The Monday after school got out for the summer, I left on a road trip headed north. Our plan was to drive up to Portland, Oregon, spend a couple of days, and then head south along the Oregon Coast. We were gone about two weeks in all.
We had all been on numerous California road trips so decided to blow through most of our LONG state, not wanting to spend too much time seeing parts we'd already seen. However, once we got past Sacramento, we headed west and spent some time along the coast of the northern part of the state making scheduled stops in Mendocino, Fort Bragg, and Crescent City before heading up to Portland. Here are some highlights of the drive up...
We did stop along the Central Coast to visit friends in Morro Bay and do some wine tasting.
We made a quick pitstop in Salinas. It is called "The Salad Bowl of the World" due to its agriculture industry. John Steinbeck (home above) called it home. I've never seen artichokes as part of the landscape before.
We spent a few hours in Mendocino, which is a beautiful little seaside town. It is known for its beautiful cliffside hiking trails.
A few miles north of Mendocino is Fort Bragg. I REALLY wanted to stop here and visit Glass Beach. Years and years of using the beach/ocean as a trash can created what is now known as Glass Beach due to all the sea glass that washed up on the shores after being rolled and tumbled in ocean water.
For years, I've seen pictures of how beautiful the beaches were with the sea glass glistening in the tides. Sadly, others felt the same way and got there before we did. The sea glass has essentially been depleted by tourism. You can see little bits of it in the sand and rocks, but the large shiny pieces are nearly non-existant anymore.
Near Crescent City is the entrance to the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. This park preserves old-growth Redwood trees. The park is just beautiful with lovely hiking trails, and the giant Redwoods are mind blowing.
We spent a few hours in the park before heading north to Portland. More later!
I've spent a fair amount of time over the years along the coast of California and though it has spectacular scenery if you can mentally remove all the houses along the coast, it is just too over crowed for me to enjoy. Most of my memories have been in the interior of the state.
ReplyDeleteI think that you have the overcrowding along the beach the big cities like LA, San Diego, and San Francisco. When you get out of the city into the smaller towns along the coast, it's much different. While I like the beaches in the south - they're fun for "going to the beach", I love the rugged coastline we have from Central CA and north up through Oregon and Washington. I find that far more appealing and less crowded.
DeleteWhat gorgeous scenery you've shared in your photos here! I look forward to seeing more as you take us along on your journey.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I enjoyed taking the pics a lot. We could stop wherever we wanted. :)
DeleteAdding a scenic trip along the California coast to my bucket list!
ReplyDeleteYou'd love it! While parts of the coast remind me so much of New England's coast, there are areas that are very different than what you have there.
DeleteThat sounds like a great trip. I can't really comment too much as I don't really know much about the area north of SF and south of Eugene. There's a State sized space inside a line from Pacific-Eugene-Boise-Reno->Pacific that I know little about.
ReplyDeleteAnd I would never have thought Ft Bragg was anything other than a Fort.
I've not spent much time in Oregon at all. When I was a kid we went camping up in Klamath Falls and Chiloquin which are further east, just over the CA border. Looking at the map, for this trip we did drive right through Eugene on our way to Portland, but didn't make any stops (other than necessary) on that leg.
DeleteFort Bragg was a Fort for about 10 minutes, but hasn't had military staying there for many years.
Great photos! The shots of the artichokes are incredible! I’ve not been in that part of CA. The redwoods look pretty spectacular. I’ve been to Muir Woods a couple of times bug these trees look even more majestic.
ReplyDelete