Avenue of the Giants (Aug 5)

We picked up camp, holding on tight to the tent when we took it down because the wind was still strong! Started out for Redwood National Park. Along our route we saw a giant Paul Bunyan and his ox Babe.

It turned out that the National Park and the State Park were sort of combined into one. We eventually found a visitor center to get our patch and cancellation. The patch turned out to be a little bit of a hassle. At Yellowstone Nate and I became National Park members which gave us an extra 15% off at the visitor centers, you just have to show them a little card. But I had forgotten until after she rang it up. So she had to return it, so she could ring it up again. She made it seem like no big deal, but she had never done a return before so it took a long time. I was really embarrassed.  The park ranger there had a lot of good suggestions for where to see big trees. I was wowed as we drove through the park. The trees were just huge! Not only in height but in girth. Our first stop was Lady Bird Johnson Trail. First thing I saw after we got out of the car was a Banana Slug right in the parking lot. But he looked like he was on his way out so Nate tried to put him back in the wooded area. Not too soon after I found another, more healthy looking one.

There was a box with a pamphlets at the beginning of the trial. Along the path there were posts with numbers that corresponded with a number in the pamphlet that had a blurb about what was on the trial in front of you. It could be anything from a tree that feel over and was growing new plants, how fire is an essential part of growth, or that the trees can grow up to 30 feet in just the first twenty years and grow up to a total of 350 feet tall. 

On our way out of the park we drove down a road that was called the Avenue of the Giants. It had a bunch of interesting stops along the way but Nate especially wanted to go to the Founding Fathers. It was about a half mile loop that had a similar corresponding information in a pamphlet.

We made it to Oakland, a town over from San Fran, where we spent the night in the smallest hotel room. Even. Nate said that his dorm room was bigger than the room we had and I agree with him. But, it was a room, and I was grateful for that. Parking was a pain. We had to park on the side of the road AND we have to move it by 7am to a parking lot that we have to pay for. Thankfully Nate volunteered for that excursion. More eventfulness tomorrow.