From Lodi, we headed west, to the coast, and through more wine country. Who knew I’d be headed to Napa and Sonoma (for the first time) only to actually just go through them because I don’t have time… for wine tasting? Crazy. We are headed north, fairly swiftly, because we want to enjoy what we can of Idaho/MT before summer officially ends. Several folks had mentioned the “Avenue of the Giants” as a sight to see – my sister who went to Cal State Humboldt for a year or so, and the infamous Mr. Peplow, whose gift of redwood (hmmm???) became our awesome secret electronics hiding cabinet next to the dinette.

So, where to stay? After making our first calls to National Forests and BLM land looking for places to boondock, we started to do the math – at least in this area, if there is a site/landmark you want to visit, and the only free camping (seems to be) miles away up switch back roads, you might want to shell out the $ so you can stay IN the Redwoods, close to the hikes you want to do and trees you want to hug. So we Yelped up and found the Giant Redwoods RV & Camp-well located, well reviewed (clean!), and indeed it was a great landing place. And still cheaper than the state park we did near San Diego.

We had a lovely hike along the north loop of the Mattole Creek. Got our hiking legs under us. Took some obligatory photos.

Here are some of our favorite facts about Redwoods:
-Not to be confused with the giant Sequoias which grow alongside the Sierras. Redwoods are along the coast.
-It’s hard to figure out which one is the “greatest”. Height, width, age all factor in.
-A Redwood seedling with only a tiny speck of sunlight can grow six feet in a year.
-Redwoods draw on water through their roots, but also through their tips – they thrive on fog. Maybe that’s why they are on the coast? Or why their branches are higher up?

So much still to learn. Hopefully we didn’t get any of our favorite facts wrong. Please feel free to correct us in the comments.

We finished the day as we spent most fall Saturdays in our real life – watching Sooner football. We found a restaurant in Miranda, the Avenue Café that put the game on for us. It was a thrilling come from very behind victory for Oklahoma over the Tennessee Volunteers.

We’ve been eating well – organic/local pork, mushrooms, artichokes, etc. thanks to farmer’s market we found in Garberville, CA. And we found it thanks to Local Harvest – how to find good food to cook on the road.

This morning we gave a few tours – to some Burning Man survivors who also have a Airstream, and a family staying for the week – the parents are both Airstream / renovation aficionados. At least one of their young daughters is interested in restoration as well and another wore a coonskin cap. Their dog Charlie was the most well-behaved in the campground. On to Oregon!