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The Great Road Trip:  California and Oregon 

Days 3 and 4



Days 1 and 2:  South Bay to Big Sur, and Big Sur to San Francisco
Days 3 and 4:  San Francisco to Hendy Woods, and Hendy Woods to Crescent City
Days 5 and 6:  Crescent City to Bend, and Bend to John Day
Days 7 and 8:  John Day to Alturas, and Alturas to Sacramento
Days 9 and 10:  Sacramento to Kings Canyon, and Kings Canyon to the South Bay


Day 3, August 26 2007

Start mileage:  558, San Francisco, CA
End mileage:  832, Hendy Woods State Park, CA

The first place we wanted to see in San Francisco is Fisherman's Wharf (Pier 39).  I needed to sample some of the Boudin sourdough for breakfast.  As expected, it was delicious!  We walked around the pier for a bit, and checked out the Sea Lions.  We had a lot to do on this day, so we started back towards the freeway.  But first, we took a drive down Lombard street.  

At mile 589, we left San Francisco on the Golden Gate Bridge.  

At mile 679 we got to the Calistoga Petrified Forest.  The forest was knocked over by a volcano blast 3 million years ago, and the trees were replaced with rock, cell by cell, preserving their structure.  

Then, we headed to California's Old Faithful Geyser in Calistoga (no, not the one in Yellowstone).   It erupts about every 30 minutes.  

At mile 832, we got to Hendy Woods Campsite.  Our campsite was right in a redwood grove!  
Day 3 Map
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There were a lot of pillows at the Hyatt
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They're missing part of the bridge
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Alcatraz
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Arf arf arf arf
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I love my sourdough
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Waldo tunnel going out of San Fran on the 101
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This is the only petrified Pine tree found in the forest- it's 43 feet long and 2 feet in diameter
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They left these stumps with the moss on them
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Because the wood is replaced with silica cell by cell, you can see the grain and bark details
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This is a huge tree, made out of stone!
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It's starting...
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There's no cross street- a lot of the mountain roads were under construction so lanes were closed
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Day 4, August 27, 2007

Start mileage:  832, Hendy Woods State Park, CA
End mileage:  1100, Crescent City, CA

The first thing we did was explore Hendy Woods a bit.  We went on one of the Hendy Trails, down to Little Hendy Grove.  The coastal redwoods keep getting taller as we go north.  

At 10:45 AM we had gotten back from our hike, torn down the campsite and were ready to go on the raod again.  

At mile 960 we hit the Avenue of the Giants- a long stretch of road (31 miles of old Highway 101) where you're surrounded on all sides by giant coastal redwoods near Humboldt State Park.  According to their website, this stretch of road is in the book "1000 Places to See Before You Die (in USA and Canada)", so we can cross that off our list.  

After we finished the Avenue, we saw signs for a "Drive Through Tree", so we couldn't pass that up.  We folded our rear-view mirrors in, and went through the Chandelier Tree.  

At mile 1100 we made it up to Crescent City, just on the northwest corner of the state.  The Comfort Inn-Crescent City we stayed at was newly renovated, and again a great deal.  
Day 4 Map
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Camping in Hendy woods
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Redwoods right in our campsite!
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That's a big tree
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Somewhere down here I rolled in Poison Nettle
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Our new home!
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Tree Hugger
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Avenue of the Giants
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Ayup, that's a big tree
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View from our hotel room