My middle child had just graduated from college, and wanted to have an adventure, so she called her brother, who was in school in San Francisco, and they ended up renting a car in San Francisco and travelling up the coast to Seattle. They camped along the way.

The thing is, once they got to Seattle, their plan was to return the car, and each fly back to their respective homes. My gears got into motion – because a one-way rental is EXPENSIVE!! I “HAD” to fly to Seattle, get the car and do a reverse of their trip – it was actually less expensive to do that than to pay the one-way fare. 😊 Ok, maybe not quite, but it was a great excuse to do a road trip that I had never done before.

I met the kids at the airport in Seattle (literally, my daughter was waiting at the gate next to mine). My son was staying with me for two nights at the beginning of the trip, but then flew back to San Francisco and I was on my own for my journey south. I have a blog for each major stop.

On the day I visited the Redwood National Park, which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I started my journey in Shady Cove, Oregon, and drove down Hwy 199 towards the coast. The first spot I stopped at was just inside the forest, at the Hiouchi Information Center - a nice spot! From there, the road is EXTREMELY CURVEY!!! I think I could go about 20 mph max, and it was crazy! NOT the place for an RV!!! It was beautiful, but I was a bit distracted by my driving to really enjoy the scenery. Once I got to US 101, the drive was a bit better, but not much.

To really enjoy the trees, I drove south and got on the Newton B Drury Scenic Byway - its a stretch of road that roughly parallels the highway, but it is much quieter, and takes you through the "old growth" forest. It is SO beautiful! The trees are ridiculously large, the road rather rustic, and the entire ambiance was something I had never experienced before. I stopped along the way several times to enjoy the hikes into the woods.

My favorite hike was from the "Big Tree" trailhead (aptly named), and I hiked for a few miles in there. I had fun trying to set the timer on the camera and running ahead to look casual before the 10 seconds ran out. It was amazing how big some of those trees are! This was an amazing spot, and I would love to go back sometime!

#California