From the Redwood Forest.....

As all good things have to come to an end, so did our time in Napa Valley.  We closed up shop and chugged down the road.  We ended up in Trinidad, CA just inside the Redwood National Park.  The forest is gorgeous!  The drive in was full of ginormous trees and lush greenery that was just breathtaking.  Just when I thought it couldn't get more beautiful, we crested a hill and the land literally dropped right into the ocean.  Such incredible scenery that it brought a tear to the eye.  I couldn't wait to get out and see the sights the area had to offer.

Our first day we visited the information center which was right on the beach.  There is a little walk out onto the water and we took a few minutes to just watch the waves roll in.  I could do that for hours.  After remembering why we were there, it was off to some little walks that the visitor's center recommended.  We visited Lady Bird Johnson Grove which was full of towering trees and the biggest, greenest ferns I have ever seen.  It's a walk that is only about 1 mile but it has so much to see and is a great representation of what the forest is.  

Since we still had a lot of time we decided to visit Fern Canyon.  This place was so other wordly, words cannot do it justice.  Parts of Jurassic Park were filmed here and when you enter the canyon, you can see why.  Gary and I walked back into the canyon as far as we could, we had to cross the creek a few times by scrambling over rocks and fallen trees.  I was a little embarrassed once when I couldn't figure out how to get over a log and when I finally jumped to the ground, there was a group of teenagers that clapped.  Haha!  Oh, the joys of short legs.  :) 

The next day we did a short 3 mile hike that again took us into a very rain forest like setting.  The trees...I keep talking about the trees but they are works of art all on their own.  Some of these trees are about 2,000 years old and almost 400 feet high!  One of the bonuses of this hike was this brilliant little waterfall that added to the feeling of being in a rain forest.  

One more hike took us about 750 feet down to a place called Tall Trees.  What was interesting was that even though we were only a few miles from the rain forest like setting, this place was dry.  Such diverse settings within under 10 miles of each other.  But still beautiful.  

We wrapped up our time in the area by heading north to Crescent City where we visited Ocean World which is this cute little aquarium where the highlight is the little performance by a sea lion named Cora.  :)  It was very special for Gary since he remembered going there when he was just a little boy.  :)  All in all our time here was very relaxing with amazing scenery but a tad cold for my liking (was in the low 60's the whole time).  Now it's on to warmer climates!