California Pt. 1: Avenue of Giants.

Driving on US 101 a few hours away from Portland we finally saw the Pacific Ocean! We pulled over (a bunch of cars were doing so) and walked on the beach. The water was cold, but still nice. We’ve finally made it to the edge of western civilization.

Our first stop in California was to see the Great Redwood Forest. Driving through the forest was just awesome. The trees are HUGE and jet straight up into the sky. For as big as the trees are they seem extremely fake while walking in the forest. There is absolutely no disturbance at the ground in which they stand (no roots popping up, etc) so it makes them look like movie props or something.

We drove through a tree that was 5,000 years old. Only 1/4th of it is still alive and it still makes leaves and cones. Pretty awesome stuff.
We camped in a campground where our tent was next to a huge Redwood. Little kids in the campsite were playing in Redwood trunks. The campsite was probably the coolest and most serene I’ve been to what with those gentle giants surrounding us.

(ELK!)

As of right now we’re in San Francisco where we’ll be spending the next week. Stay tuned!