Day 6: Whales, water and HUGE TREES ;)

Hi guys,

We woke up bright and early (again!) so we could pack up, eat breakfast and be down at the docks by quarter to 9. It was a nice change of pace to have breakfast (baked eggs on a bed of artichoke hearts, toast, and potatoes) served to us in our room! By the time we were done scarfing it down it was time to head out for whale watching. I realized that we really were up north when it started raining. It was cold, wet and windy, but I was completely undeterred and we headed to the harbor. At this time of year the California grey whale is migrating from it’s calving grounds in Baja back up to Alaska to eat and spend the summer.

There are about 26,000 grey whales parading by the coast, and I have been told that you can stand at just about any point on the coast and watch them parade by…let me tell you: I have been watching. They are not parading. I have seen NO whales. Anyway, with a 95% sighting success and Captain Randy at the helm we set out on our little charter boat to search for the somewhat elusive (to me) whales.

It didn’t take us long to spot a few whales, and the first whale we approached ended up breaching right in front of us!! He was clear out of the water before I realized what was happening and I only caught the tail end (no pun intended) of his magnificent swan dive. We found at least 5 or 6 other whales slowly meandering north and followed their movements for another hour or so. They gracefully spouted, took deep breaths and then disappeared under the water for 3-5 minutes at a time, so patience was required. Since this is not one of my strong suits I spent a lot of the time mentally encouraging the whales to re-surface, or jump, or roll over...none of which happened. (And they are also kind of camera shy, so sorry, no good pictures!)

Either way, I got to see a new animal, and we saw plenty of harbor seals trailing behind the boat on the way to and from the ocean. We returned safely to shore, gassed up the little hybrid and pointed it north. I didn’t realize how far north we were until a little while later when we approached the first National Forest with the GIGANTIC coastal redwood trees. Before we could even enter the park we came across a novel roadside attraction: The Drive Thru Tree. This humongous tree had a 6 feet wide by 7 feet tall hole carved right through its still alive and growing trunk.

We couldn’t resist! We paid our $5 along with every other sucker in line and made our way to the tree. It was, just as it promised, a drive through tree! I was skeptical, but the car slid right through it and we got the requisite million pictures of the car, and me in it, going through the tree. $5 well spent – where else can you drive through something living??

We ate lunch next to the tourist trap (mistake) and then got back to driving. There are 4 or 5 parks with trails through the giant redwood groves, and we wanted to see at least two of them before ending the day. One of the parks has what’s called the “Avenue of the Giants” which is a 32-mile scenic road through the Redwood forests that runs parallel to the highway. We wound through mile after mile of GIANT trees.

I really can’t describe this is any sort of way that would truly capture the experience, but I’ll give it a try. First of all, when you’re on the highway it’s sunny and clear and normal, but as soon as you begin to enter the forest it gets completely dark and the monstrous trees block out all traces of the outside weather. Also, the forests are at a high elevation and on the coast, so it gets pretty foggy, and they are well adapted to condense and capture the fog, so it’s basically raining down on you the entire time. In essence it goes from bright and open to dark, wet, and surrounded by trees that are taller than skyscrapers.

These trees can get as tall as of 380 feet (huge... really, really huge), the trunks can be up to 20 feet in diameter and they can live up to 2000 years. It is daunting and astounding trying to just take them in. And the silence is amazing. The rain trickles down through the needles, and falls onto the ferns and litter on the floor of the forest and it just sounds like peace. The Redwoods are just an absolutely fantastic place to visit and you should all go. And take me.

Anyway, we finally got back to (semi-)civilization and found the roadside attraction I had most been looking forward to – Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. They are 50 foot tall statues and just sitting in a parking lot on the side of the road. But the only catch was Babe’s head had fallen off. I was pretty disappointed. We got our pictures anyway and headed to find our hostel. On the way we accidentally stumbled upon some massive Roosevelt Elk grazing by the side of the road. Two new animals in one day! They looked pretty cranky, and I didn’t need to explain to the rental car agency how a crazed elk flipped the car, so we took off.

We did eventually find the hostel which is located in the Redwood National park. This is Taylor’s first official hostel experience (co-ed dorms, bunk beds, community kitchen, etc) so its fun watching him figure this all out. The hostel itself is a farmhouse built in 1908 that sits on a bluff looking over the ocean. We had to get food 40 minutes away just to cook it ourselves in the kitchen (very isolated!), but it was a great meal.

There isn’t a whole lot to do here since there is no internet, no town to go to, and its surrounded by national forest. I have caught up on my blogs, watched the sunset, uploaded all my pictures, made dinner, and it’s only 10pm.

Bed time! Tomorrow we are finally leaving California and entering Oregon.

~Kristyn