Yesterday was a big day! Big Trees! Why drive through one tree when you can drive through two….actually the whole day yesterday was spent driving in and out through groves of trees along the 101 but we did take two detours.
First detour was off 101S to 254, the Avenue of the Giants.
This brought us in and out through some of the biggest grove of trees, one being Founders Tree Grove. We didn’t venture in but the photo on the left shows the intersection to turn off to that grove. It requires a hike into the grove to see the Founders Tree which is supposed to be one of the biggest groves with the biggest trees…They were ALL big enough for us!
The fog had lifted by the time we arrived here and the sun was shining through but we had to take off our sun glasses because the trees were so tall they blocked most of the sun and made it dark. The upside is that it was also cool, and clear like a rain forest.
The other attraction of note in this photo is the squiggly line….we really like those signs. On the side of the road are leaves that have fallen…these are very soft under foot as well.
The Shriners Drive Thru Tree was the first one we came to along Avenue of the Giants in Myers Flat. This is at the South end of the Avenue as we had entered from the North.
It is a small park with a lot of stuff packed into it. The Drive Thru tree, as you can see is actually hollowed and split but is huge. It is also a tight roadway with lots of bumps.
We got video and photos of us both going through (this is Larry’s) and we might have taken some photos in the children’s step into tree.
We stopped at the little store, had a bit of a bum break, water and may have bought a sticker or two.
Then we were off! 6 miles to get to 101S which brought us to the next tree!
The Chandelier Tree, to me was more impressive.
Found in Leggett, it is set in a more spacious area and also has a small gift store. We may have bought a Christmas ornament and another sticker since the last one came off my top case.
We got video and photos of each of us riding through here as well, just like good tourists.
We now have driven through two redwood trees!
This was a pretty little park and had some other great photo opportunities as well!
As we continued on 101S heading to our next stop, we passed through vast open areas where the mountains were a deep gold colour and contrasted so nicely with all the trees in rich dark green. As we started down into the valley, we started to see more and more vineyards.
Now the funny piece of 101 is that this is a freeway, or at least in parts. This road at times was divided four lane, four lane, or two lane. As soon as it came down into a two lane you knew you were headed into groves and twisties. Once we reached the valley however, it became 6 lane and at some points 8 lane. We had to watch for traffic coming from the on ramps as well as those changing lanes. It wasn’t too bad and our hotel was just off the 101S. We had the exit number and the directions were really easy. We landed at about 4 pm, unloaded the bikes looking forward to a down day today.
We woke up late this morning and had a quick breakfast and proceeded to search our new route for the next two days. We decided that we would not go further south given how much time we have already taken.
Our next route will take us to Groveland, CA for tomorrow night and then through Yosemite National Park to Tonopah, NV on Wednesday. That will take us right into Utah for a weekend visit with my cousin Todd and his husband. We are so looking forward to seeing them and doing a couple of side trips to Zion Canyon and other sites around there. We hear that Death Valley may be still closed for clean up due to the flooding last month so the stop in the Valley has afforded us an opportunity to regroup and rework our plan.
Coverage through these areas may not be great so watch for updates to the blog however, they may be delayed.
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