West Coast

About six years ago Russ and I started to take a road trip each summer. We love going at our own pace and stopping and starting when we want to. This past week we went down the Oregon/California   coast and turned around at San Francisco. We took Hwy 101 into California and then Hwy 1 to San Francisco. Its a beautiful drive, but if you get car sick easy or you're in a hurry, its not for you. On Hwy 1 you pretty much go between 10-25 miles per hour as there's so many hairpin curves. Our first night we stayed in Florence, Oregon and loved it. We drove up to Heceta Head Lighthouse which was built in 1892. Russ and I actually stayed here a few years ago as they've made it into a B&B. They had a great 7 course breakfast!

This is one of the many beautiful bridges we saw on our trip.

Umpqua River Lighthouse right before you get into California

California Coast

There were so many wild flowers along our trip, it just added more to the beauty of the coastline.

In southern Oregon are the largest sand dunes in the US. There is 32,186 acres of dunes, forest, streams and lakes in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.

I couldn't believe the colors in this river!

One of the highlights of our trip was going to Redwood National Park. Some of the trees were HUGE! It was so pretty to walk along manicured trails with some trees that towered 300 ft tall.

Several huge trees had fallen. This boy looked so small sitting where the tree had been uprooted. I can't imagine the sound of one of these falling.

Look at how small Russ looks compared to this tree.

This was a place you could go and watch whales feeding. It was beautiful, but we didn't see any when we were there.

We saw a large herd of Elk eating along side the road.

We spent one night in Eureka, Ca. Its known for its large variety of Victorian homes (10,000).  This one was given to his son by his father who was a BIG time logger in the late 1800's. The father's house is the one below this one. 

These were a couple of murals painted on buildings in Eureka that I liked.

As we were driving along we saw a sign for Historic Ferndale. It was a little off the road, but decided to check it out. We were so glad we did and ended up spending a couple of hours there. It was so cute!! It had the coolest General Store, that inside looked like it was right out of the late 1800's. All of the houses in town were restored homes with immaculate yards and beautiful flowers. The whole town is listed with the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1890, a banker, created what is now the Victorian Inn. It is built entirely of redwood. To view the rooms go to innkeeper@VictorianVillageInn.com 

One of our favorite places we went to was Mendocino, Ca. Its another town with many old restored homes with cute shops right on the coast. We stayed at the Blackberry Inn which was set up like a little western town. Each of the different buildings was a separate room to stay in. A couple in their 90's own it and the wife still bakes cookies and mini quick breads to put in your room.

There were fields of sweet peas everywhere. This is looking out at the coast from Mendocino.

This is looking at Mendocino from the coast.

We went to the Point Arena Lighthouse. This was the lighthouse that was in the movie, "Forever Young." Russ and I climbed the 145 stairs to get a view from the top. It had a museum that was quite interesting. You can rent out the houses now that the families use to live in that took care of the lighthouse.

Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. 

We drove back home on I-5 to go a lot faster. We had great views of Mt. Shasta driving along the freeway. The scenery was very different on the way home, but just as beautiful.

Our last night we stayed at Bybee's Historic Inn in Medford, Oregon. 

Now its back to "real" life with wash, cleaning, taking care of yards, meetings, etc. but we're ready for it!!!