all these bright purple and pink flowers clinging to the cliff side, crashing surf, sparkling ocean - just fantastic!

Avenue of the Giants
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We did the ultra-touristy drive through the Chandelier Drive-Thru Tree in Leggett ($5).  At the time we wanted to do it because we both had heard of it and it seemed the thing to, but upon seeing it we felt a little sad - this poor old tree now has a gaping hole through it!  It still looks healthy enough but I cannot help but wonder what its eventual fate will be!

More enjoyable was the Avenue of the Giants Auto Tour through the Humboldt Redwoods State Park.  This road parallels Highway 101, but it is a much more narrow, scenic drive through the redwoods.  I felt like we were driving through a tunnel of trees, it was fantastic and made us feel like itty bitty ants.  There are plenty of places to stop and take pictures of the trees and wander through them.