Raving about Redwoods

One of the main purposes of our big trip out West was for Ed to show me the redwoods and after a few minutes of driving through our first redwood forest, I understand why.

I've always seen the photo of a car driving through an arch cut out of a redwood's trunk. It didn't occur to me that there would be one after another of these huge trees.

We went to Stout Grove on Thursday afternoon. The gravel road runs through a forest of redwoods that goes on for 7 miles. A motorhome would get stuck because some places the road is just wide enough to allow a car to pass between the trees.

That's Mary with the light pants and rust jacket.That's Ed in the blue shirt standing by a redwood on the road.

Mary's first up-close-and-personal look at a redwood.

We got out and walked through a 44 acre redwood grove that was donated to the Save-the Redwoods League by Mrs. Stout. We were fascinated at the roughness of the bark and the unusual twists in the grain on some of the trees.Friendly Fog

Redwoods grow here in California along the coast and nowhere else. Why? Because of the fog.The trunks are too tall to carry water to the top of the tree so the trees get their water from fog and condensation. There are a few redwoods inland but they're near canyons that bring in fog.

Besides providing moisture, the fog helps protect the trees by covering them from hot summer sun and cold winter weather.

A redwood can release up to 500 gallons a day of water from its needles, which creates a perfect environment for ferns and orchids.

Trampoline Roots
These trees can be as tall as the Statue of Liberty but their roots only go down 6-8 feet, creating a trampoline effect that keeps the tree from "pile-driving" itself into the ground.
Inspiring
I found myself mentally singing, "Then sings my soul......how great Thou art, how great Thou art."


Age and Life Span
Redwoods have been around for over 100 million years and were contemporaries of the dinosaurs.

A tree can live for up to 2,000 years.

Right On, Redwoods!

MaryMay as she gazed at her first redwoods.

"Awesome" doesn't begin to describe these towering trees. All of these adjectives would apply: Enormous, gargantuan, gigantic, humongous, immense, magnificent, massive, stupendous, tremendous, and......
just plain out "mighty darn big"!

Seeing Seastacks

We left Gold Beach on Monday morning and headed South to Brookings, Oregon, which is only about 20 miles down the road. It's interesting how much difference a few miles can make in the environment.
Scenic Highway 101 below Gold Beach is known for having lots of
seastacks -- those rocks that stick up out of the water.

It's often hazy, probably a result of the mist produced by the pounding surf.

The sand here is dark and really sticks to everything. I'm not sure why.

Doggies, birdies, and
humanoids share this beach!

Happy trails to you until we meet again.....

To Each His Own (Camping Style)

We're so enjoying the privilege of being able to sleep in our own bed every night! I think it's cute that in the RV world the towed vehicle is called a toad. When you call an RV park, they ask how big your rig is and if you have a toad.

Pepper just wants to know if we're there yet.

She also likes keeping up on her nap schedule.

Our friends in Portland suggested that we would be missing out if we didn't stay in some of the beautiful state parks, especially along the Oregon coast. We did that and found the trees, beaches, and other scenery to be just lovely. It was also enjoyable to watch families with their campfires. The prices are very reasonable ($22 a night) and most of them have water and 30 amp electric hookups. If we cooked out often, ate outside, or sat in our chairs outside, these parks would be perfect for us.

However, I realize and admit we are city-dude, spoiled campers. Trees block Ed's satellite so he misses out on football games and I go a bit batty without internet access after a day or two. With the temperatures dropping into the low 50's at night, we need 50 amp electric service so the heat doesn't keep tripping the breaker every time we use another appliance.

After four nights of state parks, we reverted back to the type park that works the best for us - level campsites, clear access to the sky, fast Wi-Fi (internet), and full hook-ups.

If there isn't a full hook-up, the park usually has a dump station but that requires unhooking everything to go there. We can last about 4 days without sewer if we're careful. Having to be mindful of every drop of water so as not to fill your black tank (from the toilet) or your gray tank (from the sinks and shower) gets to be a real pain.

It's also good to have our sewer connected so I can keep up with laundry. At first I thought it was silly to have a washer/dryer in the RV but I soon discovered how convenient it is.

Ed's also added another feature that is a deal-breaker for him. If you have to pay for a shower......fuggedaboudit! Some places have it set that you have to put in a quarter for a 3 minute shower and if you're not through, you have to come out of the shower section into the dressing section to add more quarters. Charge him another dollar a day, but DON'T be making him pay for shower minutes!!

We'll do the sightseeing and explore the forests and beaches in our car.......then return to our luxuries in the evening, thank you very much!

Roving the River (Rogue) in Oregon

Sunday we went on a jet boat trip for a 104-mile-trip up the Rogue River. The Rogue River Canyon is a National Wild and Scenic River system.

The tour is featured as being a JET boat and our guide made sure we got plenty of "jetting".
The most fun were the "spin-arounds" where they turned the boat around in a sharp circle at a high speed. That created lots of waves and splashes. We were lucky enough to sit on the front seat so we got way less wet than most people.

The first few times I felt like I was on a roller coaster or some other carnival ride. We finally learned to brace our feet against the front wall and push our fannies against the seatbacks instead of trying to hold on to the hand rails.

The upper part of the river where we went is inaccessible by road.

I thought of my cousin, Bill May, when I saw how neatly our aluminum boat was rivet welded - and it was done so artistically.
These boats must be strong to take such a beating every day.

To see a little video of what we experienced, click on these words: Live DVD Action Footage If that doesn't work, go here http://www.roguejets.com/ . At the top click on Live DVD Action Footage.

The rest of the things we saw were bonuses to the jetting fun:

Fishing Boats:

I can't begin to remember how many boats we saw - all small with 1-6 people on them and many of them with proud/happy fishermen!

Wildlife:

We were lucky to see a young bear on the bank. He watched us while we watched him.

We saw several bald eagles.

I could think of all sorts of naughty things to say about these turtles but I'll refrain and let you make your own caption.

We also saw an osprey, wild turkeys, geese, cranes, blue herons...... and....

a very special tree....... a Dinosaur Tree!
Beautiful Scenery:

This tree was probably blown on top of this during a storm and it has stayed perched there for four years.

When we got back, we realized our guide wasn't kidding when he talked about the wind building up during our return trip. The surf was up and crashing.

The grasses were just whipping!