Brown Family Vacation - Day 11

From Redwood National Forest

Coos Bay, OR to Eureka, CA

We woke up this morning and headed out immediately south on US101 down the Oregon Coastal Road.  Again, we stopped a few times, but this morning it was raining and very misty and foggy, so visibility was not very good.  Once we arrived in California, it had cleared up, which was fortunate because our next stop was to see the Redwoods at Jebediah Smith Park.

We stopped by the visitor's center and received some information before heading off on this gravel road.  2 miles into the road, we stopped and took a 1.5 mile hike into the depths of the forest to see the trees.  I really can't describe the beauty of these tree and how large they are.  You can see some pictures in our PHOTO ALBUM, but I'm not sure it'll do them justice.

We left our hike, ate lunch at Crescent City Beach, and moved down the coast again.  We had a tip from the ranger that there was a gray whale upriver in Klamuth and that we could stop and see it.  We found the spot and was able to catch some great glimpses of a gray whale and her baby calf.  Very beautiful.  We were able even to see some friendly otters that swam next to the whales.  A bear and a whale in the wild in the same trip!

We stopped for the night at Eureka and stayed in the Town House Motel and ate at Long Coast Brewery, which turned out to be excellent food.   Tomorrow, we'll hit up wine country in Napa Valley.

Check out the Redwoods pictures and check back for more of this already amazing trip.