THE LOST COAST

Sunday, May 20 – We drove to the California Coast today. It certainly wasn't an easy drive! It was only about 23 miles away, but due to steep grades, tight turns. switch backs, and sheer drop-offs with some parts of the road marked with 10 MPH speed limits and others requiring ALL vehicles to use low gear. It took over an hour to reach Shelter Cove, CA.

This area is referred to the Lost Coast of California. It is California's only coastal wilderness, where no development or major roads come near the ocean.

At the end of this challenging road from Garberville, the town of Shelter Cove rewards you with truly magnificent views of the Coast. Black sand beaches, outstanding fishing and all the solitude, peace and relaxation you could need are found here.

Shelter Cove is know for its black sands but also for Cape Mendocino Lighthouse. This structure presented huge challenges to the designers. They had to take into account 400' cliffs prone to frequent earthquakes, landslides and storms.

The rocky cliffs are home to a noisy group of sea lions and some magnificent views of waves breaking along the shore. There are numerous warnings to stay alert of rogue waves and strong under currents.

We were told not to miss the Clam Chowder available at the small eatery in town. So we stopped and shared a bowl of this delicious treat. It was great and makes us anxious to compare it, numerous times, while driving up the Oregon and Washington coasts.

We saw this on the back of one of the RVs parked in front of us. We think it says it all.

We see these birds by our motor home each day. Masha would like to know if anyone knows what they are called?

She also needs help identifying this flower. They were all over in Shelter Cove.

A FINAL NOTE:

We are camped at Richardson Grove Campground just outside of Garberville, CA, on highway 101. What a surprise we had when visiting this quaint little town. The 60's are alive and well. This is a Hippie community! And may we say, the use of “wacky tobbacy” is openly obvious. I talked to the owner of the campground and she confirmed this by calling Garberville the Marijuana Capital of Northern California. I understand you can obtain an once of the stuff for “medicinal purposes” without the local law coming after you. The Federal Drug Enforcement people don't agree with this “looking-the-other-way” approach, it should be noted.

This is the local dress.

They even have their own flag.

What is that flower on the top of the building?

We fit right in.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

ANNULAR ECLIPSE

Sunday, May 20 - Were you able to see the Annular Eclipse? An annular eclipse occurs when the moon passes directly in front of the sun, but the lunar disk is not quite wide enough to cover the entire star. At maximum, the moon forms a "black hole" in the center of the sun.

Being in Northern California, we were in a prime viewing area. Of course, Marsha wanted Paul to make a viewing screen so she could see the different stages of the eclipse. She explained how it was the first annular solar eclipse in the United States since 1994. We just can't miss this opportunity.

So we poked a hole in a piece of cardboard and used it to reflect an image of the sun on a second piece of cardboard.

Paul wanted to experiment with different size holes. This one didn't work.

Now we have it.

It worked pretty well and we were able to view the moon crossing in front of the sun.

This is what our sky looked like before the Ellipse.

Please remember, we don't have any of the special glasses (which are pretty cool by the way) like our friends, Sandie and Jim, so we couldn't look directly at the sun. All the photos are original, not touched up.

Getting started. We made two pin holes. The bigger one was much better.

5:15…the adventure begins. Look at about the 1-2:00 o'clock area and you can see the moon starting to creep in.

5:27

5:52…looks like a crescent moon.

6:04…a little sliver left.

6:10That is all she wrote…or at least all we could get.

Finally at the very end, 6:18, the sun's intensity was blocked by the moon (you could really feel the lack of normal heat from the sun on your skin). We were unable to get a good imagine of the “ring of fire” or the total eclipse. We experienced a “twilight” type of lighting from the sun. It was a pretty neat science experiment!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

AVENUE OF THE GIANTS…THE REDWOODS

Saturday, May 19 – We camped here in Garberville, CA, because it is knows as "The Gateway to the Redwoods." It is home to Richardson Grove State Park which has an amazing hike through some wonderful Redwoods. The Ranger at the gate gave us a one-hour pass so we could hike a short trail and see what he called some of the best Redwoods in the area. We have to agree! If you have limited time, this is a great spot to check out these huge trees.

We then drove about 30-minutes north of Garberville, to The Avenue of the Giants. WOW!

Another unbelievable forest with soaring giant Redwoods. These trees are over 300-feet tall. They are as tall as a football field is long. They aren't anything near in circumference as a Giant Sequoia, but they sure are tall.

And there are 1000's of them scattered through the forest in this part of California.

The Avenue of the Giants intersects frequently with CA-101, and you could easily jump on and off that divided highway if you preferred not to drive the Avenue. But the Avenue of the Giants is so neat weaving in and out of the Redwoods making you feel like a tiny creature in a land of giants!

Yep, that is our tiny car.

These are awesome trees! Thank God they are being saved for future generations to enjoy.

A Redwood can be complete hollow and still grow.

The Forest floor is made up of ferns and clover.

Our conclusion is that they don't beat the Sequoia in the overwhelming awe you feel in the Sequoia forest. With the Sequoia, it's like someone sat the massive Washington Monument down in the middle of a forest to amaze you. Simply indescribable! Unlike anything you've ever seen. In comparison, in our opinion, the Giant Redwoods can be associated to a normal tree, just soaring to unbelievable heights. Hope you understand this comparison. Both are certainly worth seeing and shouldn't be missed.

SEQUOIA		REDWOOD TREE
To 311 feet	HEIGHT	To 367.8 feet
To 3,200 years	AGE	To 2,000 years
To 2.7 million lbs.	WEIGHT	To 1.6 million lbs.
To 31 in. thick	BARK	To 12 in. thick
To 8 ft. diameter	BRANCHES	To 5 ft. diameter
To 40 ft. diameter	BASES	To 22 ft. diameter
By seed only	REPRODUCE	By seed or root sprout
Shape like chicken egg	CONES	Shape of large olive
Small, overlapping needles	FOLIAGE	Single needles

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day.