Avenue of the Giants

we left San Francisco and continued driving north. we got to the Avenue of the Giants which takes you through the huge Redwood trees. it was really hard for me to get any photos of them but they were massive. 

 we stopped at a trail head by the side of the road to explore and take a little driving break. all of a sudden two dogs ran out from the forest right up to Jason. he was a little nervous at first but they were super friendly and wagging their tail. we expected their owners to come out behind them but no one came. they didn't have collars or anything but they were obviously someones dogs or were at some point. they followed us on our short little hike and one dog especially (the one I'm petting in the pic) would not leave our side and was so sweet. when we got back to our car we didn't know what to do because they were still following us. I was so sad to just leave them behind but Jason said they probably belonged to someone that lives out there and they were just exploring for the day. I don't know if people actually live in the middle of the forest but there was a town nearby and they could've been from there. it was heartbreaking though as we drove away and they actually started following our car! there was not really anything we could do though because we couldn't take them with us. I kept thinking about them the rest of the day though hoping that they didn't get hit by a car when they were following us. I am hoping that they found their way home or if not someone gave them a good home.

 there is a big difference in color of these two photos in the same spot. one was taken with my camera the other with my phone. they look funny next to each other but I really wanted to include one of each of us in the tree :).

we stopped at some beautiful beaches.

these huge Paul Bunyon and Babe the Ox statues were along the highway in front of "the Trees of Mystery". the Trees of Mystery has an aerial tram that takes you to the top of the Redwoods where you can have an amazing view of the ocean and forest. I had originally planned before the trip to go on the tram but we were in a hurry to get to a camping spot for the night. the statues were pretty awesome though so we stopped to get some pics. I really enjoy quirky roadside attractions like these.

 despite it being so close to the road this house location is kinda amazing.

  we really wanted to camp in the Redwoods but we were nervous we wouldn't get a camping spot anywhere since it was already 4. we called to reserve but they said it was first come first serve. we went to the Mill creek campground and we were lucky to get their last spot, which was a handicapped spot. they said they were able to give it up to non handicapped people after a certain time so we were lucky. the only difference was our spot was a little bigger and our parking spot was paved. 


we set up our camp and then drove out of the campground to the beach which was nearby. we got sandwiches and ate them on the beach.

 we were really excited that we were able to get a camping spot. it was so cool being able to camp in the middle of the Redwood trees.
we had been on the road for about a week at this point and this was the last of our time in California. the adventure continued though and I couldn't wait to see Oregon!