Northern California Coast

When they talk about the Pacific Northwest, this is what they are talking about--beautiful bluffs that meet the ocean, foggy valleys and gigantic trees. During my spring break from culinary school Terry and I took a 3 day vacation up the northern California coast. We were completing our trip from the spring of 2005 when we started in Los Angeles and drove up Highway 1 to San Francisco (we were still living in Chicago then). In these three days we completed Highway 1, and saw some amazing scenery--camping along the way through some chilly nights!

This is the shoreline near the "hippie" town of Mendocino. There is very little beach, with jagged rocky shoreline and I thought it was interesting that forest didn't really start until 100-200 yards off of the shore, creating a vast grassy, windswept terrain near the shoreline.

This lighthouse stood on the coast near Mendocino and was restored in the 90's--it was in amazing condition. I loved the image of this standing along against the ocean.

Back in November we went to Muir Woods, which is a second growth Coastal Redwood forest located only a few miles outside of San Francisco. Second growth means that the trees have regrown or been replanted after being logged. The trees in we saw in northwest California were mostly first growth Coastal Redwoods, some several hundreds of years old and more than 10 feet in diameter. You can see a serious tree hugger above--amazing the size of the trees!

This is the road that travels through the "Avenue of Giants"--a scenic road through these incredible trees and a state park that is home to the largest and oldest trees in the area. An amazing part of our beautiful country. I give my vote to Highway 1 as one of the most beautiful parts of the US, and something everyone should see!