California Week 8: Avenue of the Giants

Step right up to see the one, the only, WORLD FAMOUS Avenue of the Giants (at lest that’s what the brochure says)!  This 31 mile scenic drive, highlighted in the book “1,000 Places to See before You Die” takes you through the Humboldt Redwood State Parks from Pepperwood to Phillipsville, CA, with groves and attractions to explore along the way. 

 

 

As soon as you take the exit off 101, you drive into a different environment with towering redwoods lining the road. 

 

 

We had to look through the sunroof to see their tops.

 

 

Our first stop was the the Immortal Tree, so named for the many natural disasters that it has survived.

 

 

 

An ax attached to the tree’s trunk symbolizes a loggers unsuccessful attempt to fell her, and a fish indicates the level of flood water that engulfed the grove in the 60’s.  This tree has also survived a lightening strike and forest fires within its known history.  The organization is going to add another marker to memorialize the tree’s survival of the Ramblin’ Bauers! 

 

 

Big tree…tiny car.

 

 

Artifacts by the Immortal Tree stop provided us with some good photo ops.

 

 

 

Oops!  Didn’t see that sign in time.  Don’t worry, though, we didn’t carve on the log.

 

 

 

Next we came across the High Rock Conservation Camp.  Not sure what it was, we began to drive up the hill.  Then we came to a more illuminating sign.  Oops!  We weren’t up for a visit to prison, so we turned around and got back on track.

 

 

Founders Grove was more our speed, so we spent the rest of the afternoon here strolling through the giants. 

 

 

Here are some shots of the grove’s namesake, Founders Tree, named for the founders of the redwood preservation project.  These pictures cannot express the enormity of Founders Tree or any of the others!  If you ever get the chance, you must come to Northern California!  There’s no place like it, and not only because of the redwood.

 

 

Further down the trail we saw a characteristic survivor of fire or lightening strike with a hollowed out base and thriving treetop. 

 

 

 

Look at the specks we are beside the roots of these fallen giants!

 

 

Can you see me way down at the end of this trunk?  It was around 300 feet long!

 

 

Back on the road, we followed the Eel River back to Highway 101…along with the turkeys.

 

 

On the way back to Ferndale we made a few detours, the first of which was a drive through Scotia, hailed by locals as the longest operating company town in the country.  I’ve not verified these facts, but I do know that it is a company owned town that has changed hands and is in the process of being sold in lots to its residents.  It was founded in 1863 by the Pacific Lumber Company and is now maintained by the Town of Scotia, LLC.  Everything here was built by the PLC for its employees and is steeped in history.

 

 

 

A little further along the road, we stopped to experience another local claim to fame in Fortuna. 

 

 

Here we stopped at the Eel River Brewing Company, a local microbrewery which is among the first to produce certified organic brews. 

 

 

 

Along with lunch, Bilbo had the customary sampler and stated that there is a reason beer is not organic.  Not that the brews were bad, but just average compared to others in the area.

 

 

After cleaning the forest funk off, we headed back to Eureka for a nice little dinner date.  We began the evening at the Wine Spot, a wine bar in Historic Old Town Eureka where patrons can sample flights of CA wine.  This was my treat for enduring Bilbo’s earlier trip to the brewery.  Reds being my preference, I chose the flight of Malbec, Barbara, and Pinot featured that afternoon.  My sampling experience that day was much more satisfying than Bilbo’s. 

 

 

Hungrily we made our way up the street to the Brick and Fire, a local bistro know for its brick oven artisan pizza.  Sadly, we found out that it was almost as small as our apartment and reservations are a must.  So we put our names down and came back the next day after work.  That’s right, I worked on Sunday so that I could have the next Friday off.  

 

 

 

For starters we had an assortment of fresh baked bread, smoked salmon spread, local olives, and homemade pickles and mustard.

 

 

Our main course was a margharita pizza that was so good we almost forgot to take a picture of it!

 

 

The end of our meal was the end of our truncated weekend and the beginning of our preparations for the three-day weekend ahead!   I would give you the usual preview of what we did with that long weekend, but it was so unexpected and random that you wouldn’t believe me.  I’ll just make you wait to hear the whole story next time.