California

The Lost Jedi-diah

Tuesday, October 17th 2023

The weather was better the following day and we wanted to go back to Crescent City and Jedidiah to do some additional exploring and hiking.   Although the weather was cool, it was a beautiful day with beautiful scenery and Jedidiah had a different feel with the sun.

We started with driving along the ocean, stopping in and around Crescent city to appreciate the coast line.   We actually ran into our tour guide from the day before when wet stopped at one of the beaches.   We then headed back into Jedidiah Redwoods state park.

A couple of years back, I had pulled a page out of a “Visit California” magazine that had an article called “A Geek’s Guide to California”, there was a picture of a man standing in a Redwood Grove looking up with a smaller picture below with had George Lucas,  next to Princess Leah, Chewbacca, Hans Solo, C3PO and R2D2 with redwood trees behind them.  The article talked about the Sci-Fi movies that had been filmed in the area.

It wasn’t there to find the exact places where E.T. finally went home or the areas that served as also served as the moon of Endor, home of the Ewoks in the Return of the Jedi, the scenes in Jurassic Park: The Lost World, but it made me want to explore it even more. Continue reading

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Ultimate Redwood Experience – Crescent City and Jedidiah State Park

October 16th, 2023

I woke up and it was raining.  I was hoping by the time our tour started, the rain would let up but it hadn’t.  I had booked the Ultimate Redwood Experience from the redwood Sightseeing Tour Company and when met our tour guide met us in Crescent City, CA, I could tell he was hoping that we would postpone until the following day.  We had made the half hour drive from Brookings, OR to Crescent City, CA and we were the only ones on this Group Tour and I wanted to spend the following day exploring on my own and we were visiting a rain forest.

We made a few stops around crescent City and then we headed into Jedidiah State Park. I was a bit confused because I had seen it listed as a State Park as well as a National Park.  The guide explained that it was comanaged by the National Park Service and California State Parks as are other Redwood Parks in the area.

It is difficult to describe the experience.  The trees are 300 feet tall and thousands of years old, it makes you feel small and yet part of something bigger. The air is fresh and earthy, it felt healthy to be breathing it.   The grove is shaded, leaving plants that can grow in limited light, it is eerily quiet with no birds and surprisingly, no bugs. Continue reading

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The Legend of Bigfoot

October 15th. 2023

We continued heading north towards Brookings, Oregon.  The 101 also known as the Redwood Highway, travels through the redwood forests and at times, along the Pacific Coast. The drive is stunning.

We came across a road stop called The Legend of Bigfoot in Garberville. It looked too fun not to stop!  We were in Bigfoot territory and I was enjoying it. I grew listening to Bigfoot and Loch Ness monster stories – I am a fan of urban legends and loved the X-Files.  I was  hoping to see Bigfoot and capturing footage on my camera. Unfortunately, the wooden carvings of Bigfoot was the only thing that I captured on my camera!

Overall, a fun stop filled with touristy stuff that is fun to looked at.  They also had redwood carvings of Bigfoot  along with Smokey the Bear, Shrek, and a variety of garden gnomes both for display and for sale. I checked out the refrigerator magnets, coffee mugs, and t-shirts.   I picked up a spoon rest and coffee mug and after I left, I hoped that we would pass it on the way back home so that I could stop and pick up a 2024 Redwoods calendar and a refrigerator magnet!

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Avenue of the Giants – Humboldt State Park

October 15th, 2023

We stopped at the Visitors Center for the Avenue of the Giants in the Humboldt Redwoods Sate Park.  We were driving through the park but also wanted to do some hiking.   As we headed into the visitors center, they had information about Redwood trees saying that they had been around since the time of dinosaurs and that they can live over 2,0000 years old.   Some of the areas along the Avenue had never been logged.

There was a cross section of a redwood with plaques showing the rings that were in the 12002, 1300s and so on.  It really drove home the point that these trees were old and if my grandparents had driven down this avenue, they would have been looking at some of the same trees.

The woman at the visitors center gave us maps and suggestions on where to stop and where to hike. She was very helpful and every time I had a question, she would open a drawer and pull out a piece of paper with additional information.  I guess they get the same questions over and over again.   She suggested that we start with the Gould Grove Nature loop which would take us down to the river.  We headed out and had a great hike. Continue reading

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Medocino Botanical Gardens

October 14, 2023

We were staying in Ukiah which is along the 101 Freeway which is inland.   We decided to head to the Coast and used CA State Route 20 to cross over to Fort Brag and then headed south to Mendocino where we found a botanical gardens.  When I reviewed my pictures from that day, I realized that there were very few pictures of the gardens but a lot of pictures of the coast.  In fairness to the gardens, it is fall, there isn’t a lot that is in bloom with the exception of the Dahlias.

When I left, I realized that we spent a lot more time than I had expected.  I really enjoyed sitting and just looking at how wonderful nature can be.   A lot of people think of California as being warm sandy white beaches when the majority of our coast line is anything but that. Continue reading

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The Skunk Train, Willits, CA

Friday, October 13th, 2023

All aboard the Pumpkin Express!   What a way to celebrate fall and Halloween by taking the Skunk Train through the redwood groves!   During the month of October, the Wolfe Tree Turn is renamed to the Pumpkin Express and as an added extra, we got Halloween candy and got to take a pumpkin home with us.

I had heard about the Skunk Train in a Visit California magazine.  It looked interesting offering different rides on different routes along with different themes.  They also had rail bikes that looked fun but I decided to stick with the train ride.

The Skunk Train website had quite a bit of history, the railroad was installed in the 1800s to haul redwood lumber to Fort Bragg as well as transport workers.   In the early 1900’s the steam engines were replaced with motorcars that used gasoline powered cars and used crude oil stoves to heat passenger cars.   The people along the line said that you could smell the train before you could see it and nicknamed the train, “The Skunk Train”.   Eventually, the lines became part of the California Railroad. Continue reading

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On the Road – Pea Soup Andersen’s

Oct 12, 2023

If you have taken a road trip between Los Angeles and San Francisco, you would have seen the signs for Pea Soup Andersen’s.  I remember seeing the signs the first time I drove up the 101 decades ago.   I am not a fan of pea soup, so I never stopped but a few years back, a couple of friends mentioned that the food is actually pretty good and not only is their pea soup wonderful, their fried chicken is delicious.  We  decided to give it a try and we loved it.

There are two locations, the original is off of the 101 and the second location is off the 5 freeway so it doesn’t matter if we are taking the 101 or the 5 freeway, we always plan on stopping. This was the first time I went to the one in Santa Nella and I was glad to see that it was almost identical to the one in Buellton, complete with the windmill, Danish bakery and gift shop. Continue reading

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San Simeon 2023 – Bye the Wind Sailors

May 29, 2021

San Simeon is considered central California, it is just south of Big Sur, and it is home to Hearst Castle.  If you aren’t familiar with Hearst Castle, google it. It is something to see.  The climate in Central California is very different from the warm sunny weather we get in Los Angeles.  I remember going to Northern, CA and Central, CA in July and August and having to wear a jacket during the evening.  The Central Coast which is just south of Big Sur is much cooler and although the beaches are beautiful, it is not a beach to lay out in the sun.

I saw a news story about a month ago about these creatures called “By the Window Sailors”, they are fascinating!   The are various shades of blue but as they die, the become transparent.   I had heard that these start washing up on shore before an El-Nino year but I had no idea just how many of these would wash up.  There were thousands of them in just a few square yards.

The have a couple of tentacle underneath them but according to the news story, you could pick them up by their sail.  I picked on up and threw it back into the ocean hoping it sail off but instead of it being carried out to sea, it washed backed up again.

At any rate, I hadn’t seen the before and I was fascinated with them! Continue reading

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San Simeon 2023 – Seal Beach

May 29th, 2023

The name of the beach isn’t seal beach.  I have seen a few names for it including the San Simeon Seal Rookery and Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery.  It is something to see, according to the literature that I picked up, it is home to over 25,000 elephant seals.  The have built a walkway above the beach which allows people to watch and view the the seals basking on the beach.

They are entertaining to watch, they like to lie close to each other but one seal will get fussy which disturbs other seals.  It seems like they spend a lot of time lying there and then adjusting and readjusting.   We had visited this beach the last time we were here in the fall and we could clearly see that the seals were molting.

We also spotted some very friend squirrels, especially the baby squirrels.  They were cute and very friendly, only to realize that everyone was feeding them whatever snacks they had in their car. Continue reading

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Yosemite 2021 – Rocktober

Monday, October 18, 2021

We pulled up in front of El Capitan, a huge block of granite.  The first thing I noticed was that there were a lot of cars parked in front of it.  I asked why there were so many cars and he responded “Rocktober!”   This is the month for climbing up El Capitan.

Earlier the guide mentioned that when you stand in front of El Capitan, it feels like it looms out at that top, he said that it doesn’t.  He was right, it felt like wall came out over us, but it was an illusion.   We walked into the meadow to get an unobstructed view of the El Capitan.

El Captain is three times the height of the empire state building.   The climbers on the wall looked like small specs, barely visible.

The guide talked about the movie “Free Solo” which was an award-winning documentary about one individual who made the climb to the top with minimal equipment (shoes and chalk), no ropes and no safety harnesses. The guide went on to talk about the various forms or rock climbing and what equipment is used.

I have a fear of heights, I feel uncomfortable looking at people standing on a ledge, if my hotel balcony doesn’t have sturdy railing, I won’t go out on the balcony, the glass skywalk in the Grand Canyon is not on my list of places to visit.

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