Eureka to San Francisco

Today was a long, nerve wracking drive.


It started with sleeping in - until 8:30 - a bit of a mistake because then it cuts in your plans... but oh well.

We got up, had breakfast and went to see Carson Mansion.  WOW!  My jaw dropped when I saw this beautiful "home"!  The original owner was actual a Canadian - born in New Brunswick - very interesting story - you should look it up some day.  I thought it was fascinating - http://www.ingomar.org/history-begin.html.   The house across the street - the Pink Lady - was built by this same man as a wedding gift to his son.  I can't even believe that someone would live in a house like this!

Off we go to find the Pigmy Forest.  We drove on the freeway for a while and turned off to drive on the Avenue of Giants - where we could see more redwoods - even larger than yesterday.  I'm still in awe of these 2 000 year old trees!  Just think the stories they would tell if they could speak!  We were supposed to stop at the eternal tree but didn't missed it somehow.  We stopped at an interpretive center and learned more about this forest of giants.



We also stopped at a "tourist trap" =) where we drove through a tree.  How could you not do this activity?!  It was a tight squeeze or so it felt!

After leaving this last place, we made our way to Highway 1 - OH MY GOD!!  I've never seen a rode with so many twists and turns!  Truly unbelievable!  My nerves were shot by the time I got to San Francisco.  These people are crazy!  There are no guardrails in most places - the drop is long... scary for someone who doesn't like heights... anyway - beautiful views - absolutely gorgeous!

We stopped for a hike to see the pigmy forest.  What a hike!  It was a VeRY steep trail! Took
us almost an hour to do 3.4 km.  It wasn't as exciting as we expected - I wouldn't call those trees - more like shrubs...on the bright side, we will have buns of steel by the time we get back home!


Other things worth mentioning:

• we saw seals on the beach, 
• we found a bird skull on another beach, 
• we saw lots of birds of prey - mostly turkey vultures, 
• Sophie thought she'd lost her phone - ends up it fell under the seat, 
• we didn't get to see the Golden Gate Bridge when we crossed it because of the darn fog, 
• we tried chocolate covered bacon - not my thing
• Birds we saw today: Steller's Jay, wilson's warbler, lots and lots and lots of turkey vultures, red tail hawk, pigeon guillemot, western gulls, cormorant, peregrine falcon.
• took 15 700 steps

I'm now dead tired from the stress of the drive.  Off to bed I go.