Wednesday, July 23, 2014
After several days in Eureka, it was time to move on and head south. And we wanted to go to Ft. Bragg to see the coastline and the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens with it's rumored conifer collection. So we headed out because, after all, we have to be in Napa on Thursday to connect with wine-tasting friends!
After breakfast at the Chalet, yes for the third day in a row, we headed out. And yes, the breakfast good enough to justify becoming "regulars" there!
Now there are several ways to get to Ft. Bragg from Eureka, but I had requested a route that would take us along the coast so I could enjoy some of the famous Highway 1, so off we went on 101 South toward Highway 1. An easy two and a half hour drive, right? Not with us!
Ready for today's detour? Avenue of the giants. http://www.aveofthegiants.com/. It runs practically parallel to 101 and allowed us to drive through the same spectacular Redwoods scenery we had spent Monday & Tuesday hiking through! It was breathtaking! Of course we stopped along the way, and one of the things that I noticed the most was the quiet. Growing up on the lake, I'm accustomed to sound carrying across water. The forest has the opposite effect. Sound is absorbed almost immediately. We didn't have to walk far from the road to not hear the cars whizzing by. We had noticed this some while hiking, because folks would sneak up on us almost without warning. It's a fantastic experienced that leaves you in awe of what God has created and how small we are when compared to His creations.
Along the way, we came upon Miranda, CA, home of Korbly Wood Products, www.korblywoodproducts.com. We had been looking for a piece of custom woodwork for a souvenir but, frankly, everything we found was, well, too cheesy or touristy and that's not what we were after. Then we found Korbly. This woodworking shop was amazing! Bernie Korbly has been doing woodworking since 1970 and is frankly amazing. His eye for how to make the wood come alive is evident in what he creates. We left with a wooden box made out of redwood burl, complete with a burn spot. (Refer to earlier posts for why that's so cool!)
Back on the road, we join back up with 101 South and head for Highway 1. Now, 101 can be a bit curvy so we weren't too concerned about the warning signs as we got on Hwy 1 talking about "winding roads for the next 30 or so miles." After all, we had driven the Tail of the Dragon in NC and TN. No big deal, right? This road was hands-down the longest, curviest, most dangerous piece of road we had ever been on. Rock face to the left, unbelievable drop-offs to the right ... at 20 mph. It was alternately breathtaking, awe-inspiring, and terrifying. And we're in a small 4-door sedan. I can't even begin to imagine what the folks in the big RVs were thinking as they drove this route! So, of course, I googled it (once I found cell phone service again) and here's what I found: http://aboutrving.com/pdfs/ToughDrive.pdf. This guy describes it better than I ever could! And the logging trucks??? Crazy!
Now for the big question ... was it worth it? Absolutely! The views of the coast off of those cliffs beat anything I've ever seen. Looking down at the Sea Lions basking on the rocks and up at the forests was without comparison. We stopped at turn-off after turn-off just to take in the view. It was worth every white-knuckled moment of the drive just to see that.
Now, if you'll recall, back at the beginning of this post, the goal was to get to Ft. Bragg in time to see the Botanical Gardens. And I know this shocks you but there was no place during the drive along Hwy. 1 to eat. Shocking, right? So we pulled into Ft. Bragg at 2pm starving to death. No comments allowed from those who know how I can get from lack of food. Let's just suffice it to say that my "request" was the first food we found, we stopped! This turned out to be Jenny's Giant Burger and let me tell you, these burgers earned the term "giant." They were huge and since we were dying of starvation at this point, they were delicious!
Next stop was the Mendicino Coast Botanical Gardens (http://www.gardenbythesea.org/). We arrived at 3:15 and the lady who sold us the tickets assured us we could easily make it before they locked the gates at 5:30. She was wrong. There was so much to see that we were rushing to get back to the gate by 5:30. Words can't describe what we saw, so I'll defer to the photos Pierce took. We'll post those after we get back to Atlanta.
After leaving the gardens, it was time for another road trip. In order to be on time for the Napa connection, we had to make it to Ukiah on Wednesday night. So off we went. Again. I checked the maps and we headed out on CA-20 assuring Pierce that no way was it as challenging as Hwy. 1. I was wrong. Ok, I was only sort of wrong. It was not as bad as Hwy. 1. However, it was no straight, boring interstate! I actually thought he was going to scream when he saw the sign "winding roads for the next 33 miles." Oh wait ... he did scream. In the end, it was winding and crazy, but no, it was not as crazy as the Hwy. 1. Not by a longshot.
Once again, however, the views were worth it. When we stopped to take in the views, we were almost eye-level with the tops of these amazing trees that went on forever and surpassed any painting or photograph we had ever seen.
We rewarded ourselves with dinner at the Broiler Steakhouse (http://www.broilersteaks.com/). It had been recommended to us when we were Lake County and the recommendation proved solid. Not only were the servings HUGE and inexpensive, they were very, very good. I've never had a filet that large ... and tender to boot. What a wonderful end to that leg of our adventure. Ten minutes after dinner we were tucked in our hotel, ready to write a few blog posts and prepare to head to Napa on Thursday morning.
On Thursday we connect with our wine-tasting friends so the upcoming posts will likely be largely about wine-tasting in Napa. Remember, I'm not an expert at this, so what follows will be the learnings of a wine-tasting novice!
And finally, Happy Birthday to Jessica! On July 24, your 22nd birthday, I can't help but reflect on how far you've come since the tiny infant we brought home. You have been a joy and a pleasure to raise and I have loved every minute of being your mom. Have a great birthday!!! You've grown into an amazing young woman I'm proud to call my daughter! I love you!
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