Day 3

November 1, 2021

Today we drove quite a bit. To start, here's a view of the Rogue River from the hotel:

 

As we drove, there were many places to stop and enjoy the views:

 

It was raining, but we still got some cool shots of the Pacific coastline:

 

 

Unsure where to go for the best way to see the Giant Redwoods, we stopped at one of the visitor's centers and found a really helpful and knowledgeable forester.  She directed us to the Avenue of the Giants:

 

It's almost impossible to describe how massive these trees are.  I'll try with a couple of pictures:

 

 

The overhead canopy of these trees is just surreal:

 

 

This type of tree damage is called a Goose Pen.  Early settlers used goosepens like this one to corral fowl or even horses:

 

Here's another canopy shot:

 

Here's another attempt to illustrate how massive the trees are:

 

This "wall" is a single fallen tree:

 

After the redwoods, we went on a long rainy drive through the mountains with many twists and steep grades.  Not exactly low stress driving.  We've stopped for the night at Calistoga, CA.  It's at the northern end of the Napa Valley.  Our plan for the morrow is to check out some wineries.  Hiccough.

Thanks for reading!  Stay tuned for more updates…