Sunday - October 23, 2011

You can hear the barking a mile away




Beautiful morning looking over ocean - sunny and warm. We continued south and crossed into California. Stopped in Capital City to visit the visitors centre for the Redwood Forests though which Hwy 101 cuts. The park ranger gave us a lot of good information and I found out that hte signs warning about tsunami zones were not a joke. Apparently the west coast has had several tsunamis over the past years including the one that occurred after the March 2011 Japanese earthquake. He showed us pictures of local harbour before and after the tsunami hit and the harbour was completly destroyed. Funny thing is, they had constructed the harbour to protect against high seas, but because of its funneling effect, the damage was probably worse that it otherwise would have been.

Took a 10 mile side trip through the Redwood forest on a dirt road. The trees are amazing. Some of them are over 350 feet tall with huge bases. The drive itself was a bit harrowing, single lane with drop offs into the valley. Made it interesting when we met a vehicle coming the other way!

After that we continued down 101 to Eureka passing though the coastal mountains and along the seashore - spectacluar.

Stayed in Eureka for night. Tomorrow we head down to the Napa Valley.


























Redwood Forest




























Going Surfin'