Today we got up very early because we had a long tour planned. This time we had breakfast at the motel - at least some English muffins and jelly was offered. After checking out we left for the Redwoods.
The first stop was made at the Visitor Center to get the permit for the tall trees road. One of the jigsaw puzzles we liked very much so we even bought it. Then we had only a few miles to go to the park entrance. A stop at an overlook, unfortunately it still was cloudy and hazy. Then we opened the big gate and went on the dusty, unpaved road which would lead us to the starting point of our hike. The car looked accordingly afterwards...
We started our hike, about 5 miles to go. The first part of the trail led us through thick forest, the trees slowly became taller. In serpentines the way led down, until we reached Tall Trees Loop - a loop trail along the tallest trees on earth. Jennifer was stunned by these huge trees - well, she's not even small for her age, but compared to these trees she looked almost like a dwarf. We did a short side trip to Redwood Creek, and then headed back. The way back was quite steep so we worked up a sweat despite today's not really high temperatures.
Arrived at the parking lot we first had to satisfy our thirst, and then we left the park heading south. In Eureka we did a stopover to have something for lunch and fill up the car, and then we continued for the next 100 miles to today's target. We left the freeway once to drive through the Avenue of the Giants, an about 30 miles long part of the road which leads amidst the giant trees. Really cool!
About 45 miles from the target a very winding road started, in the middle of the woods, up and down, always towards the Pacific coast. This part of the drive was the most strenuous one, but when we finally managed it the beautifully blue Pacific Ocean lay in front of us. What recompense! Now we hadn't to go far anymore until reaching the city limits of Fort Bragg, and some minutes later we had found our motel. Dinner we had in the adjacent Perko’s Cafe, where Ines and Ronny had been already 13 years ago. The dishes were tasty, we were full, and we had an easy evening after a long day then.
