California coast & Redwood Natl. Park

A stop along the California coast
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After spending a wonderful week with the Bartsch clan in San Diego, we decided to drive up the Pacific Coast Highway and make our way up to the Redwood National Forest. Although the coast was beautiful, we ultimately have confirmed that we are not California folk. No matter how we tried to avoid the traffic in both LA and San Fran, it could not be done. That being said, the coast was scenic and we had a great stay in San Luis Obispo which happened to be on a Thursday which is when they have their weekly farmer’s market in the historic district. Here we enjoyed plenty of good eats and local organic fruit. We then made our way further up the coast driving through Monterey and Carmel and enjoyed a great lunch on the harbor.

Monterey harbor
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Eventually, we arrived in the Redwood National Forest in northern California and learned a little bit about these VERY old trees. They are the tallest trees in the world and the oldest tree in the park (“the Big Tree”) is over 1500 years old. They can grow to heights that exceed 350 feet (higher than the Statue of Liberty.) The California coast is the only remaining area that has sustained the climate for these types of trees. It almost felt as though we were walking through a rainforest. Unfortunately, only about 3% are protected by state and national parks and the remainder is on privately owned land. We really enjoyed our picnic and hike through the forest.

We do love our National Parks!

More of the California coast (car shot of the day)
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Next on to Oregon….